Still WatchDog's Media Person of Year

Not included in my Sports Media Year in Review below is my New York Sports Media Person of the Year. That's because I awarded it three months ago to Jerry Manuel.

But it's instructive to recall whom the 2007 winner was: Hank Steinbrenner.

Now he isn't even the most important Son of Steinbrenner in media terms.

Hey, stuff happens. Let's see how some of my "Fearless Predictions for 2008" from Dec. 30, 2007, came out:

Bryant Gumbel won't return to play-by-play on the NFL Network and Tony Kornheiser won't return to "Monday Night Football." (OK, 1-for-2 there. Not bad.)

Goldman Sachs again will prove its ability to collect cold, hard cash when it unloads its stake in the YES Network for in excess of $1 billion for less than half ownership. (Oops. That was back before the pyramid scheme that was the U.S. economy of the 21st century collapsed.)

The NHL won't return to ESPN. (Right.)

The Giants and Jets won't announce the sale of personal seat licenses for their new stadium. (Wrong.)

WFAN's afternoon show won't leave YES, where it is signed through December. (Right.)

The NFL Network won't strike a deal with Big Cable. (Right.)

But all of those things will happen in 2009. (Wrong.)

The dustup this month over rising prices for Mets and Yankees tickets will seem tame when the bill for the teams' new stadiums comes due. (True.)

ESPN, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated and other media goliaths desperate for content will continue to stage bidding wars for top sportswriting talent, raiding staffs of cash-strapped major newspapers in search of underpaid stars ready to bolt. Call me. (They didn't.)

Friday comment contest winner

Jim Clark takes this week's prize for his reaction to my decision to transcribe most of Joe Benigno's post-Jets-loss rant on WFAN:

"When Ezra Cornell founded his university, he wanted it to teach young 'uns to be students of science and agriculture, much like his distant cousin Benjamin Franklin. Little did he suspect they would end up teaching its students how to transcribe monologues by 55-year-old former frozen food salesmen on the failings of athletes tossing a leather-skin spheroid [down] the field."

Jon Heyman of SI/SNY/WFAN to join MLB Network

Former Newsday scribe Jon Heyman of SI, SNY and WFAN will be joining the MLB Network as an "insider."

No wonder the unemployment rate is rising. Heyman is taking all the jobs!

2008 in review:

Buzz, Mad Dog, Gus, Stray

My three personal most memorable events/stories of 2008:

1. Watching the Giants win Super Bowl XLII the way most of the rest of the world did - on TV - albeit one in a Fox trailer 100 yards outside the stadium, inside of which my assigned seat sat empty. Sigh.

2. Being in the audience for Buzz Bissinger's verbal attack on blogging pioneer Will Leitch on "Costas Now" April 29. The other highlight that night was Michael Strahan going after Chris Russo, saying, "The last time you had a uniform on was when your mom took you trick-or-treating."

3. That HBO show was back when Russo and Mike Francesa were partners. Less than two months later, I reported they likely would break up by Labor Day. Less than two months after that, they did.

Here's more:

Studio Analyst Rookie of the Year: Michael Strahan, Fox.

Most Impressive Local TV Day: SNY's marathon, admirably blunt coverage (and criticism) of the Mets for their handling of the Willie Randolph firing.

Most Uncomfortable-But-Amusing Misunderstanding: Sameer Mishra, 13, eventual National Spelling Bee champ, thought he heard "numbnut" when he was asked to spell "numnah," leading to much confusion, and later a candid interview with Erin Andrews.

Best Unintentional Imitation of Gus Johnson: Dan Hicks calling the final leg of the men's 4x100 free relay swim in Beijing.

Best Imitation of Gus Johnson by Gus himself: His call of the fourth-down incompletion from Brett Favre to Laveranues Coles last weekend.

Best sports movie: I have not seen "The Wrestler" yet, but face it: It was a grim year for non-fiction sports flicks, lowlighted by the unfortunate part hockey played in Mike Myers' "Love Guru."

Best Sports Book: How about we consider the 137 books about the Giants of the 1950s through the Giants of the mid-2000s published during the past 1 1/2 years and give them the title as a group entry?

Non-Denial Denial of the Year: Russo offered a passionate monologue June 23 in which he appeared to deny my story of the day before but never quite did. He came close, though:

"Contracts. Contracts. Contracts. You abide by contracts. Mine's got a long, long way to go, not to mention that quote-unquote non-compete clause following it. You're never going to get rid of me here."

Sports consultant calls Yanks 'not-for-profit' business

Marc Ganis, a quotable consultant who has been a regular in sports business columns such as mine for many years, made a brief appearance in my Wednesday article in the wake of the Mark Teixeira signing.

Full disclosure: He has done work for the Yankees in the past - including on the financing of the new stadium. But he had interesting things to say about the team's most recent spending spree.

"The Yankees get criticized because many say it's an unfair advantage," he said. "My question is, don't the Mets have the same advantage? The Mets play in exactly the same market and are moving into what some might say is a better stadium for revenues. They also own a regional sports network. Why is it that the Yankees can do this and the Mets can't?

"It's because winning is more important to George Steinbrenner than to any other owner in Major League Baseball, and arguably more than in any sport. Just as the Yankees spend money at a different level, George's focus on winning is also at a different level. The Yankees are a not-for-profit business from the Steinbrenners' perspective.

", as much money as we take in, and we take in a lot, we're going to put right back on the field. We charge top dollar for tickets and give you the top players possible. That's the bargain.

"Now, you could take a different approach. You could take the Mets' approach, which is still very generous in terms of salaries, or you could take a Florida Marlins approach at the other extreme."