ESPN

ABC “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts is returning to the ESPN family to host a new eight-part interview series, the sports channel announced at its upfront presentation this morning. Roberts will host “In the Game with Robin Roberts Presented by Lexus,” which will feature the anchor interviewing prominent female athletes. The first guest will be pro softball player Jennie Finch.

The interviews will air on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Thursdays between 9 AM and 12 PM, as well as on espnW.com and ABCNews.com. Furthermore, excerpts from the interviews will be featured in ESPN The Magazine, and there will be “a robust digital and social media execution” to drive viewership. ESPN says this is the first cross-platform project between ABC News and espnW.

Roberts first gained national attention at ESPN as an anchor on “SportsCenter.” In 1995, she began to split her time between ABC News and ESPN, joining ABC full-time as “Good Morning America” co-anchor in 2005.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

ESPN “SportsNation” co-anchor Michelle Beadle is reportedly leaving the Worldwide Leader in Sports for greener pastures at NBCUniversal.

Jim Miller, who wrote ESPN bio Those Guys Have All The Fun, has some details on the deal:

Bye bye Bristol: The @MichelleDBeadle deal is to be by cohost of access Hollywood (w billy bush), major sports events and new show tba.

— James Andrew Miller (@ESPNBook) May 11, 2012

Look for Beadle to appear during NBC’s Olympics broadcasts this Summer. In addition, don’t be surprised if she turns up with some regularity on “Today.”

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Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici thinks — although we’re not so sure for the very reasons he lays out in his story — that Roger Ailes would be the key to a successful News Corp. challenge to ESPN. “If there’s one person in the television business who could take on the Worldwide Leader and win, it’s Ailes,” writes Bercovici.

If I were [News Corp. chairman Rupert] Murdoch, I would strongly consider putting Ailes in charge of the new network. (As it stands, Fox Sports chairman David Hill is reported to be leading the effort.) Maybe he wouldn’t want the job. Maybe he’d have trouble working up the necessary spittle for something that’s not his primary passion, politics. (The last network he launched, Fox Business, frequently feels more like a political channel than a business channel.) Maybe, at 72, he’s not inclined to undertake a new multi-year campaign. That would be a shame. If there’s one person in the television business who could take on the Worldwide Leader and win, it’s Ailes.

Just days after he was formally announced as president of Pac-12 Enterprises, SportsNewser had a chance to chat exclusively with Gary Stevenson.

The sports marketing and media executive comes to the Pac-12 from OnSports, a consulting firm Stevenson founded in 1997. In fact, the then-Pac-10 was one of Stevenson’s clients along with the likes of the PGA Tour and NASCAR.

Stevenson discussed the importance of striking a deal with the satellite companies for the national and regional networks along with what content Pac-12 fans can expect across their digital properties.

SportsNewser: The then-Pac-10 was one of your OnSport clients. How much did your prior relationship with the conference come into play when Larry Scott called you about the position?

Gary Stevenson: From my prior relationship with the conference, I got a real understanding of what the conference brand and the schools brand stood for. That was intriguing to me. Anytime you’re going to launch a network, it’s important what the brand is that’s affiliated with the network. We have such a huge start because the brand is on such an excellent level. Read more

Take note, media members: From this day forward, the basketball player formerly known as Ron Artest should henceforth be called “Metta World Peace” in all news stories. Yes, Artest’s name change becomes official today. “Metta” is a Buddhist term for “kindness,” while “world peace” is what Rita and Phil toast to in “Groundhog Day.”

Artest is also reportedly changing his uniform number from 15 to 70.

“I’m changing it to 70 because it’s like something to do with the universe,” Artest said. “Everything kind of repeats itself. The universe is one. It’s the same thing. Healthy minds, just keeping the kids positive.”

Vin Scully, 83, has been with the Dodgers since 1950, has seen everything that can basically happen on a baseball field (for better and worse), and entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 as the recipient of the Ford Frick Award, given to venerated media members for service to baseball. Nevertheless Scully is a Dodgers employee, and so the people running the Dodgers’ organization into the ground felt compelled to send a survey to Dodgers season-ticket holders, asking them to rate Scully’s announcing abilities in six categories.

A season-ticket holder emailed the survey to TJ Simers of the Los Angeles Times. He wrote, “On a scale of 1 to 5, They wanted my opinion of Vin Scully in the following eight areas: 1. Knowledge of baseball; 2. Knowledge of Dodgers organization; 3. Objectivity; 4. Accuracy of calls; 5. Storytelling ability; 6. Focus on the game; 7. Style; 8. Overall performance.”

Regardless of how you score Scully, the more pertinent issue is what the Dodgers intended to do with the results of the survey. From the response they gave to Simers, the answer appears to be nothing, as Simers wrote, “a team spokesman said Vin’s job is his as long as he wants it.’”

Then why bother with the survey?

Former New York Giants stars Amani Toomer and Roman Oben are the newest additions to the MSG Varsity, Cablevision’s 24/7 HD high school sports network.

The analysts will make their debut when Friday Night Football returns on Sept. 9 at 7:00 p.m. ET.

“We’re thrilled to have Amani and Roman join MSG Varsity’s first-class broadcast team and look forward to adding their expertise and perspective to our game coverage,” said Michael Lardner, executive producer and senior vice president, MSG Varsity.

 

The NFL on CBS announced their broadcast pairings for the 2011-12 football season (play-by-play/analyst):

Jim Nantz & Phil Simms

Greg Gumbel & Dan Dierdorf

Ian Eagle & Dan Fouts

Marv Albert & Rich Gannon Read more

Bleacher Report, the sports website we love to mock, announced Monday its new Lead Writer Program.

Looking to gain some much needed creditability, Bleacher Report has hired Dan Levy (On the DL), Matt Miller (New Era Scouting), Dan Rubenstein (The Solid Verbal), Josh Zerkle (Kissing Suzy Kolber, With Leather), and Bethlehem Shoals (FreeDarko).

“Bleacher Report is powered by our strong contributor base and we’re constantly looking at ways to improve the experience for our writers and readers,” said Dave Finocchio, co-founder and vice president of content and product at Bleacher Report. “The Lead Writer Program will help Bleacher Report solidify its reputation as a thought leader in sports media.” Read more

In Jonathan Abram‘s illuminating Grantland article about new Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis, broadcaster Bill Walton recounts the 2001 incident in which Rasheed Wallace threw a towel in the face of Sabonis, his Portland teammate. The Blazers were playing the Lakers, and Sabonis was charged with guarding Shaquille O’Neal, who often gave him fits. During one play, Sabonis accidentally smacked Wallace while trying to draw a foul against Shaq. Wallace, who had a notorious temper during his playing days, was annoyed with Sabonis and later threw a towel in his face as Sabonis sat on the bench. Sabonis became red-faced, but did nothing.

Walton, who presented Sabonis for induction to the Hall of Fame, witnessed the incident from press row and regrets not stepping in and punching Wallace in the face. In fact Walton — like Sabonis, a Portland big man whose career was derailed by injuries — said he feels like he let down mankind.

“It was one of the lowest moments of my life,” he said. “If I was any kind of a man, I would have got up from that broadcast table and walked across the court and punched Rasheed Wallace in the nose. But I let Sabonis and the game of basketball and the human race down that day.”

I don’t know how you sleep at night, Bill.