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Time to open another edition of the notebook. Let's go over some of the sports media stories that are circulating this week…

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the Indianapolis 500 on ABC will have a new host in May, ESPN's Lindsay Czarniak who replaces Brent Musburger. Czarniak once hosted NASCAR on TNT before joining ESPN in 2011.

Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch outlines how ESPN and NFL Network will cover this week's NFL Draft.

Sports Illustrated will have a special regional cover for Boston this week.

Staying with the Boston theme, Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that NESN saw big weekend ratings for the Red Sox and Bruins.

Also from Multichannel, Andrea Morabito reports that Golf Channel will begin live streaming its network 24/7 for authenticated cable subscribers.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Ed Sherman writes that Twitter will be front and center during the NFL Draft this week.

We learned on Tuesday that ESPN named former New York Times writer Robert Lipsyte as its new Ombudsman. Lipsyte talks with the New Republic's Marc Tracy about being the independent voice of ESPN.

ESPN.com's Brett McMurphy notes the name of the new college football playoff will be "College Football Playoff." What?

To Sports Media Watch where Paulsen notes that the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat had the best ratings among all local NBA markets.

Scott L. Smith from the Stamford (CT) Advocate writes that NBC Sports not only has a state-of-the-art production facility in town, but also some very impressive hardware from various sports.

Super Beta Prostate spokesman Joe Theismann made a guarantee to a DC sports radio station that Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III will be ready when the team kicks off its 2013 regular season. I wonder if Theismann was able to make that prediction while running to the bathroom.

Bob Carlton of the Birmingham (AL) News says sports radio talk show host Paul Finebaum is a free agent and is talking to ESPN about possibly becoming a contributor. Finebaum can be heard nationallly on SiriusXM.

CBS Sports Network will re-air some of Floyd "Money" Mayweather's previous fights in advance of his May 4 bout with Robert Guerrero.

And that will close this edition of the notebook.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.