On The Air
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
June 3, 2005

Flyers’ announcer Jim Jackson, who was locked out of his full-time job last season, is enjoying his summer job as part of the Trenton Thunder baseball announcing crew.

“I am thoroughly enjoying calling baseball play-by-play again after a twelve-year absence.  My partner Dan Loney and the entire Thunder organization have been extremely helpful.  I cannot say enough about them,” he said.

Jackson’s book about the Flyers of old, “Walking Together Forever, The Broad Street Bullies, Then and Now” is available in area bookstores.

Last week was the 30^th anniversary of when the Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres for their second and last Stanley Cup.  

Comcast SportsNet will televise games two, five, six, and seven of the Calder Cup Finals between the Philadelphia Phantoms and the Chicago Wolves.  Games two is tomorrow at 8 p.m. 

Gimme the Bike

Though much of the talk around town this week has been about “Live 8” July 4^th, another major event comes to Philadelphia this weekend as the 21^st annual “Wachovia USPRO Championship” bike race returns. 

WPVI will provide all-day coverage of the race beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday.  Sports director Gary Papa leads the WPVI team of Cecily Tynan, Scott Palmer, Karen Rogers, and new meteorologist Adam Joseph. A preview will air Saturday at 7 p.m.  More than a half million people are expected to attend the 156-mile course through Philadelphia from the Parkway to Kelly Drive to the “Manayunk Wall.”

Sports Flicks

“The Longest Yard” got sports movies off to a great start this summer with a gross of 50-million dollars at the box office last weekend.  Another big sports movie, “Cinderella Man,” the story of depression-era boxer James J. Braddock, hits theatres today.  Russell Crowe has the title role. 

Judging by the reaction of the sold-out preview I attended last weekend, this should be another successful collaboration between Crowe and his “A Beautiful Mind” director Ron Howard.  Renee Zellweger and Paul Giamatti co-star.

This will give boxing the boost that wasn’t provided by the Sylvester Stallone/Mark Burnett reality show, “The Contender,” that did poorly in the ratings for NBC this spring.

ESPN and the Discovery Channel have become the first networks in cable television history to pass the 90-million subscriber mark in the U.S., according to A.C. Nielsen estimates for June 2005.

Not surprisingly, photogenic former NBA player Rick Fox was part of ABC’s halftime report during the NBA playoffs.