The debut of Nationals Park on ESPN Sunday night was apparently of great interest to baseball fans across the country.

ESPN said the game between the Nationals and Atlanta Braves averaged 2.7 million households and 3.656 million viewers, making it the most-watched Opening Night ever on the network. The previous high was in 1994, when the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds drew 2.565 million households and 3.612 million viewers

The corresponding 2.8 rating from Sunday night was the highest for an Opening Night game since the Chicago White Sox opened at the Seattle Mariners in 1996.

-- Tim Lemke

Thursday night's game between the Capitals and Lightning was the most-watched hockey game ever on Comcast Sportsnet.

The game scored a 2.2 rating on Comcast SportsNet among viewers in the D.C. area, representing about 50,000 households. The rating is nearly three times higher than the average for Capitals games this season.

The game also recorded a 2.7 rating among the highly coveted 18-49 male demographic, representing about 40,000 viewers.

- Tim Lemke

Yahoo! and Major League Baseball Advanced Media have announced a three-year deal that will make all out-of-market baseball games available for a fee on Yahoo's Web site. Under the agreement, Yahoo! users will be able to access MLBAM's MLB.TV service using a special co-branded media player, and in exchange, Yahoo will manage all of MLB.TV's advertising sales during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

"This agreement exemplifies Yahoo! as the partner of choice to premier media organizations, as we're providing MLB.com an opportunity to extend its reach to the largest possible audience, while at the same time maximizing monetization of its video subscription product," said Todd Teresi, senior vice president of the Yahoo! Publisher Channel, in a press release. "Partnering with MLB.com allows Yahoo! to offer our users an unmatched baseball experience, and also presents our advertisers with a new opportunity to reach a large, engaged audience of baseball enthusiasts."

The MLB.TV service allows fans to get live online streams of all out-of-market baseball games. Until now, it has only been available through MLB.com. Yahoo is currently the most popular Web portal on the Internet, with more than 19.2 unique users.

MLB.TV costs $89.95 per year or $14.95 per month for game streamed at 400k per second. MLB.TV Premium, which streams games at 800k or 1.2 MB per second, costs $119.95 or $19.95 per month. MLB.TV Premium also includes the Mosaic software program, which allows users to watch up to six games simultaneously.

- Tim Lemke

Bryant Gumbel is out as the top broadcast voice for games on the NFL Network. I have no details other than the press release, which reads:

"Bryant Gumbel has decided to give up his duties as the play-by-play voice for the NFL Network’s eight-game package of NFL games, NFL Network announced today. Gumbel served as the play-by-play announcer for NFL Network’s Thursday and Saturday Night Football games for the past two seasons.

'I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to call NFL Network games the past two years, which was a new experience for me,' said Gumbel. 'But we've agreed that we'd all be better served going in different directions. There are a lot of talented people at NFL Network. I thank them, I wish them well, and I have no doubt that they will be very successful going forward.'

Gumbel, who has won multiple Emmy awards throughout his distinguished career, teamed with Cris Collinsworth the past two seasons on the NFL Network games. NFL Network will begin a search for a new play-by-play announcer to work alongside Collinsworth immediately.

'We appreciate everything Bryant did in helping us launch our NFL Network game telecasts,' said NFL Network President and CEO Steve Bornstein. 'Bryant helped create interest in our first foray into televising NFL regular-season games. He is one of the great broadcasters of our time and we are honored to have worked with him.'"

By most accounts, the NFL Network's choice of Gumbel was an odd one from the start. While experienced as a broadcaster, he had not done play-by-play of any sport since the mid-1980s. Throughout the last two years, he was often criticized for not having a good broadcast voice or great field vision.

The NFL said a search for a new play-by-play voice will begin immediately.

- Tim Lemke

In writing about the new food options at Nationals Park a few weeks ago, I mentioned that a portion of all money from the sale of Noah's Pretzels goes toward autism research in the D.C. area. I didn't think much of it at the time because I didn't know anyone who has personally been affected by the condition.

But now I received word that the son of a good friend of mine has autism.

Maury Brown, founder of the Business of Sports Network, who I rely on frequently for comment and insight, writes that his 3-year-old boy is one of the increasing number of children to be diagnosed with the condition.

"As my wife and family come to grips to this news, we now find ourselves in a life altering experience," he writes. "The good news is that with early detection, one-on-one and what is called 'mainstream' therapy, we can hope that our son will eventually be a productive part of society. What was alarming to me was the incredible trend of more and more being diagnosed within the ASD spectrum. There was a point where the word 'autism' would elicit confused stares. Now, nearly everyone in America has a family member or friend touched by ASD."

Maury has challenged people to spread the word about autism, and so I will gladly pass on this information, which was provided to Maury from the Autism Society of America.

*Autism affect 1 out of 150 children in U.S.
* It affect 1 out of 90 boys
* It affects four times as many boys as girls
* Lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism: $3.5 to $5 million
* Current annual cost to U.S.: $35 billion
* Estimated annual cost by 2010: $90 billion
* 1.5 million Americans affected

The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network on Thursday won eleven local ADDY awards and four regional awards for its commercials and video work last season, including a "best in show" award for a commercial featuring Orioles' pitcher Adam Loewen getting advice from a fan to "drop and drive."

MASN won two Gold ADDY awards for its popular commercial with Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis. The commercial features Markakis waiting in the batting circle while a fan whispers in his ear to "wait for the sweet stuff" because he's "a honeybear."

The "Honeybear" commercials also won two Gold Regional ADDY awards, while "Drop and Drive" won a Silver Regional ADDY.

MASN's matchup commercials featuring several Washington Nationals players won a Silver Local ADDY and Silver Regional ADDY. The network also won Silver Local ADDY awards for the opening sequence for its NCAA Lacrosse coverage and the opening of its Orioles game coverage.

The Martin Agency and Shooters Inc. were responsible for the production and editing of the award-winning entries.

Here's the full list of MASN's awards:

“Honeybear” with Nick Markakis and “Drop and Drive” with Adam Loewen

1. BEST IN SHOW: Broadcast

“Drop and Drive” with Adam Loewen

2. GOLD ADDY AWARD: TV Self Promotion

“Honeybear” with Nick Markakis

3. GOLD ADDY AWARD: TV Self Promotion
4. GOLD ADDY AWARD: National TV, Media

Orioles Player Match-Up Campaign

5. SILVER ADDY AWARD: TV Self Promotion Campaign

Miguel Tejada vs. the Yankees

6. SILVER ADDY AWARD: TV Self Promotion
7. SILVER ADDY AWARD: National TV, Media

Washington Nationals Player Match-Up Campaign

8. SILVER ADDY AWARD: TV Self Promotion Campaign

MASN NCAA Lacrosse Open

9. GOLD ADDY AWARD: Special Effects, Video or Film

Orioles Game Open

10. SILVER ADDY AWARD: Special Effects, Video or Film

Orioles Player Spot Promos

11. SILVER ADDY AWARD: Sound Design

MASN’s Regional ADDY Awards
(Region includes New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington D.C.) These spots will now be judged in the National ADDY Competition.

“Honeybear” with Nick Markakis

1. GOLD REGIONAL ADDY AWARD
2. GOLD REGIONAL ADDY AWARD

“Drop and Drive” with Adam Loewen

3. SILVER REGIONAL ADDY AWARD

Washington Nationals Player Match-Up Campaign

4. SILVER REGIONAL ADDY AWARD

-- Tim Lemke

Forbes Magazine this week published its special "Business of Baseball" report, which features valuations for all the Major League teams. Overall in baseball, revenues rose 7.7 percent to $5.5 billion last year, and the average team is now worth $472 million, or 9.5 percent more than last year.

The upshot for Nationals fans is that according to Forbes, the team is worth $460 million, or $10 million more than what the Lerner family paid for it in 2006. That's not a massive increase percentage-wise, but Forbes reports that team also had an operating income of $43.7 million, the highest in baseball. Furthermore, Forbes reports that the team should generate about $25 million per year from luxury suites and club seats at the new ballpark, nearly three times what it made RFK.

On its Web site, Forbes editor Michael Ozanian interviewed investment banker Sal Galatioto of Galatioto Sports Partners, and asked him specifically about the future of the Nationals in their new ballpark. Galatioto said the stadium will make a big difference for the team, but in the long run the Nationals must win games.

"People are going to go to see the building... once," Galatioto said. "They're going to look at the building and say 'it's a great building' If the team's not very good, they're not going to keep coming back. The secret sauce in all of this is on-the-field performance. If they get that right, I think baseball is going to be successful in Washington."

- Tim Lemke

Open wheel racing in America was already having a great year, with an increase sponsorships, tv ratings and attention brought by the merger between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car.

It just got even better, and not even by a little bit.

Danica Patrick won her first race Saturday at the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman ever to win a major auto race. While most people probably didn't see the race (it was shown on ESPN Classic thanks to a day's postponement due to rain) it marks probably the best event for IRL since the glory days of open wheel racing in the 1980s and early 90s.

Now IRL has a solid month to milk this victory before the Indianapolis 500 on May 25 (a race at which Danica has done quite well.)

Critics might place an asterisk next to Danica's win. The race in Japan did not feature any of the drivers from Champ Car, as they are racing this weekend at the Long Beach Grand Prix. (The haste of the IRL/Champ Car merger necessitated the dual races due to contract and scheduling issues.) So in many ways, this was as if Danica's race took place last year, prior to the merger. I'll submit, however, that Danica would have won the Japan 300 anyway, because it was an oval race and the Champ Car drivers have limited experience on ovals.

People will now begin asking whether the IRL can now make a run at NASCAR's dominance in the auto racing field. It's going to be a few years before that becomes an issue, I believe. But NASCAR's certainly thinking about it. Some NASCAR officials met in our offices a few weeks back and I asked one of them their thoughts on the IRL/Champ Car merger. They all said it was a good thing for the auto racing industry in general, and that they were happy it happened. But, they all said that if Danica starts winning races it would change the whole landscape of things.

Racing industry impact aside, think of what this does for Danica's off-the-track career. She was already a darling of Madison Avenue with endorsements from godaddy.com, XM Radio and a host of others. Earlier this year, she appeared in this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. With her victory, Danica can shed the label of the "Anna Kournikova of auto racing," as her on-track performance now justifies her off-the-track profile.

Readers of Time Magazine will be interested to know that the cover of the magazine's latest issue was inspired by the NBA's playoff advertising campaign.

Time's cover shows a split photograph of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with the words "There Can Only Be One."

The image is clearly derived from the NBA's "Where Amazing Happens" playoff campaign, which features split photos of Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan and LeBron James and Kevin Garnett, along with identical words.

To Time's credit, the magazine gives credit to the NBA on its table of contents page.

Is stuffing your face with ridiculous amounts of food a sport? Yes, according to Yardbaker.com, a network of blogs from a number of world-class athletes.

Yardbarker has signed on with champion eaters Joey Chestnut and Pat Bertolleti on a blog chronicling their efforts to train for the competitive eating circuit.

The first blog entries from the gastrointestinally gifted pair come as they are training for the Deep Fried Asparagus Eating Championship at the Stockton Asparagus Festival. You read that correctly. Deep Fried Asparagus.

We get to see Chestnut eat about 8 pounds of the lengthy vegetable while listening to some Rob Zombie. And believe it or not, it's no more disgusting than watching Rocky Balboa drink raw eggs from a glass and then run up the art museum steps.

Chestnut is the world record holder in fried asparagus consumption, as he once ate 8.6 pounds in ten minutes. You may recall that he dethroned the legendary Kobayashi as world record hot dog eating champion on July 4 at Coney Island in New York.