Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports media…

Ralph Kiner: The death of the Hall of Fame slugger and long-time Mets announcer produced many tributes, including this one from Keith Olbermann.

Richard Sandomir, New York Times:

His lack of pretension and his wit and amiability made “Kiner’s Korner,” his postgame show, required viewing, even if it looked like public access programming. In its debut from the Polo Grounds, Mets Manager Casey Stengel forgot to remove his microphone as he left the interview and brought the set down.

“Hold up the cue cards because we have to get to commercial so I can get off the air,” Kiner recalled telling his production assistant during an interview in 2012.

And, inadvertently, he was a brilliant malapropist.

Bob Raissman, New York Daily News:

This isn’t about the malaprops that made us laugh or his Hall of Fame career. Nor is it about his amazing recall of baseball history. It ain’t about how he, Lindsey Nelson, and Bob Murphy gave birth to the Mets’ earliest selling point — that loveable loser image.

No, this is about the courage Ralph Kiner displayed turning the corner and heading down the last lane of his broadcast career. On Thursday afternoon, shortly after we learned Kiner was dead, someone asked Vin Scully, the patron soul of all baseball microphones, about Ralphie.

“Ralph Kiner,” Scully — pausing- said. “Loud bat. Soft voice.”

Phil Mushnick, New York Post:

I went to college near Pittsburgh, and any time I was around the fathers of my friends from those western Pennsylvania coal and steel towns, I asked about Kiner. Almost invariably, they told how Forbes Field would empty, be it the seventh, eighth or ninth inning, after what was presumed to be Kiner’s last at bat.

NFL money machine: Ben Koo at Awful Announcing writes that the latest TV deal with CBS is yet another example of the power of the NFL.

Nearly four years ago, Roger Goodell outlined a rather audacious annual revenue goal of $25 billion by 2027 to NFL owners, his de-facto employers. At the time, the NFL was doing about $8.5 billion annually meaning that Goodell was hoping to raise revenue $1 billion a year for 18 years to hit the mark. Surprisingly, with the help of recently renegotiated television deals as well as the new CBS Thursday Night partnership, the NFL is on track. Not bad for a non profit organization right? 

There are a lot of interesting things to ponder in light of the NFL’s latest big step towards the goal with a shrewdly conceived gameplan on the Thursday night front but what sticks out to me is just how brilliantly efficient and aggressive the NFL is becoming as a business. As a fan, some of this is troubling but as a guy who just started watching syndicated programming on CNBC, it’s damn impressive.

Turner and NBA: John Ourand of Sports Business Daily predicts Turner’s digital power will help the network do a new contract with the NBA.

I’ll come out and say it now. Turner Sports will renew its NBA media deal this season for reasons that have nothing to do with Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and the rest of TNT’s Emmy-winning on-air talent.

Rather, it’s Turner’s management of the NBA’s vast digital properties that will carry the most sway with the league.
 
Of course, Turner will have to pay enough money to renew its rights deal. But Turner’s handling of the NBA’s digital business, which is now in its sixth season, has become so extensive, encompassing everything from mobile and social to broadband and the NBA’s out-of-market package. It would be difficult for the league to unwind that structure.

Lolo Jones: Michael Bradley of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana writes about another round of Lolo at the Olympics.

Now that we are a scant few days away from the official commencement of the Putin Games in Sochi, Americans must brace themselves for what promises to be an onslaught of coverage regarding Lolo Jones. Normally, bobsled competition isn’t all that popular, but the inclusion of Jones as a brakeman (brakeperson?) on the U.S. squad guarantees that the NBC broadcast posse and writers/broadcasters in need of something other than tales of corruption and abuse will be focusing on the hometown sled and its chances.

Make that focusing on Jones and her quest for a gold medal.

Olympic shame: In his NPR commentary, Frank Deford hates the idea of an Olympics being hosted by Putin.

How is it possible that the IOC could have done so little due diligence as to award the games to a Soviet throwback, bent on putting on a show in an out-of-the-way place where poverty and pay-offs thrive, where terrorism and tragedy loom, where the environment is endangered, dissent is disallowed, and prejudice is certified by law? Does anybody in the IOC ever have to answer for its mistakes? In particular, why aren’t our American reps ever held to account?

CSN Chicago event: Paul Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch talks to David Kaplan, who will co-host The 26th Annual Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards Monday. The annual dinner, one of the highlights of the year in Chicago, benefits the March of Dimes.

Jeff Pearlman stories: Pearlman on his site writes about his reporting on two 7,000-word plus stories that came out this week; a piece about a one-time storied football recruit who landed in jail and another on the 1984 U.S. hockey team.

As soon as I agreed to write up Williams, I dug and dug and dug through old clips, circling any name that might be worth contacting. For me, that doesn’t just mean family members and friends. It means old teammates, lawyers, people he accompanied on recruiting trips, coaches, associates, journalists who covered his high school and college careers. I developed a philosophy back in my days at Sports Illustrated that still works for me today: Namely, someone may well write a sexier/smoother/snappier story. But—with dogged reporting and interviewing—no one will write a more complete story. So I call everyone. Literally, everyone. Some call back, some don’t. But I always reach out.