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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Bob Wolfley column: Brewers sweep top ratings(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 1--There was coverage of the NBA draft, Wimbledon and U.S. Olympic qualifying in both track and swimming, but local television viewers preferred baseball to anything else, according to ratings for sports events aired between Thursday and Sunday. Four baseball games televised in the Milwaukee market accounted for the top four ratings of all televised sports in those four days. The Milwaukee Brewers' first game against the host Minnesota Twins on Friday night on FSN Wisconsin drew the largest audience with an 8.2 rating, or 73,062 households. Next was the Brewers-Twins telecast on Sunday with a 6.1 rating, or 54,351 households, followed by Brewers-Twins on Saturday night, 5.0, or 44,550 households and the Chicago Cubs at Chicago White Sox on Saturday afternoon on WITI-TV (Channel 6), 4.7, or 41,877 households. U.S. Olympic team qualifying in track & field and swimming from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday on WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) was next with a 3.8 rating, or 33,858 households. The NBA draft Thursday night on ESPN had a 2.9 rating, or 25,839 households, from 6:30 to 11 p.m. The highest-rated quarter-hour of the draft came from 7:15-7:30 p.m., when the Bucks drafted forward Joe Alexander of West Virginia. Those 15 minutes rated 4.2, or 37,422 households. Soccer's European Championship between Germany and Spain on WISN-TV (Channel 12) had a rating of 1.6, or 14,256 households. That was about the size of the audience for Wimbledon tennis on Sunday morning on Channel 4, which had a 1.5 rating, or 13,365 households. Fresno State's victory over Georgia in Game 3 of the College World Series last week was the second-highest rated college baseball telecast ever on ESPN. The FresnoState-Georgia game had a rating of 2.0, or almost 1.9 million households. The top telecast came on June 26, 2006, when Oregon State beat North Carolina in a deciding game. That had a 2.2 rating, or 1.98 million households. Harris visits ESPN Green Bay Packers cornerback Al Harris is scheduled to be in Bristol, Conn., the home of ESPN, and appear on a number of shows. Harris is to appear on "First Take" and "NFL Live" on the TV side as well as "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" and the "Tirico & Van Pelt" shows on the radio side. Harris also is scheduled to do an ESPN.com chat. Yi as selling point The New Jersey Nets, who are turning their roster upside down, wasted no time trying to trade on optimism for the future. They are offering a season-ticket deal to fans. If they buy a season ticket in certain areas of Continental Airlines Arena, they get a second one for free. Anyone making that purchase gets a free Yi Jianlian jersey. Rating Jefferson Small forward Richard Jefferson, who was acquired by the Bucks last week, is rated the 13th-best small forward in the league. John Hollinger of ESPN Insider has Jefferson rated the second-best small forward in the Central Division, behind LeBron James, who is ranked the top small forward in the league. One of Jefferson's calling cards last season for the Nets was his availability for all 82 games, and his minutes-per-game average (39.0) ranked him eighth in the league. Ahead of him were Denver's Allen Iverson (41.8), Atlanta's Joe Johnson (40.8), Cleveland's James (40.4), Washington's Caron Butler (39.9), New York's Jamal Crawford (39.9), Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala (39.5) and Golden State's Stephen Jackson (39.1). Name game Whether the nickname for the Bucks' Alexander sticks, no one is sure. But it's a pretty good one. Alexander is referred to as "Vanilla Sky." At the Orlando predraft camp, Alexander's no-step vertical jump was 32.5 inches. His maximum vertical was 38.5 inches. Call SportsDay at (414) 223-5531 or send e-mail to [email protected] To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |