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Did You Know?
10 Pitchers who had Tommy John surgery were selected to the 2010 All Star game.


      Potpourri: CBS Looking To Renew U.S. Open Deal

Assorted sports media news, including overnight ratings for NFL preseason games on CBS, talk of a new television deal between CBS and the USTA, and the college football debut of Beth Mowins.

Ratings Game: Saturday's Cowboys/Texans NFL exhibition game drew a 4.5 overnight rating on CBS, up 41% from both Chargers/Falcons last year (3.2) and Steelers/Vikings in '08 (3.2). The previous night, CBS drew a 4.0 overnight for Chargers/Saints, down 19% from last year's Patriots/Washington game (4.9). (Sports Business Daily)

Idle Note: Sports Business Journal reports that CBS "expects to renew" its deal to air U.S. Tennis Open "by the end of the year." The network's current contract ends after the 2011 tournament. The new deal could take potential rain delays into account, though it is "uncertain what form rain relief" would take. (Sports Business Journal)

Big Name: Beth Mowins will make her debut as an ESPN college football play-by-play voice Saturday, working Cincinnati/Fresno State on ESPN2. Mowins will be paired with ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer. The game will likely be a tune-up of sorts for Dilfer, who will call the second half of ESPN's season opening Monday Night Football doubleheader. (Fang's Bites)


      Big Names: Costas To Host Winter Classic Again

Recent news involving sports media personalities, including Faith Hill returning to Sunday Night Football and Bob Costas returning to the NHL Winter Classic.

Faith Hill: The singer will return to NBC this season to sing the theme song for Sunday Night Football. This will be Hill's fourth season singing the theme, having replaced Pink in 2007. (Fang's Bites)

Bob Costas: The NBC Sports host will again anchor coverage of the NHL Winter Classic, NBC revealed in a press release this week. Costas has hosted the Winter Classic in each year of the event's existence. (Fang's Bites)

Ian Eagle: The multi-sport, multi-network broadcaster has been promoted to the #3 NFL broadcast team on CBS, replacing Dick Enberg. Eagle will work alongside Dan Fouts. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)


         ESPNews Undergoes Even More Changes

The overhaul of ESPNews continues, as the network's eponymous half-hour newscasts are set to virtually vanish from its schedule.
ESPNews will debut two new shows on Monday that -- along with SportsCenter -- will make up the network's entire weekday line-up.

The first of those shows is The Beat, a half-hour "alternative to SportsCenter" that will air at 6 and 6:30 PM ET. Described in an ESPN press release as "an entertaining and quirky look at sports," the show will feature "stories, highlights, interviews and a variety of segments playing off the show’s name."

The second show, Highlight Express, will essentially replace the current half-hour ESPNews newscasts. Hosted by a rotating line-up of ESPNews anchors, the show will "present the day’s best highlights and sound bites in a fast-paced half-hour format." Another description of the show calls it a "pure highlight experience with no news stories, analysis or other elements."

Highlight Express will air every night at 11 PM ET, re-airing until the next afternoon. The new shows are part of a complete overhaul of the ESPNews line-up. The highest-profile change has been the addition of seven live hours of SportsCenter each weekday, from 3-6 PM and 7-11 PM.

Despite the changes, half-hour ESPNews telecasts are still scheduled to air on weekends through at least October -- generally from 12-3 PM and 8-11 PM on Saturdays and 2-11 PM on Sundays.