5 NBA announcers who deserve more airtime

Written by Matt Yoder on .

The playoffs aren't just a time for the teams to shine, what about the announcers!  That's what we're here to talk about at least.  With the NBA Playoffs now moving through the Conference Finals, we take a look at 5 personalities we'd like to see featured more prominently on ESPN and TNT's NBA coverage throughout the postseason and beyond...

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Sportsnet's Hockey Central Twitter account gets hacked, sends out porn links for four days before anyone notices

Written by Andrew Bucholtz on .

Editorial Note:  We have received a note from Sportsnet telling us that the account was hacked and the tweets have been deleted. You'll have to resort to finding porn links on your own now. They've issued an apology on Twitter. You can find a full list of the tweets here.

The sports media world has been connected to the porn world in a lot of odd ways over the years, from Florida Times-Union writer Vito Stellino accidentally tweeting a porn link instead of a link to a newspaper piece to Bill Plaschke's discussion of his porn-viewing habits on a sports radio show to Miami radio host Dan Sileo tweeting he wanted to see Erin Andrews in porn to the ongoing coverage of Taylor Stevens at hockey games. Tuesday might have seen one of the weirdest ones yet, though. Apparently Rogers Sportsnet's HockeyCentral Twitter feed (which has over 15,000 followers!) has been tweeting nothing but suggestive, spammy sex invitations since Saturday...and no one noticed until they sent a particularly graphic one to Sporting News hockey writer Jesse Spector, who promptly pointed it out to the world. It's obvious the account's been hacked (an actually valid excuse for once!), but what's stunning is how no one at Sportsnet appears to be paying any attention to it. 41 minutes after that tweet to Spector, the tweet still existed, as did the four days of archived spam messages. Here's a compilation of some of the best (full Storify feed of all the messages available here):

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2014 NFL Draft officially moving to mid-May; don't expect it return to April

Written by Brad Gagnon on .

The National Football League has confirmed that next year's Draft will indeed take place two weeks later than usual. The league's second-biggest annual event will be held once again at Radio City Music Hall in New York, but on May 8, 9 and 10, rather than April 24-26. 

"The decision was made after discussions with club personnel and key NFL business partners," the league wrote in a press release issued Tuesday. "No decision has been made regarding the dates of the NFL Draft in 2015 and beyond. A variety of alternatives are being explored, teams were told, including holding the Draft at Radio City or at other locations, either in the New York area or in other cities."

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Viewing Picks for May 29, 2013

Written by Ken Fang on .

All Times Eastern

College Football
College Football Live -- ESPN, 3:30 p.m.

College Frisbee
USA Ultimate College Championship: Men -- ESPNU, 8 p.m.
USA Ultimate College Championship: Women -- ESPNU, 9 p.m.

College Softball
Women's College World Series Press Conference -- ESPNU, 2 p.m. & 4 p.m.

Golf
Memorial Honoree Ceremony -- Golf Channel, 3:30 p.m.
On the Range: Memorial Tournament -- Golf Channel, 8 p.m.

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Tuesday in NFL news: Justin Bieber feuds with Keyshawn Johnson and Eric Dickerson

Written by Brad Gagnon on .

Ed Note: The following appears courtesy our friends at This Given Sunday.

For a variety of reasons, the NFL offseason is rarely dull. But the latest sharp story from the world of football (sort of) in May might be the strangest yet.

You know how it goes: Two NFL legends living in an affluent Los Angeles suburb take issue with a Canadian pop star. 

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Keith Hernandez calls a broken bat a "dead soldier" on Memorial Day

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Monday in America was Memorial Day, a day where we celebrate the men and women of the Armed Services that we've lost. MLB typically loads up the schedule with day games and pays tribute to the military before and during each game, and it's something that is a sight to see.

During the Yankees-Mets game on Monday night, Keith Hernandez (a solid, or dare I even say good, broadcaster) made a very unfortunate and (assumingly) accidental slip-up. After Phil Hughes made a nice pitch and broke Daniel Murphy's bat, Hernandez explained what happened, and called the broken bat a "dead soldier". You wouldn't think twice about that on any other day, but on Memorial Day, it's a wince-worthy remark.

[Larry Brown Sports]

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2013 Indianapolis 500 draws lowest overnight rating ever

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Despite a record 68 lead changes, the 2013 edition of the Indianapolis 500 didn't draw viewers. The race's 3.8 overnight rating on ABC was its lowest ever, down 7% from 2012 and 12% from 2011. Since the race began to be broadcast live starting in 1986, this year marks the first year where the overnight has dipped below a 4.0, the previous low set in 2010. This also is the first time in history that the race has drawn under a 4.5 rating in five straight years.

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Ryan Lochte gets dumped over the phone

Written by Ken Fang on .

One of the pitfalls of doing a reality TV show is that the cameras record everything. They not only record the good moments, but the bad moments as well. For Ryan Lochte, cameras were present when his girlfriend of four years called him and dumped over the phone. While we didn't hear the actual conversation, the moment the phone rang and the aftermath of the call were seen on "What Would Ryan Lochte Do?" Well, we know what Ryan did after he got dumped, he drowned his sorrows with beer. 

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5 NHL announcers who deserve more airtime

Written by Matt Yoder on .

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The playoffs aren't just a time for the teams to shine, what about the announcers!  That's what we're here to talk about at least.  With the Stanley Cup Playoffs now moving towards its latter stages, we take a look at 5 personalities we'd like to see featured more prominently on NBC's NHL coverage throughout the postseason and beyond...

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MLB on Fox has hit rock bottom

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Things couldn't be going much worse for MLB on Fox broadcasts this year. Heading into this past weekend's primetime contests, all six of the telecasts couldn't draw a 2.0 rating, and three of the six broadcasts all fell below 1.5. Two weekends ago, the slate of games highlighted by Reds-Phillies drew a pathetic 1.2 rating and 1.7 million viewers, down 37% and 42% from Red Sox-Phillies last year in primetime, and 54% and 59% from Red Sox-Yankees in 2011, also in primetime.

But coming out of the first weekend of primetime games, there's good news and bad news for MLB. In the good news department, the league drew 2.2 million viewers for a pretty middling slate of games. In the bad news department, MLB lost the head to head matchup with the NHL. Yeah, that's right: the NHL beat MLB, and it wasn't even close. Saturday night's Blackhawks-Red Wings Game 5 on NBC drew 2.9 million viewers, and picked up a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demo, compared to just 0.5 for MLB in the same demo.

And when you look at the preliminary overnight rating for the NHL (a 2.0), it looks more and more like MLB on Fox has once again failed to crack a 2.0 rating this season. Considering that this week featured matchups in primetime, that's really not a good sign. Perhaps the shuffling of games to Fox Sports 1 isn't an attempt to enhance the new network, but instead an opportunity to dump a franchise that is seeing its rating tank off of the main Fox mothership.

[TV by the Numbers, Sports Media Watch]

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