Analyze these media notes
We follow up our story today about Lakers analyst Stu Lantz (did you know he makes a one-hour, 45-minute drive in from San Diego up the 405 for every Laker home game, then gets home about midnight?), with the Top 10/Bottom 5 list of our best and worst of the L.A. sports media relating to those who talk over the play-by-play guy. And then there's these media nuggets that normally would have filled up page 2 of today's paper but didn't really fit into the big picture:
=FOR THE RECORD: Tim Harris was incorrectly identified in today's media column as the Lakers' vice president of broadcasting. Tim is the team's senior VP of business operations. Keith Harris is the VP of broadcasting. We regret the error appearing in the Daily News print editions and have corrected it for the online version.
=The announcement this week that Jose Mota and Mark Gubicza have been added to 50 Angels game broadcasts that'll be carried this summer on FSN West and KCOP-Channel 13 -- which cuts back the number of games that Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler will do to about 100 -- should be seen more as team owner Arte Moreno trying to groom Mota to be the primary billingual voice of the team. Whether or not that translates into a future for Hudler and/or Physioc remains to be seen, but it shouldn't cut in too deeply. Mota may find that play-by-play isn't for him and relent to wanting a fulltime analyst role, but this is a calculated move to see how it would work out for the longer haul. And for those who worry that Hudler might be climbing the walls of Angels Stadium on days he's not working, he says he's more than OK with the decision.
Hudman, who starts his ninth year as an Angels broadcaster, said when contacted at his home Thursday: "I thought they did a very classy thing when the Fox bosses and the Angels bosses came down to talk with me and Phyz and asked us what we thought about bringing in a new team. My first response was: It's about time! Jeez, 152 games a year from March to October is a mind grind finding something new to talk about every day. I kept asking privately, 'I wonder why we don't have another team.' That's a lot of games. Plus I have kids 12, 10, 5 and 4 and as much as I love my Angels job, I get the best of both worlds with my family. I'm doing all I can to be a good dad. And when they told me it was Mota and Gubby dong it, I was 100 percent for it. I don't feel threatened by it all. I'm relieved. We still get the lion's share of the games, and sure there's a financial setback, but that's just money. You can't put a value on being home and fathering. They assured us it had nothing to do with our skill levels, and they said they haven't made any changes in the past because they never needed to. There's always changes in TV. At least 15 or 20 teams have more than one TV broadcast team."
Read on ...
=About the Pete Arbogast blog on WeAreSc.com ... We try to look away. Really. We don't want to keep pounding on it week after week. But you give the somewhat employed USC football radio play-by-play guy enough time, a computer keyboard, and an offseason to rant about life looking for future employment, and it's just gold. We don't even have to go to the site anymore. We get emails from readers falling off their desk chairs in laughter/horror after the lastest postings.
For those who don't dare go over to that dark side, Petey says in his latest entry (and the longer you wait to read it, the more chance an editor there will change it to try to save some face for him and the site) that he's already having Trojan Radio Network meetings for the '07 season (aparently assuming he'll be there), and a nice a Valentine's Day sonnet about his latest pursuit of money.
"Being out of work has been frustrating and relaxing all at the same time. But it doesn’t pay very well, and I am looking forward to getting back to it. It doesn’t look like it will be in traditional radio—I have been forced out by a series of unfortunate circumstances. The station that USED to carry SC football lost the rights, and didn’t need me. The new station picked up the rights, and wouldn’t use me. EXCEPT they use my voice on their promos for SC football, so other stations all across Southern California THINK I work there. When I tell them I don’t, they say that since my voice is so closely associated with the new station, they can’t use me on their station. KNX, KFWB, KLOS, KLAC and maybe five others for this reason turned me down. Only two stations and their management have talked to me and say they won’t hold that against me or them, and I am still in negotiations with each in hopes of landing at least a part-time spot. Frustrating, indeed! Yet, I want to thank the hundreds of you who have come up to say you are rooting for me to land on my feet, in our (sic) out of the business, and the dozens who have offered help in getting started in rather lucrative business opportunities in other fields. None have panned out yet, but they will."
Arbo then throws Petros Papadakis under the bus for (what seems to be a smart thing) avoiding his phone calls:
"I’ve called my old friend and super broadcaster Petros just to say Hi a few times, a few other times to ask a favor. He never calls back. Maybe his phone is lost. So in hopes that he reads this blog: “Hey P! What’s happening in your life? How the heck ARE you? I miss working with you and the gang. Give me a call once in a while, just to keep in touch.” If any of you see him let him know I want to talk with him. And not just about weaseling tickets to a concert out of him."
Yea, sure. The Wiggles aren't that tough a ticket to get, by the way.
=If you really want to read between the lines, probably the most revealing part of the Arbogast blast is bragging about being invited to a $700-a-plate football recruing dinner on the dime of "my friend and benefactor" Brian Kennedy, the ethlically-challenged president of Regency Outdoor Advertising billboards. Kennedy funnels plenty of money into athletic director Mike Garrett's budget and has apparently bought himself a strong voice in Arbogast's future as a broadcaster. The decision makers at flagship station 710-AM are embarassed, to say the least, that Arbogast continues his misguided rants on the blog, slamming their decisions and making him and the station look foolish and it should come to a head sooner than later about who has more juice in whether Arbo keeps his position.
=The Golf Channel continues coverage ot the Nissan Open today (noon-to-3 p.m., replayed from 6-to-9 p.m.) and adds a twist that allows a live audience to its pre and post-game shows and Golf Central editions. Fans joined the stage for the show near the 10th tee at Riviera to watch the live broadcast, and the network says select golf fans will be able to view tournament coverage shot-by-shot in front of the stage throughout the duration of the tournament that continues this weekend on CBS (Channel 2, Saturday and Sunday, noon-to-3 p.m.) CBS' Gary McCord joins the Golf Channel's Kelly Tighman, Nick Faldo and Peter Ooosterhuis on the cable. The Golf Channel's post-game show starts each day at 3 p.m., with a one-hour wrapup Sunday starting at 3:30 p.m. A pregame show live from Riviera also airs on the Golf Channel Saturday and Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
= CBS' hiring of former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher explains to some extent why it didn't go hard after Tiki Barber when the bidding wars between the networks began almost immediately upon his announcement that this would be the final NFL season for the New York Giants. Barber, who gets a reported three-year, $6 million deal to be a studio analyst for Sunday Night Football and a "Today" show correspondent, said at his press conference Tuesday about his hiring by NBC: "I didn't come close to signing with anyone else. It was a long and arduous process. I had great opportunities from all three of the networks that were involved, Fox News on the news side and Fox Sports, ABC/ESPN and NBC and NBC Sports. What it came down to was what was right for me and what was going to feel most at home to me. NBC has been my dream job for many years since I first started thinking about it. While those other networks put in great offers, NBC was where I wanted to be." That, and the fact his infatuation with "Today" show host Matt Lauer, his "idol" growing up, steered him toward NBC. Cowher said Thursday his decision to join CBS' "The NFL Today" next year may be a one-year thing, but could be longer. He said he still plans to spend more time with his family in Raleigh, N.C., but just not on the weekends in the fall. Again. "I can still be part of (the NFL) but not have it consume your life,” Cowher said. “It’s an opportunity to remain a part of the NFL, and it may go a lot longer than that.” NBC adding Barber means no more for Sterling Sharpe, but CBS is adding Cowher to the show without any of the other analysts leaving — Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe and Boomer Esiason will return, as will host James Brown and former NFL general manager Charlie Casserly.
=Anyone come across a YouTube.com video of actor Forest Whitaker portraying CBS' Greg Gumbel from last week's "Saturday Night Live" that rivaled Jeremy Piven's spot-on spoof of CBS' Jim Nantz from "SNL" a few weeks ago? Whitaker, as Gumbel wearing a grayish, curly hairpiece and speaking in that kind of monotone that Bryant's little brother likes to do, was on a skit called "Road to the Final Four" for the Animal Planet's "Man vs. Beast" series. Maybe the best line was from the post-match interview with a guy who just got torn up by a mountain lion. "I really got my ass handed to me today -- literally," he said, meaning, literally, his ass was torn off and handed to him.
=Versus starts its coverage of the Amgen Tour of California with the prologue on Sunday at 2 p.m. from San Francisco, following the cycling event over 650 miles with Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll as the commentators. The rest of the TV schedule: Stage 1 and 2 (7-8 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday), Stage 3, 4 and 5 (8-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Feb. 23), Stage 6 that goes from Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita is from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 24 and the final Stage 7 in Long Beach is on from 2-4 p.m. on Feb. 25.
=The Daytona 500 might be a nice launching point for NASCAR on Fox, but network chair David Hill wishes he could have more a say in how the scheduling goes from this Sunday's Super Bowl of Stock Cars. The Nextel Cup series continues next week at California Speedway in Fontana, then goes to a Busch series race from Mexico and then ... a week off? "It's a huge stumbling block," said Hill. "We've got this momentum going and then ... no Nextel Cup racing. NASCAR has to look at how they schedule races." Fox has the Daytona 500 through 2014, with ESPN coming on board this year to replace NBC in doing the second half of the season. ESPN2 has all the Busch Series races, starting Saturday.
=Pace Technologies, a Burbank-based comany that specializes in underwater cameras and has turned toward digital 3D production, is going to test drive a version of its work on the NBA All-Star Game festivities in Las Vegas with 3D high-definition viewing parties through the city on Saturday and Sunday. "The NBA is always exploring new and innovative ways for fans to experience the excitement of our game,” said Steve Hellmuth, Senior Vice President of Operations and Technology for NBA Entertainment. “The spectacular view of our game from a courtside seat, the closest to the field of play in any sports, is replicated in this groundbreaking 3D HD experience we are unveiling for NBA All-Star.”
Of course, you gotta wear those funky glasses to get the full effect. To pull this off, Pace will have five specially designed Sports Fusion 3D HD camera systems to get all the game action. Each camera has two HD cameras shooting to create the one visual experience of live depth perception to an HD picture that already has about as clear a view as the human eye can get. This really isn't a leap of faith for the NBA, which was the first major sports league to offer a broadcast on a mobile phone (last month), feature live games in HD on its own NBA TV channel (2003) and offer a live video webcast of a game on NBA.com in 2001. Pace, under CEO Vincent Pace, has worked with movie director and producer James Cameron on this technology for his film "Ghost of the Abyss" and already tried it out covering a Lakers-Phoenix Suns playoff game last season.
=For those of us with regular old TVs, TNT has the NBA All-Star game Sunday at 5 p.m. with Marv Albert and analysts Doug Collins and Steve Kerr. The All-Star Saturday skills stuff starts on TNT at 2 p.m. Saturday, and tonight's rookie game airs at 6 p.m.
Part of the Saturday night festivities include TNT's Charles Barkley trying to put his legs where his mouth is. During a Lakers-Sacramento Kings broadcast on Jan. 4, he subbed for Steve Kerr on the game coverage and, looking at 67-year-old Dick Bavetta officiate the game, made the off-the-cuff comment, “I can outrun Dick Bavetta right now, Marv.” Saturday, the 43-year-old Barkley will challenge Bavetta to a race of 235 feet -- baseline to baseline and then to half court at the Thomas & Mack Arena. TNT and the NBA will donate $25,000 each to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas in conjunction with the race. “I have not really spoken to anyone who is rooting for Charles," said Albert of the race. "It’s very sad; people just want him to have a depressing weekend..”
=ESPN.com has bought up the fantasy sports site Talented Mr. Roto and hired its creator, Matthew Berry, as senior director of fantasy games. Also, former Olympic softball star and avid fantasy sports player Jennie Finch (and the wife of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Casey Daigle) has joined ESPN.com as a fantasy sports columnist and analyst.