Let The Yankees - Red Sox Hype Begin

Many of us often joke about how the baseball media seems to stop the world every single time the Yankees and Red Sox play, no matter what the circumstances. It already seems as though every one of these meetings must, by law, be nationally televised. If ESPN, Fox, or TBS don't have the game, MLB Network takes it and makes it one of their showcase games they produce.

As ESPN thinks that every baseball fan has Tuesday (4/10) on their calendar as being the much anticipated date of the first regular season matchup of these two teams, they have taken this to an even higher level.

This is so unbelievable that it almost bears watching just to see if ESPN is serious about their plan. They issued a Press Release about their pre-game coverage. So help me, they did. For an April weeknight meeting two weeks into the season.

Get this. From 4:00 until 5:00 ET, ESPN2 shows Intentional Talk with Chris Rose and Kevin Millar (in conjunction with MLB Network) and air some of batting practice of the upcoming Yankees vs. Red Sox game. And there is more.....

At 5:00 ET, ESPN2 follows with "Around The Cage". This one hour show will be hosted by Karl Ravech and include John Sciambi, Rick Sutcliffe, and Tim Kurkjian, promising manager and player interviews.

Of course, SportsCenter follows at 6 PM ET. The network assures us in this Press Release that there will be more live updates from Ravech and Kurkjian as the network leads into its live telecast at 7 PM.

After all, fans wouldn't want to miss out on seeing if the grounds crew finishes on time and the starting pitchers really do start warming up in the bullpen.

Seriously. ESPN issued a Press Release and promises hours of pre-game coverage for an early season baseball game. It's amazing that they allow other MLB teams to play their games at any point in that three hour window.

While this goes on, ESPN finally started their new morning show, the one that got delayed for three months, last week. The "Get Up" show came in with ratings down roughly 8% from the same week one year ago. No surprise here. They were so worried about having a new studio and other production issues addressed that they gave viewers and ESPN Radio listeners three months to sample other morning shows before finally starting this one.

Speaking of bizarre, NBC Sports offers a new twist on their expanded coverage of televising every NHL Playoff game again this season. They plan their usual excellent job of scheduling, calling upon sister channels such as CNBC to help with overflow coverage. This post-season, however, they are moving two telecasts to, of all places, The Golf Channel.

On April 18th, The Golf Channel airs the Devils vs. Lightning game, followed by the Ducks vs. Sharks, in what will be the first non-golf live event shown on that network. Since those are both Game 4 of the respective series, these telecasts will definitely occur.

It will be interesting to see how that fares. An interesting way for NBC to call attention to The Golf Channel, even if for one night.

Speaking of calling attention, it's hard to believe that ABC and NBC openly conceded the sports viewing audience to the final round of The Masters on Sunday (7/8). Both the NBA and NHL begin their playoffs this week, while both leagues have battles in the standings for playoff positions still very much in progress.

Yet, ABC did not have a Sunday afternoon telecast of an NBA game at all, while NBC did not air an NHL game. As we point out with baseball and even the NCAA Tournament, networks which televise them need a consistent presence during the regular season. Telling viewers their sport "can't compete with golf" seems absurd, especially with the millions of dollars they spend on rights fees.

At least NBA TV came through with a live quadruple header of games on Sunday, although chances are not enough viewers were aware. This came after ABC had very strong ratings from its Saturday night (4/7) NBA telecast.

SAN DIEGO: Next up on the "bizarre" list is the situation with the Padres and 97.3 The Machine. As of press time, there has still been no word from the Padres about the rumored possibility the team would pull the team broadcasts off this rock station after the social media controversy last week.

So far, no sign of Kevin Klein on the morning show. Now it has been discovered that Entercom, which owns the station, has registered three web sites including "973TheFanSanDiego.com". The station also just added Dan Sileo to its midday lineup, acting as if the controversial host would not necessarily focus on sports.

The only other full time sports station in San Diego is XEPRS The Mighty 1090. This all raises the possibility that the 97.3 could go as far as to remove Klein, and the rock music format, and go all sports in support of its Padres contract.

Since there has been no action (again, as of press time) taken by the Padres about their broadcasts, it would lend credence to this possibility.

SAN FRANCISCO: Now that KGMZ 95.7 The Game has finally developed some traction in the ratings, the station has given a multi-year extension to Damon Bruce, host of afternoon drive. Bruce has been with the station since 2014.

HOUSTON: SportsMap 94.1, among the sports stations struggling for ratings, has added Stephen A Smith from ESPN Radio to its midday schedule, airing after local programming with Charlie Pallilo.

CHICAGO: In an amazing twist, Dan McNeill is off the air after just two weeks since returning to WSCR 670 The Score afternoon drive. McNeill revealed that a medical procedure left him with a paralyzed right vocal cord. There is no set recovery time. The station is currently rotating among its other hosts and anchors to work along side co-host Danny Parkins.

Finally, a sad note. The sports media lost Joe McConnell, most recently the voice of Purdue football prior to his full retirement in 2009, at the age of 79. McConnell is known for having called NFL post-season on Westwood One in the 80's, and play-by-play stints with the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings. He also called baseball for the White Sox radio and TV from 1980-84 after a couple of seasons calling Twins games. Before that, he called the Indiana Pacers on radio in the late 70's.

Personally, I consider McConnell to have been the greatest football announcer I ever heard. He had a genuine enthusiasm for whatever team he was calling. I can't believe he didn't get more opportunities at the national level. However, from knowing him and getting the privilege to work with him (I did statistics for him on most Bears broadcasts during the 1980 season), I had a hunch that he preferred the simple midwest to the spotlight of the national media.

We'll miss you, Joe!