Bending the media notebook
Seems as if it didn't have anything to do with David Beckham, it didn't qualify for mention in today's Daily News media column or notebook.So rejoice and be glad, here's the rest of the stuff:
-- Among the more interesting reads assessing why more than 400 media members of the Baseball Writers Association of America snubbed Mark McGwire in this week's Baseball Hall of Fame voting came from Editor & Publisher columnsit Joe Strupp, who pointed out the "same scribes who wrote glowing and supportive articles about McGwire and fellow slugger Sammy Sosa" during their 1998 single-season home-run record chase are now guilty of turning on him. (Like, Sports Illustrated, which named the two of them their Sportsman of the Year). "One has to look hard to find any real journalistic questioning questioning of McGwire's record at the time," Strupp continued. He then quoted Jeff Pearlman, a former baseball writer for Sports Illustrated: "I think we just blew it."
Tony Kornheiser reponded on an episode of ESPN's "PTI" this week that McGwire is the victim of two things here: He's been made a scapegoat for that "terrible" TV testimony he gave before Congress, and he's "taken the wrath of sportswriters who say, 'We should have written about this in 1998 ... we should have known more,' and they're taking it out on this guy."
More columns worth reading on the subject are from those who explain why they voted for McGwire, including Dave Albee of the Marin Independent Journal and Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and a column about the hyprocracy shown by the voters written by Pete Hayes of the (River Bend) Telegraph.
-- One of the hooks this year in NBC's coverage of the NHL is the 30-minute pregame "show" that'll be available online at NBCSports.com. Producer Sam Flood said that reports from something called "The Bellowing Moose" will be a key feature. The "Moose" is NBC's online NHL Drudge-like info seeker whose identity is known to Flood, but not many others.
-- Vootage.com and KDOC-Channel 56 have committed to producing and televising some of the best of high school basketball games this month, including Saturday's Campbell Hall at Taft tilt (on LA36) and Harvard-Westlake at Notre Dame (Jan. 26). Tonight's Orange Lutheran-Mater Dei contest airs on KDOC at midnight and on Vootage.com on demand after that. Orange Lutheran includes Aaron Corp, the star quarterback heading to USC next season.
-- Denver Nuggets play-by-play man Chris Marlowe, the subject of last week's media column, has been named NBA Broadcaster of the Week, which includes recruiting Marlowe to write a column about himself. Check it out for much more depth on his personal life than we were able to get into, specificially his Hollywood connections -- his grandfather, three-time Academy Award winning director Sam Wood, his soap-opera acting parents, and his stint as a soap actor himself on "Love of Live." If you really want to tweek him, call him "Andy Marriott," the character he played on that show. We're guessing that's also the perfect fake name to use when checking into hotels. He also played the role of "himself" in films like "Rounders," "The 6th Man," and "Look Who's Talking 2," and a guest shot on "Love Boat," but not all of that is mentioned on his IMDB.com bio.
-- The Martin Luther King-Day games have always been an important holiday in the NBA's season, and this Monday's schedule is no different. In addition to the TNT coverage of the Lakers-Miami game from Staples Center (7 p.m.), NBA TV will show four D-League games, including the Lakers' D-Fenders farm team facing Ft. Worth in an 8 p.m. game (tape delayed). NBA Entertainment also reports that five international TV partners will carry prime-time games live to different parts of the world -- up to 10 gmes and 12 consecutive hours of programming will be available to viewers in five European coutnries -- England, Italy, France, Spain and Germany.
-- Part of ESPN's coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament (which begins Sunday on ESPN2 at 4 p.m.) includes more content on ESPN.com and the broadband ESPN360 with some exclusive live matches that will differ from what ESPN2 has on at that time. ESPN360 will use the "world feed" from the host broadcaster with graphics and natural sound and without commentary.
-- Robert Wallace, a former editor of Rolling Stone magazine and ABC News senior producer who most recently had his own media consulting company, signed up with ESPN to help with its original entertainment division as a vice president. The latest EOE projects are an eight-episode series due for July, "The Bronx Is Burning," based on the 1977 New York Yankees World Series run amidst a time of turmoil in the city (with executive producer Mike Tollin, who did the "Bonds On Bonds" reality series last year), as well as a made-for-TV movie called "Ruffian" (for June release), based on the career of the thoroughbred filly.
--Dave Sims, who has done college football and college basketball on ESPN, is the new TV play-by-play man for the Seattle Mainers. Sims in effect replaces Ron Fairly, who retired after last season. Fairly, the former USC and Dodgers first baseman, started his broadcast career in 1979 with KTLA-Channel 5 on Angels games and ended up doing baseball broadcasting for 27 years, the last 21 in Seattle.
--Reports on the website Deadspin.com that ESPN suspended NFL studio analyst Sean Salisbury late last month for inappropriate behavior, based on information from other websites and CBS Sportsline columnist Mike Freeman, have been met with indifference by Salisbury. The former USC quarterback responded in an email: "I work every day and do not pay attention or comment on on stuff like that. Deadspin is what it is and it does not concern me. Deadspin has been hurtful and wrong to many people. I have a father who is in Stage 3 cancer. You think that I really give that stuff any time?"