Longtime CBS golf announcer Ken Venturi passes away

Written by Matt Yoder on .

venturi

Former CBS golf analyst and 1964 US Open champion Ken Venturi passed away Friday afternoon at the age of 82.  Venturi's most important victory came at Congressional, when in the '64 Open he overcame extreme heat exhaustion to claim his only major.  It's one of the most famous major tournaments in the history of golf as Venturi was followed by a doctor for most of the day while he was battling for the win.  Earlier this year, Venturi was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame, although his physical condition didn't allow his attendance.

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Viewing Picks for May 19, 2013

Written by Ken Fang on .

All Times Eastern

College Baseball
Oklahoma at Kansas State -- Fox College Sports Central. 2 p.m.
Oregon State at Oregon -- Pac-12 Network, 3 p.m.

College Lacrosse
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament
Quarterfinals, Indianapolis, IN
Denver vs. North Carolina -- ESPNU, noon
Notre Dame vs. Duke -- ESPNU, 2:30 p.m.

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Rockies announcer jokingly calls Carlos Gonzalez home run

Written by Matt Yoder on .

Friday night the Root Sports Rockies broadcast answered a fan question about home runs being hit into the fountains at Coors Field during the 6th Inning.  Rockies play by play man Drew Goodman jokingly says, "Yea, Cargo's about to."  On the next pitch, Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez hits a home run to straightaway center that falls just short and wide of the mark.  You can hear Goodman try and work the ball into the fountains and his slight disappointment that Gonzalez couldn't get the job done.

Gonzaelz did get the home run, but he couldn't hit the fountains... so we'll give this a 6.5 on the Psychic Announcer Scale.

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Pirates post-game interviewer gets pied and showered

Written by Joe Lucia on .

After the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 5-4 in walkoff fashion thanks to a Houston error, Root Sports post-game interviewer Robby Incmikoski was interviewing Pedro Alvarez, who tied the game at four in the eighth inning with a titanic home run. Near the end of the interview, you can see Alvarez look past Incmikoski and slightly smile. Out of nowhere, Pirates pitcher AJ Burnett pies Incmikoski in the face, an honor usually reserved for the player getting interviewed post-game.

A baffled Incmikoski then tries to regroup, but before he can ask Alvarez his next question, he gets doused with the Gatorade bucket by another Pirates player. Give Incmikoski credit, because he managed to hold his composure after the Gatorade shower and finish the interview with Alvarez.

That dry cleaning bill sure will be ugly, though. I hope the Pirates cover that one.

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Penguins, Bruins, Rangers thriving in playoff ratings

Written by Joe Lucia on .

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins advanced to the NHL Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals, and on the way, both clubs did extremely well in the ratings in their local markets. In the Penguins-Islanders series, Root Sports averaged a record 21.3 rating for the six games, with a 23.3 rating in  Game 6 setting the high watermark for a first round playoff game on Root and clocking in at the third-highest rated playoff game ever on the network.

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Viewing Picks for May 18, 2013

Written by Ken Fang on .

All Times Eastern

Arena Football
Orlando Predators at Philadelphia Soul -- CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m.

Australian Rules Football
Collingwood Magpies vs. Geelong Cats -- Fox Soccer Plus, 5:30 p.m.
Carlton Blues vs. Port Adelaide Power -- Fox Soccer, 11 p.m.

Boxing
Showtime Championship Boxing, Atlantic City, NJ
Jr. Welterweight Fight
Lamont Peterson vs. Lucas Martin Matthysse -- Showtime, 9:15 p.m.

All-Access: Mayweather vs. Guerrero: Epilogue -- Showtime, 9 p.m.

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Aly Raisman was drug tested on the set of Access Hollywood

Written by Reva Friedel on .

Current Dancing With the Stars finalist and Olympic Gold Medalist Aly Raisman got a surprise drug test when she visited the set of Access Hollywood Live yesterday. Via Yahoo:

The 18-year-old gymnast said the drop-in tests are "random," but questioned their timing, as she's about to compete in the "DWTS" Season 16 finale.

"It's the World Anti-Doping Agency. They haven't [tested me] since the Olympics, and they choose the finale week of 'Dancing with the Stars' to come!" she said. "Out of all the days since the Olympics, they choose like, the craziest week."

I understand the point of drug tests. I even understand the point of random drug tests. What I do NOT understand, is doing them live on Access Hollywood. Especially because the results take 4-6 weeks, so it's not like they can do a reveal at the end of the show. 

It seems like Raisman handled it well and has nothing to hide. But yeah. Weird.

[Yahoo]

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ABC's NBA playoff ratings are in the tank

Written by Joe Lucia on .

ABC is really hurting without the benefit of the Miami Heat on their airwaves. This past weekend, ratings for the Spurs-Warriors and Knicks-Pacers games suffered sharp declines. Sunday's San Antonio-Golden State matchup drew a 3.4 rating and 5.3 million viewers, down 29% in ratings and 30% in viewers from last year's Heat-Pacers game and 36% and 40% from 2011's Lakers-Mavericks matchup. The Knicks and Pacers didn't fare any better on Saturday evening, drawing similar marks of a 3.5 rating and 5.3 million viewers, down 29% and 35% from Heat-Celtcs in 2011 (with no comparable game last year).

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A "prominent hockey analyst" is involved in the Rob Ford cocaine scandal?

Written by Matt Yoder on .

If you've been online in the last 24 hours, you've likely seen the news somewhere that goofy Toronto mayor Rob Ford is embroiled in a crack cocaine scandal.  Individuals are in the process of trying to sell the video of Toronto's mayor smoking crack, but Gawker and the Toronto Star have balked at the high asking price.  However, both publications have put out articles reporting to have seen the video, and confidently identifying Ford in it.

But there is one detail buried in the Gawker story that has a connection to the sports world.  Almost as a throwaway in the Ford schadenfreude, this tidbit is mentioned that links a "prominent hockey analyst" to the Toronto celebrity drug ring:

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How MLB splits your TV dollars

Written by Dave Warner on .

Last week, we examined how your cable and satellite bills will pay for Major League Baseball’s billion-dollar TV deals. Now let’s look at what that means for the teams themselves. How does baseball distribute your money?

We know that MLB’s new national TV contracts with ESPN, Fox, and Turner will more than double the amount of money each team received from those three networks. Where the previous contract paid teams an average of $25.53 million each per year, next year’s contract will pay teams an average of $51.67 million per year. Having an additional $26 million on hand seems useful.

Now lets take a look at the local TV deals. Much of this data was compiled by Wendy Thurm of Fangraphs, with some data from around the web filling in the gaps. Some of the numbers are rough estimates, with escalators in place for the New York Yankees (4%) and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2.5%).

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