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Video: Adam Sandler's Unplaced Sales Pitch to Asomugha

Cam Martin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:26:31 +0000

A rumor floating around the Twitterverse in the past few days alleged that New York Jets coach Rex Ryan had asked comedian Adam Sandler to call prize free agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and sell him on the merits of playing for the Jets. Turns out the rumor, which began with Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network, was not true. But what if it were? And what if we had the opportunity to actually listen to what Sandler would say to Asomughi by means of a sales pitch? Enter Dan Patrick, who had Sandler on his radio show.

Jets fans will be heartbroken to hear this clip, because Sandler no doubt would have closed the deal. Provided Asomugha is a sucker for gibberish.

(H/T to Sportsgrid)

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ESPN RISE is Renamed ESPN High School

Cam Martin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:01:54 +0000

ESPN RISE, a multiplatform brand launched in 2008 to produce and air content relevant to high school sports fans, has been renamed ESPN High School.

“ESPN is committed to providing the best high school sports content for fans while creating specific high-quality content and tools for the athlete themselves,” said Glenn Rosenbloom, vice president and general manager, ESPN High School. “By renaming this business, it clearly defines our mission and brings this property into better alignment with the rest of the ESPN networks and content platforms.”

The new brand will roll-out across ESPN platforms throughout August.

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Clone Gets A Jim Rome Tattoo On His Calf

Marcus Vanderberg — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:00:14 +0000

Growing up as a sports junkie in Los Angeles, I loved Jim Rome.

But as much as I wanted to be like the sports talk show host, I would never consider getting a tattoo of Rome on my body.

Rack this dude.

[H/T SportsGrid]

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Giffords' Heroic Intern Throwing Out First Pitch at ASG Tonight

Cam Martin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:28:36 +0000

Daniel Hernandez, the intern for Arizona Congressman Gabby Giffords who heroically ran towards the sound of gunfire when Giffords and others were shot by a deranged gunman, is throwing out the first pitch at tonight’s All-Star Game at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. Hernandez, a trained nursing assistant, was instrumental in saving Giffords’ life, elevating her head and staunching the flow of blood from a head wound until paramedics arrived.

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BBC Introduces 'Grunt-Reducing' Technology at Wimbledon

Cam Martin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:10:39 +0000

Maria Sharapova would have a lot more fans (ya know, more than she already does) if watching her play tennis wasn’t as punishing on the ears as it’s easy on the eyes. Sharapova is one of the tennis world’s most notorious grunters, which makes watching her matches a trying affair. To keep you tuned in, the BBC has introduced technology called Wimbledon Net Mix, a device for the radio and Internet that lowers the volume of on-court sounds and raises the noise level of commentators; and they’re using it for the first time at Wimbledon.

The product is available for free on BBC Radio Player. For the time being it only allow listeners to adjust the sound on Centre Court matches.

For those watching on television, mute or changing the channel remain the top options to combat grunting.

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ESPN's Paige Plagiarize Other Writer?

Cam Martin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 07:38:41 +0000

Sports Business Journal reporter John Ourand sent Denver Post and Around the Horn contributor Woody Paige a question on Twitter yesterday asking Paige if he’d lifted quotes from a months’ old Ourand story and used them in his Post column on Sunday without attribution.

In his April 4 article, Ourand wrote about ESPN creator Bill Rasmussen.

Many executives that came in contact with Rasmussen during ESPN’s infancy reference that can-do spirit. Paul Maxwell, a cable industry pioneer who founded several industry trade publications, said Rasmussen’s faith in ESPN provided a stark contrast to how others viewed the startup network at the time.

Maxwell recalls sitting in an Anaheim, Calif., bar with cable industry icon Bill Daniels, who helped convince Getty Oil to fund ESPN in the early years. It was right after Getty had invested in ESPN, probably 1980. Evey, the Getty Oil executive responsible for overseeing the network, approached the duo, with a look of worry on his face. He asked, “Are we ever going to make money?”

“It was the first thing he asked Bill,” Maxwell said. “Bill knew it would work. We both thought it was brilliant.”

In Paige’s column, he appears to lift quotes and a description of setting directly from Ourand’s story without attribution. In college, this practice went by several names: plagiarism; stealing; revolutionary time-saver. It depends who you ask.

In an Anaheim, Calif., bar (near a theme park), Daniels was told by a Getty Oil executive about the venture’s problematical plans. Daniels had persuaded the company to buy a majority share of ESPN.

Stuart Evey was concerned Getty Oil had made a mistake. “The first thing he asked Bill was: ‘Are we ever going to make money?’” Colorado cable pioneer Paul Maxwell said. “Bill knew it would work. We both thought it was brilliant.”

Ourand somehow caught wind of this and sent Paige a question on Twitter: “Hey @woodypaige. Did you really talk to Paul Maxwell? Or did you lift that quote from SBJ? Bad form to not list source.”

He followed up by posting a link to his original April 4 article.

Paige has not yet responded.

(H/T to SportsByBrooks)

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Sinclair Broadcast Group Acquires Ring Of Honor Wrestling

Marcus Vanderberg — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:34:49 +0000

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. announced Saturday it has acquired Ring of Honor Wrestling.

ROH is currently the third largest wrestling promotion in the country and recently celebrated its ninth anniversary. A formal press conference is planned for June 24 in Baltimore.

“We have been waiting for and working for this opportunity for quite some time”, ROH owner Cary Silkin said, “and of our 9 years in business, there has been no better roster of wrestlers than this one to expose the ROH product to the masses. With Sinclair’s resources and many avenues of distribution, we believe many new fans around the world will be as captivated as those who have followed Ring of Honor over the years.” continued…

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Men's Wearhouse Title Sponsor For Experts Network NFL Draft Preview Show

Marcus Vanderberg — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:32:40 +0000

The Men’s Wearhouse were named the title sponsor of The Experts Network NFL Draft Preview Show, featuring Cris Collinsworth, Boomer Esiason, Howie Long, and Phil Simms.

The Men’s Wearhouse NFL Draft Preview Show on April 25 is the first digital program to feature four of the biggest names in sports broadcasting.

“Partnering with a prestigious brand like Men’s Wearhouse is a confirmation of the value of TXN Sports and its team of experts,” said Frank Vuono, Partner, 16W Marketing. “This partnership unites two things guys are very passionate about: sports and style. Guys turn to Men’s Wearhouse for expert style advice and can now turn to TXN Sports for expert sports advice.” continued…

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NBA Analyst Jalen Rose Returning To ESPN Saturday

Marcus Vanderberg — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:13:40 +0000

ESPN/ABC NBA analyst Jalen Rose will make his return to the network Saturday.

He was suspended by the network following his DUI arrest last month in Michigan.

Rose will work the ESPN NBA studio show.

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NBA On TNT Scores Record Ratings During 2010-11

Marcus Vanderberg — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:09:45 +0000

During the 2010-11 regular season, the NBA on TNT averaged a 1.6 U.S. household rating (+45 percent from a 1.1 in 2010), 2,453,000 total viewers (+42 percent vs. 1,723,000), and 1,826,000 households (+39 percent vs. 1,315,000).

This season’s audience was 30 percent larger than Turner’s second-best regular season audience from 1,885,000 in 1995-96 and scored growth in all key demos:

A18-34 +49% (810,000 vs. 544,000)

A18-49 +47% (1,378,000 vs. 937,000)
A25-54 +42% (1,221,000 vs. 857,000)
M18-34 +43% (567,000 vs. 396,000)
M18-49 +45% (970,000 vs. 667,000)
M25-54 +40% (855,000 vs. 609,000)

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ESPN Beefs Up Cricket Lineup, Adds Champions League Twenty20 and ICC

Alex Weprin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:39:24 +0000

Attention cricket fanatics (fanatic?): ESPN is adding 1,000 hours of cricket coverage to ESPN3.com. The cable channel has inked multi-year deals with the International Cricket Council and the Champions League Twenty20, ensuring matches will be plentiful on the digital channel through 2015.

The deal also includes the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, one of the most-watched sporting events in the world (though we suspect not in the U.S.).

“It’s a big day for cricket fans in the U.S., and we’re thrilled to be the network offering this passionate and underserved audience more cricket coverage than ever before,” said Damon Phillips, Vice President, ESPN3.com in a statement. “We’re removing the traditional pay per view barrier and making these world class events available to millions of fans.”

Like all ESPN3.com programming, viewers will need to get their high speed internet from a provider that pays ESPN for the privilege of carrying ESPN3.com.

More information after the jump.

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Joe Posnanski Nominated for Blogging Ellie

Noah Davis — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:24:14 +0000

The American Society of Magazine Editors released the nominations for the 2010 Digital Ellies, and one of sports media’s best is among the finalists.

The blog of Sport’s Illustrated‘s Joe Posnanski was nominated in the “Blogging” category. His competition: IEEE Spectrum’s Automation, Glenn Greenwald’s Blog on Salon, Sunset’s One-Block Diet, and Tablet’s The Scroll.

Soon after Joe Poz took the SI gig, we asked him where his blogging would fit into his new job responsibilities.

“We’re all waiting for the job to kind of evolve. I definitely am very involved in the Web and very involved with the magazine. Trying to figure out scheduling and how all that’s going to work is something we’re still in the process of doing, but it looks like I’m going to be doing quite a bit of column writing for the magazine’s front-of-book Scorecard section. I’m still going to be writing a lot for the Web site, whether it’s something they pick up from my blog or something I do specifically for them. We’ve already planned several fairly big pieces for the magazine. It’s definitely going to be across the board — which is exactly what I want. What makes Sports Illustrated so great to me is that there are so many different outlets, so many different formats for me to write for them.”

We’d say he figured it out. Good luck, Joe.

(H/t Erik Malinowski, who edits Wired.com’s brilliant sports blog, Playbook.)

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Carmelo Anthony Visits Conan Prior To Knicks Trade

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:16:21 +0000

Hours before Carmelo Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks, the forward paid a visit to Conan.

As expected, the interview is awkward at times but Conan O’Brien saves it at the end with the custom jersey he’s created for Anthony.

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The NBA: Where Good Ratings Happen

Noah Davis — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:44:37 +0000

There’s plenty of good news heading into the weekend’s NBA All-Star Game. The league sports a group of great young stars. The game itself is in Los Angeles, which makes everything better. And the ratings continue to be strong.

According to Sports Media Watch, “ABC earned a 3.4 final rating and 5.163 million viewers for Miami’s loss to the Celtics Sunday afternoon. The game drew the highest rating for an early afternoon NBA game (start time prior to 3 PM ET) since Christmas Day 2005, and the highest for a non-Christmas early game since February 2002.”

In fact, “five of the 20 highest rated regular season games on ABC since ’02 have taken place this season alone.”

The NBA is posting excellent numbers on TNT as well.

David Stern can’t touch the success of the NFL, of course, but he has to be pleased with the direction of his league. Well, until the lockout comes, that is.

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Football Head Injuries to Get the Dr. Sanjay Gupta Treatment on CNN

Alex Weprin — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 13:38:08 +0000

The following post is from TVNewser co-editor Molly Stark Dean.

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta anchors a three-part series on the topic of head injuries in football, which will be airing Monday through Wednesday on “American Morning.” The first segment, airing on Monday, features former quarterback Kurt Warner and former linebacker and coach Jack Pardee. Pardee is participating in a University of North Carolina study involving dementia among former football players.

“I played 15 years in the NFL, and they would allude to you getting your bell rung, and the trainer would check you out and ask if you knew your name and where you were,” the former linebacker said to the Houston Chronicle. “And if you could answer, you were ready to go back in the game.”

continued…

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