Bay Area Anchor Famous For Singletary Interview Gets The Boot

Maybe you've heard about the infamous live interview 49ers Head Coach Mike Singletary did recently with KPIX sports anchor Dennis O'Donnell. In case you haven't seen the video, you should watch it below.

Having just recently viewed the video myself, I felt the need to voice my opinions here.

I think what Singletary did to O'Donnell on the air was completely uncalled for and downright disrespectful. But beyond that, for O'Donnell to be removed from that special segment is even more ridiculous in my mind.

Not only were O'Donnell's questions timely and topical in wake of a recent Yahoo! Sports article, he was giving Singletary a chance to set the record straight in the team's special segment on KPIX's newscast, which I'm sure is where 49ers fans expect to get the most direct information regarding the team. Even if Singletary didn't know or respect that, he's certainly aware of the money the station pays for that access. And for that reason, he should have been more cooperative during O'Donnell's interview.

Being a sportscaster myself, I just hate the idea that the station and team executives didn't do what was right and have Singletary apologize to O'Donnell. Instead, as we often see in Corporate America, KPIX station execs seemed to bend over backwards to appease the 49ers. It seems as though being a slave to the almighty dollar supersedes doing the right thing.

HALL OF FAME BROADCASTER VIN SCULLY TO RETURN FOR 61ST SEASON

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced that Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully will return to the broadcast booth for an unprecedented 61^st season in 2010.

“For six decades, Dodger fans have been truly blessed to have Vin Scully on the air and we are honored that he will be back in the booth again next season,” said Dodger Owner Frank McCourt. “He has been the one constant over the years and I know that our fans will cherish every game he calls.”

Scully, who recently completed his record-setting 60^th campaign with the Dodgers, will be honored prior to a game next season at Dodger Stadium. His 60 years of service constitute the longest tenure of any broadcaster in sports history.

“We have had two exciting seasons consecutively -- getting into the second round of the playoffs -- and when you get that close, you look to the next year as perhaps the one that you go all the way,” said Scully, who celebrated his 82^nd birthday on Sunday. “I’m very excited and optimistic about 2010 and the direction we’re heading and we’ll take it year-to-year after that.”

Earlier this year, Scully was named as the top sportscaster of all time by the American Sportscasters Association, an honor that has been bestowed upon him by several other associations and polls. With accolades far too numerous to detail, Scully’s crowning achievement came nearly 30 years ago when he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.

Scully began his baseball broadcasting career in 1950, and since then has gone on to call three perfect games, 19 no-hitters, 25 World Series and 12 All-Star Games.  He was also at the microphone for Kirk Gibson’s miraculous Game 1 homer in the 1988 World Series, Hank Aaron’s record-setting 715^th home run, Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 71st, 72nd and 73rd home runs and the scoreless-inning streaks’ of Dodger greats Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser.

When Scully first began broadcasting, the Dodgers had yet to win a single World Series. Gasoline cost 27 cents a gallon, a postage stamp was just three cents and the minimum wage was only 75 cents per hour. Three years later, at the age of 25, he became the youngest person to ever broadcast a World Series game and in 1955, he had his most memorable moment behind the microphone, as he called the Dodgers' first and only championship in Brooklyn.

The following season, Scully once again found himself in the enviable position of calling what he would later say was the greatest individual performance he had seen -- Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series, a broadcast which made national news again earlier this year when the MLB Network launched on January 1 with the rare footage of that game.

In 2010, Scully will continue to call all Dodger home games and the club's road games against NL West and AL West opponents. While Scully handles all nine innings of the team's television broadcasts, the first three innings of each of his games is simulcast on radio. 

Obama Takes Heat For Possible Delay Of World Series Game

Check out this story from CNN about how Barack Obama's 30-minute infomercial to the nation might push back the start of a World Series game.

(CNN) – The Republican National Committee took aim at Barack Obama Wednesday over the Illinois senator's half-hour ad buy that will delay the start of a World Series game by 18 minutes.

"It’s unfortunate that the World Series’ first pitch is being delayed for Obama’s political pitch," RNC spokesman Alex Conant said. "Not only is Obama putting politics before principle, he’s putting it before our national pastime.”

Major League Baseball has agreed to a request from Fox to delay the start time of Game 6 of the World Series (if a Game 6 is necessary) so the network can air the 30-minute Obama spot, a Fox spokesman confirms to CNN. The Illinois senator has also bought similar time on CBS and NBC, set to begin at 8 p.m.

“FOX will accommodate Senator Obama's desire to communicate with voters in this…format," Fox spokesman Scott Gorgin said. "We are pleased that Major League Baseball has agreed to delay the first pitch of World Series Game 6 for a few minutes in order for FOX to carry his program on October 29."

It's the first time a presidential candidate has bought that length of airtime on network television since Ross Perot purchased several 30 minute blocs in 1992.

"This is a big platform, this is a big megaphone, the interest level is clearly there and people will watch," Evan Tracey of Campaign Media Analysis Group, CNN's consultant on campaign advertising said.

The October 29 game will now start at 8:38 instead of 8:20.

Obama Takes Heat For Possible Delay Of World Series Game

FSN AND FARMERS INSURANCE TEAM UP TO CELEBRATE DIVERSITY

Farmers Insurance Group Signs on as Presenting Sponsor of FSN’s Year-Long Diversity Campaign

Original Programs to Debut During Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

LOS ANGELES—FSN, the nation’s leader in local sports, and Farmers Insurance Group today announced plans to team up to celebrate diversity, as Farmers has signed on to be the presenting sponsor of FSN’s year-long diversity awareness campaign.

The campaign will be woven through three major national diversity celebrations including Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), Black History Month (February), and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May).

Among the campaign’s highlights will be a variety of original programs, including 30-minute and 60-minute specials, as well as a series of vignettes entitled Americans in Focus that will honor the achievements and contributions of Americans with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

In producing these programs, FSN has partnered with Beezley Films, Inc., an award-winning, African-American-owned, multi-media production company based in Los Angeles. The vignettes will appear in a variety of FSN programming throughout the year, including NBA, NHL, and MLB telecasts.

Additionally, FSN will televise the Farmers Insurance Group Angel City Classic, the annual football extravaganza held at the Los Angeles Coliseum, that showcases teams from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This year’s game will feature Morehouse College and Prairie View A&M, and it will be televised live throughout Southern California by Prime Ticket @ 2:00 p.m. PT on September 27, as well as to a nationwide audience by FSN’s other regional sports networks.

“It’s an honor to receive this great support from Farmers for our diversity platform,” said Craig Sloan, senior vice president, national advertising sales, FSN. “Our goal with this year-long campaign is to raise awareness of multi-culturalism and share with our viewers these compelling stories of individuals who made significant contributions to society, both in sports and beyond.”

Added Faye W. McClure, vice president, strategic marketing for Farmers Insurance: “Farmers has an 80-year history of supporting the communities where we live and work. We are pleased to partner with FSN to showcase the power of diversity through stories about real people that have made a difference in our communities. Through this partnership, we expect to positively touch the lives of millions through the vignettes, the specials, and our High School sports program.”

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, FSN’s Americans in Focus vignettes will chronicle the stories of past and present Hispanic Americans who have excelled in their professions and have inspired others to greatness. Subjects include: Victor Villasenor, who overcame dyslexia and racial bias to become an award-winning author of seven best sellers; Admiral David Farragut, a U.S. Civil War hero who became the first U.S. naval officer ever to be awarded the rank of Admiral; and Dr. Juan Carlos Finlay, who discovered the cause and eventual cure for the transmission of Yellow Fever.

To further commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, MLB productions and FSN have collaborated to produce Our Game: The Latino Influence in Baseball, an hour-long documentary that will examine and celebrate the heritage of Latin American players in Major League Baseball. The program will be televised nationally across FSN’s networks in September, as the MLB season marches towards the playoffs.

In an effort to raise greater awareness for the diversity campaign in all of Farmers’ “core 29” states within the country, National Advertising Partners (NAP), the Fox-owned sales unit that represents RSNs across the country, has also secured exposure for elements of the campaign on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area, Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic, and Comcast Sports Net Chicago.

FSN Networks
FSN’s regional networks are the nation’s leading provider of local sports. FSN’s owned-and-operated networks serve as the cable and satellite TV home to nearly two-thirds of all NBA, MLB, and NHL franchises in the U.S., producing close to 5,000 live, mostly local, events each year, including more than 1700 in high definition.

About Farmers Insurance
Farmers Group, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services, an insurance-based financial services provider with a global network of subsidiaries and offices in North America and Europe as well as in Asia Pacific, Latin America and other markets. Farmers® is the nation's third-largest Personal Lines Property & Casualty insurance group. Property and casualty products are underwritten and issued by the Farmers Exchanges and their subsidiaries, which Farmers Group, Inc. manages but does not own.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Farmers insurers provide Homeowners, Auto, Business, Life insurance and financial services to more than 10 million households. For more information about Farmers, visit our Web site at www.farmers.com.

-- FSN --

FOX SPORTS WEST WILL DELIVER 35 LAKERS GAME IN HD

Bill Macdonald Anchors “Lakers Live” From Star Plaza Alongside Analyst Norm Nixon; Rick Fox Returns for Select Shows

October 18 Tips it Off: First Lakers Pre-Season Game on Fox Sports WEST


Los Angeles – Fox Sports WEST, the local destination for Los Angeles Lakers basketball, enters its 23rd season as telecast partner with a 35-home game telecast schedule. Two pre-season contests and 33 regular-season games air live from STAPLES Center on WEST. All 35 game telecasts will be available in High Definition (HD). The schedule begins on Saturday, October 18, at 7:30 PM on WEST with live coverage of the Lakers vs. FC Barcelona pre-season matchup.

“Lakers Live” pre- and post-game shows are hosted by Bill Macdonald with expert analysis from Norm Nixon. All season long, “Lakers Live” will air from Star Plaza outside the STAPLES Center and surround Lakers game telecasts on WEST. The half-hour shows provide team access, analysis and player/coach interviews. New this season, the Sunday pre-game editions of “Lakers Live” will be one-hour long and, following an entertaining and informative run on “Lakers Live” during the 2008 NBA Playoffs, former Laker Rick Fox returns for select shows.

Game telecasts feature Stu Lantz in his 22nd season as analyst and play-by-play announcer Joel Meyers in his fourth consecutive season. Patrick O’Neal and Michael Eaves provide sideline reporting for both the Lakers and visiting teams throughout the season.

Macdonald’s “Philosophy 101” segment airs in each WEST Lakers game telecast just prior to tip-off. “Philosophy 101” features Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson and provides a preview of what viewers and fans alike can expect to see from the purple and gold that evening.

Game telecasts are produced by Mark Shah. Doug Freeman returns to the director’s chair for all Lakers games on WEST.

Following the first Lakers pre-season telecast on October 18, WEST delivers “Lakers Season Preview Special”. The half hour program begins approximately at 10:00 PM.


About Fox Sports WEST
In addition to the Los Angeles Lakers, Fox Sports WEST is the destination for the Los Angeles Galaxy, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Los Angeles Kings. Together, WEST and sister network PRIME TICKET present more live, local sports programming than any other network or broadcast system in the market. Serving sports fans in Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii, WEST and PRIME TICKET produce over 700 live sporting events and telecast over 5,000 hours of original programming every year. For complete national and regional sports news, provocative opinions, telecast schedules and updated statistics, log-on to www.foxsports.com.

-- Fox Sports WEST--

Brett Favre: Retired or not?

Let me preface my following comments with this statement: I really don't care if Brett Favre stays retired or comes back to play for the Packers this season. I truly and honestly don't. He's a grown-ass man and he can do whatever he wants.

But having said that, I do have a problem with the media's--especially ESPN's-- utter infatuation with this man. I mean, some people are treating Favre's impending comeback as though it were Jesus Christ rolling back that stone on Easter Sunday. If Favre does indeed play again this season, will he get a holiday named after him leading people to get dressed up in their Sunday best for a game?

Yes, he's one of the game's all-time greats. Without question. But he hasn't won a Super Bowl since 1997. His last Super Bowl appearance came in 1998. His run of 3 consecutive MVP awards stopped more than 11 years ago. He's come close to getting back to the Super Bowl in recent years, but so have Drew Brees and Jake Plummer, and Rex Grossman and Matt Hasselbeck actually got there. So what exactly does that say?

He's just another Hall of Fame football player hoping to make sure his decision to leave the game is one he won't regret. He wants to be certain he's ready to leave when he actually leaves. So while he battles with this emotional, life-altering choice, give the man some space. If you stop crowding him demanding a definite yes or no, he might actually give you what you want-- one more year!