T-Mobile Home Run Derby Lineup To Be Announced Tonight

Courtesy: ESPN

MLB’s annual All-Star Break is almost here.  The All-Star Game and Home Run Derby will air live next week.  And later tonight fans will finally know the lineup for this year’s Home Run Derby.

Lindsay Czarniak will announce the full lineup for the 2016 T-Mobile Home Run Derby live on ESPN’s SportsCenter, the network’s flagship sports news program.  The announcement will be made at 6pm ET.  The T-Mobile Home Run Derby will air live next Monday on ESPN at 8pm ET from Petco Park in San Diego, California.  More information on the 2016 T-Mobile Home Run Derby is available online now along with all of the latest MLB headlines at:

 

 

 

Website: http://espn.go.com/mlb

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPNBaseballTonight

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBTN

 

 

 

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Indianapolis 500 Returns To ABC This Weekend For 49th Consecutive Year

Courtesy: Izod Indycar Series

Memorial Day and Memorial Day weekend will be a big one for fans of basketball.  The WNBA kicks up its 2013-2014 season in a big way across ABC and the ESPN family of networks.  Fans of auto racing get to celebrate the weekend with the annual celebration of the Indianapolis 500, live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS).  ABC will broadcast the annual race this Sunday, May 26^th live for the forty-ninth consecutive year.  The race will be preceded by a one-hour pre-race telecast at 11am ET presented by Go Daddy.  The green flag is expected to drop at 12:15pm ET.

The broadcast of the race will incorporate eighty-four different cameras including three each on board twelve of the thirty-three cars entered for the Izod Indy Car Series premier race.  Those drivers who will be carrying in car cameras will be: Defending race winner Dario Franchitti and defending IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. Others will be Charlie Kimball, JR Hildebrand, James Hinchcliffe, Townsend Bell, Will Power, Helio Castroneves, Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and Tristan Vautier.  Veteran racer Ed Carpenter will also carry one of the in-car cameras.

Audiences can also get a view of pit road and the front stretch thanks to the enhanced “Batcam” (skycam).  The “Batcam” runs on a wire overhead pit road and the front stretch at IMS.  The “Batcam” has been used by ESPN for many years.  But with its new enhancements, it can now fly over the track at speeds upwards of ninety-five miles per hour.  Four Ultra Hi Motion cameras placed around the track will give viewers an amazing view of the race.  The cameras, which will be used for the second consecutive year, will be placed in the short chutes at each end of the two and a half mile track.  There will also be a camera in the fourth turn exit, and one robotic camera placed at the entrance to turn one.  Along with the cameras, which can shoot at a rate of up to 1,200 frames per second, each turn will also have a Super Slo Motion camera.

Thanks to ESPN3, fans watching the race will get the option of streaming live video on a second screen.  The live streaming feeds will be available via ESPN’s WatchESPN and WatchESPN app.  ESPN3 is available online via http://www.WatchESPN.com.  Viewers watching online via ESPN3’s second screen can cwitch between in-car cameras.  For the first time this year, fans watching online can also check out the live scoring ticker.  ESPN3 will also carry a rebroadcast of the race after it ends on ABC.

Marty Reid will have the lap-by-lap call, while ESPN SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak will serve as race host.  Former driver Scott Goodyear and 1998 Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever will be on hand for analysis.  Rick DeBruhl, Jamie Little, Dr. Jerry Punch, and Vince Welch will report from the pits.

For all the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

Czarniak Tapped To Lead 2013 Indy 500 Broadcast

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN’s Lindsay Czarniak will host this year’s Indy 500.  The SportsCenter co-host’s appointment to the broadcast marks the first time ever that the race broadcast has ever been helmed by a female broadcaster.  Czarniak co-hosts ESPN’s SportsCenter alongside John Anderson.  Before taking on co-hosting duties with Anderson was a pit reporter and feature reporter for broadcasts of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races on TNT and NBC.  She also hosted ESPN’s NASCAR Now previously. 

Lindsay got her start in broadcasting at WRC-TV (NBC 4) in Washington, D.C.  She worked at WRC-TV from 2005 – 2011.  During her time there, she covered the 2006 Winter and 2008 Summer Olympic Games as well as NASCAR broadcasts. 

Courtesy: ESPN/ABC

The Indy 500 pre-race show is scheduled to run from 11am – 12pm on Sunday, May 26^th.  Czarniak will head the pre-race broadcast from the IMS’ famed Pagoda.  She will also help contribute to the race broadcast itself.  Former Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever will also take part in calling the race.  He will serve as an in-race analyst in the broadcast booth for the race, and for the remaining five races that ABC will carry.

Cheever is a former Formula One racer who won the Indy 500 in 1998.  He made 132 starts in Formula One from 1978 to 1989.  That is the most by any American driver in the history of Formula One racing.  He returned to the U.S. and joined the former CART Series in 1990 and then the IndyCar Series in 1996.  He claimed five wins in his time in the IRL, including his win in 1998.  Cheever last raced in the IndyCar series in 2006.   He will be joined by lap-by-lap announcer Marty Reid and fellow analyst Scott Goodyear to call all six Izod IndyCar Series races broadcast on ABC this season.  Also on hand for the broadcasts will be pit reporters: Rick DeBruhl, Jamie Little, and Vince Welch.  Dr. Jerry Punch will join the broadcast team in the pits for the Indy 500. 

The Indy 500 is the first of six races that will be broadcast on ABC this year.  Each race will be produced by ESPN and broadcast on ABC.  ABC’s other races include: a doubleheader from Detroit’s Belle Island on June 1^st and 2^nd, a primetime broadcast from Texas Motor Speedway on June 8^th, the series’ race from Iowa Speedway on June 23^rd, and its return to the hills of Pocono, PA on July 7^th at Pocono Raceway. 

To get all the latest news from the Izod Indycar Series on ABC and ESPN, viewers can “Like” the ESPN Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ESPN and the ABC Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ABCNetwork.

To keep up with all the latest news from the Izod Indycar Series, fans can “Like” the official Izod Indycar Series Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/IZOD-IndyCar-Series/181178948587654.

To keep up with all the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

NASCAR Now Returns This Friday

Courtesy: NASCAR/ESPN/ESPN2, ESPNNews/Rick Hendrick Racing

ESPN2’s NASCAR Now returns this Friday.  The hit show will air its first new broadcast of the season live from the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.  This year marks the show’s seventh season on ESPN2.  The broadcast will air at 3pm EST.  It will broadcast live from the NHOF as part of the sport’s celebration of the latest class of inductees into the NASCAR Hall.  Among this year’s class of inductees is former driver and NASCAR Now analyst Rusty Wallace.  Also included in this year’s class are:  Leonard Wood, Cotton Owens, Buck Baker, and Herb Thomas.

The broadcast will be anchored by Allen Bestwick.  He will be joined by analysts Dale Jarrett and Ray Evernham.  Both Wallace and Leonard Wood are expected to appear on the broadcast as special guests.  Regular broadcasts will resume Monday, February 11^th.  For the first time, NASCAR Now will broadcast in West Coast prime time this year.  Viewers should check local listings for air times each day.  Also new for this season of NASCAR Now is the inclusion of special segments focusing on drivers Juan Montoya, Joey Logano and Nationwide Series driver Travis Pastrana.  Pastrana’s segments are expected to generally run during the show’s weekday editions while the segments featuring Logano and Montoya are expected to run on race-morning editions of NASCAR Now. 

The entire NASCAR Now staff will be back once again with some new additions this time around.  This season, ESPN SportsCenter anchors Lindsay Czarniak and Jonathan “The Coach” Coachman will also fill in occasionally.  The “NASCAR Nation” can tune in to ESPNNews on Valentine’s Day, for a very special three-hour edition of NASCAR Now beginning at 12pm EST.  The broadcast will be live as part of the Daytona 500 Media Day.  This broadcast and all NASCAR Now broadcasts are available both on TV and online on WatchESPN and on the WatchESPN app.

To keep up with the latest entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it or its companion page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reel-Reviews/381028148587141.  Fans can always keep up with the latest entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.