Some interesting tidbits here...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:Hulu.com offers a bounty of Internet sports content
Dave Weekley
June 29, 2008

ONE OF THE things I truly enjoy about writing this column is finding interesting sports media items that our readers like, and perhaps they even save them a couple of bucks along the way.

I've been watching free streaming video at Hulu.com since mid-January, mostly Fox and NBC shows, but until recently hadn't really explored the site (registration is required) for sports content.

I was floored.

Click "browse TV" along the tool bar at the top, then select "college football" from the "Genre" category and you will be able to watch any of last year's BCS games that aired on Fox, including WVU's stunning upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. The WVU-Oklahoma game is cut down to just under three hours - the only things missing are the long commercial breaks.

Think about it - no need to buy the Fiesta Bowl DVD or burn your own copy of this game. It's free and always available to you on your computer at Hulu.com, provided you have a good broadband connection.

College football isn't the only sport available there. Hulu.com has Game 1 and Game 6 of the just-concluded NBA Finals, cut down to just two hours each. All six games of this year's Stanley Cup finals are there, including the Penguins' triple-overtime win in Detroit, which checks in at 3:06:19. But the best complete hockey broadcast at Hulu.com might be its the oldest one - Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Finals between Toronto and Detroit (2:05:14).

Hulu.com is great for catching up on television shows or movies you may have missed, but it's also becoming a must-bookmark site for sports fans.

Around the dial

Fresno State's improbable run to the College World Series title was a big hit for ESPN, which averaged 1,091,000 households for nine games (1.1 rating), a robust 27 percent increase in households (vs. 859,000 in 2007).

ESPN's winner-take-all coverage of the best-of-three College World Series finals between Fresno State and Georgia was the Worldwide Leader's second-most-viewed and second-highest-rated college baseball telecast ever (1,897,000 households, 2.0 rating). For the record, ESPN's highest-rated CWS telecast averaged 1,979,000 households and a 2.2 rating for North Carolina vs. Oregon State in the deciding third game in 2006.

* Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez opted not to have the cameras of the Big Ten Network chronicle his every move this season, his first with the Wolverines. According to the Chicago Tribune, Rodriguez passed on a chance to have his team be the focus of BTN's "The Journey," a weekly half-hour reality show. Instead, BTN announced late last week that Ron Zook and Illinois will be the subjects of the program which debuts Labor Day weekend and runs 10 to 13 weeks, depending on the length of the season in Champaign.

There may be a Big East angle to the new five-year extension of the contract to keep Notre Dame football home games on NBC through 2015. The 1.9 average rating for the Irish on NBC last year was the worst since the Domers moved to the Peacock Network in 1991. Financial terms were not announced, but numerous media sources had the Irish deal with NBC to be around $9 million per season, which breaks down to roughly $1.5 million per game.

NBC's new extension with Notre Dame gives the network the rights to seven Irish home games beginning in 2009 and one new neutral-site game each season, which will be played in prime time. (ND traditionally plays no night games at home or no regular-season games on days other than Saturday.) With more Big East teams expected to join future Irish football schedules, neutral-site games against the likes of Connecticut (signed) or perhaps Syracuse (rumored) would be natural television matchups for NBC with the Irish.

* Newsday reported earlier this week that the NFL Network has tabbed Bob Papa as its new play-by-play voice, replacing Bryant Gumbel after a rocky two seasons. Papa, who will stay on as the radio voice of the New York Giants, isn't expected to have any conflict with his duties involving the defending Super Bowl champs. Seven of the eight NFL Network's regular-season telecasts are on Thursdays, including a Week 12 matchup between the Bengals and Steelers Nov. 20 at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field.

* Who says you have to trash others to sell books? Jim Nantz's book, "Always By My Side: A Father's Grace and Sports Journey Unlike Any Other," was No. 3 on The New York Times bestseller list last week. Nantz's first published offering has earned the highest ranking on the NYT bestseller list this year by any sports book.

* This morning's edition of "Outside the Lines" (ESPN 9:30 a.m.; ESPNEWS at noon) examines how NASCAR is having a hard time dealing with today's struggling economy, just like many of its loyal racing fans. Escalating fuel prices are burning through fan's wallets and also dramatically driving up costs for race teams that transport equipment and personnel across the country each week.

"Before, let's say five years ago, a top-echelon team, you were looking at $10-15 million," says motorsports marketing expert Larry Camp of NASCAR team expenses. "All of a sudden, now, because of driver salaries and all the other factors that affected the cost of going racing, that top tier team now is $24-30 million."

* NHL Network (DTV 215) will make available Canadian sports network TSN's celebration of the start of the NHL free-agency period on Canada Day (What, you didn't know it's Tuesday, July 1?). Its second annual "Free Agent Frenzy" show begins at 5 p.m. and runs through 8. NHL teams can officially sign free agents beginning at noon Tuesday.

He said it

ESPN2 covered much of the early-round tennis action from the All-England Club and NBC began celebrating its 39th anniversary of Wimbledon coverage this weekend. NBC's coverage will conclude with next weekend's 29th anniversary of "Breakfast at Wimbledon," coverage of the Ladies' Final on Saturday and the Gentlemen's Final next Sunday. Both begin at 9 a.m.

When asked earlier this week about his interest in coaching American Andy Roddick, an early-round upset victim again this year, three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe offered this:

"I'm pretty much 0 for 10 for whoever I try to help. I would say the odds are pretty bad. I've got six kids and none of them will listen to me. I'm the wrong guy to ask."

Reach Dave Weekley at weekley@yahoo.com.

Rodriguez has never wanted to allow the media past the conference room. I'm not surprised he turned this down. Illinois is going to get a ton of good free publicity out of Rodriguez' need for total control.

He should have taken them up on the offer. He needs all the good publicity he can get. He won't get much once the season starts.

I've been watching "The Office" on Hulu. I have a DSL connection and I go Full Screen and the quality is very close to watching it versus my TV.

Don't think they'll (Hulu) carry games live this fall. I found http://www.channelsurfing.net helpful for basketball last season. Hoping they carry lots of Football content. Thinking about not renewing ESPN Gameplan. On DishNetwork the SNY Big East games were never blacked out.

I'm moving in about a month to a top floor apartment. I'll finally have a view of a satellite and will be able to drop Comcast and order DirectTV or DishNetwork. I've heard better stories about Direct in Tennessee. Most that I've talked to say they had DishNetwork and switched to Direct for better consistency. Dish seems to go out in this area whenever it gets heavily overcast. But this fall, I'm not going to miss many games in The BEast, even though I don't plan to leave Knoxville much. Whoever gives me the best chance at that gets the business.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my Internet connection yet. I'm still checking available options, since this is a college town I'm waiting for the start of the semester special package deals the providers have to entice students to sign up with 'em.

I prefer a local provider I did business with in the 90s. They got the best connection, and the fastest servers. Online access times to mail and files stored on their servers is almost instantaneous. But they have trouble competing, and are usually a good bit more expensive. This time of year is one of the one times they try really hard.