Media notables that aren't Anchorman-centric
You've got installment two of the 15th annual Daily News best/worst of the L.A. media, ranking the top 10 and bottom five for 2007 of the local TV personalities (anchors, reporters, guys who talk but don't say much).
And the rest of the stuff that somehow needs to get said:
= Brent Boyd, an offensive lineman at UCLA (lettering in '75, '77 and '79) who played a few years for the Minnesota Vikings and then kind of dropped out of sight, worries today that many of his friends lost track of him. To catch everyone up: He's been on disability from concussions he suffered while playing pro ball, which has affected him physically, mentally and financially. As he fights the NFL for benefits, he'll be the focus on ESPN's "Outside The Lines" show that airs Sunday (6:30 a.m., ESPN; 9 a.m., ESPNEWS). Boyd said he read a story last October in ESPN the Magazine by Peter Keating about how currupt the NFL was in dealing with concussion victims. Boyd emailed Keating to thank him for the piece and tell him he'd been suffering the same problems with attaining financial compensation or medical treatment. "The NFL went to unbelievable lengths to deny benefits, but I'll let ESPN tell that story," Boyd wrote in an email to us this week. The La Habra High grad said that "after I graduated with honors from UCLA, and had a lot of friends, many people believed that I would be successful out side of football with my education, drive and ambition. Instead, I suffered the first of many concussions in my rookie year, and have never been the same since. They've given me headaches, dizziness, depression, anxiety, forgetfulness, and financially, I couldn't keep a menial job -- I had no energy, lost everything and was even homeless for a while. That was enough for me not to want old friends to see me. But they must think I was in NFL and big timing them, too good to talk to them. I just want to let them know where I've been and that I've been thinking about them." After reading about brain damage and the eventual deaths of Andre Waters and Mike Webster, Boyd said he wasn't "going to let the NFL's corrupt dealings with disabled players make me hide in shame anymore." Boyd says he lives in Reno, Nev., after spending about 21 years in northern San Diego, but "after doing the ESPN piece, and even this email, it was difficult because I had to disclose all these things that I have been hiding from people all these years, things I'd rather not talk about, some of it not pretty. I never liked the spotlight, was very comfortable being an offensive lineman laboring in anonymity. I certainly don't like the spotlight now about all this, in fact it's very painful and embarrassing. But unless guys like me keep telling the story and getting the message of what crooks Gene Upshaw, Tom Condon, and the whole gang in the NFLPA are, nothing will ever change."
Read on ....
=Former Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros, who for the last two years did regional ESPN baseball games as an analyst as well as events such as the Little League World Series and College World Series, will be doing Saturday afternoon regional games for Fox, basically filling the spot that was created with Steve Lyons was let go during the ALCS last season. Karros will join former Florida Marlins manager Joe Giraradi and former MLB first baseman and Arizona Diamondbacks analyst Mark Grace as the analysts on regional games that aren't covered by Fox's top team of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Karros will also be available to do Fox studio pre-game show analysis with Jeannie Zelasko. Expect an official announcment from Fox next week.
=Susan Stratton, who for more than 30 years produced and directed Lakers games for FSN and KCAL Channel 9 but was let go at the start of this season, has segued into doing women's Pac-10 games for the FSN affiliates -- including Saturday's USC-UCLA contest (11 a.m. at the Galen Center). "She's still a legend and she's handled going into this package with the same enthusiasm going into the NBA," said series producer Dennis Kirkpatrick. "She's really worked hard at it, gotten to know the players and coaches, and they've enjoyed meeting her. She doesn't see it as a step down but as a new challenge covering a game that's more point-to-point, scoring and cutting and passing than all 3-pointers or above the rim. And she really does spot things that only a female director would spot on a telecast of female athletes. You learn to expect that from Sue."
=We can't really tell if hanging-by-a-thread USC football radio play-by-play man Pete Arbogast is really upset over not winning anything at this week's Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association awards banquet. But we'll try again to read between the insults. In his latest WeAreSc.com blog entry, he seems to be giving partner Paul McDonald (pictured here with Mike Walden, in a photo from LARadio.com) a backhanded compliment for winning the best radio analyst award. "I have worked with nearly 50 analysts in my nearly 30 years of professional announcing, and at the risk of sounding demeaning towards others, Paul is the very best I have ever had the chance to work with," writes Arbo, in only the perfectly worded sentences that he can come up with. By all means, don't risk sounding demeaning. "His personality and mine seem to fit together perfectly. We enjoy showing up and working with each other, and, unlike so many in our business, are friends and actually socialize away from the stadium with his wife and my fiancée." Yup, there are so many disingenuious folks out there. As for those others who he doesn't want to demean: "Some have been just raw beginners I had to carry through the broadcast; others have been so consumed with themselves that they were impossible to work with." We hear ya, man. And how did Arbo do in the best play-by-play radio category? "Oh, yeah…..Vin Scully won," he finally adds. "I did not prepare any acceptance notes, and I’ll bet Rory (Markas, the other finalist) didn’t either!" Rory, you got a rebuttal?
=So if the rain caused CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XLI to look all smudgy on our regular TV screens, imagine how it looked for those who had the supposed benefits of high-definition signals. "It sucked," reports a story in TVWeek.com. The fog and mist that kept building on the camera lenses gave fans who just bought an expensive HD set reason to return them before the game even ended. "As each minute passes more, cameras become infected," groused one viewer on AVS Forum. "My HDTV looks like the first color TV ever made."
=Beto Duran, who started at KSPN-AM (710) as a call screener and moved up to board op, producer and host of the station's podcasts, has been given the role of a reporter to cover events and contribute to USC, Angels, Clippers, Dodgers and Lakers insider reports for the station. KSPN has also hired on recently retired Orange County Register columnist Steve Bisheff as an "insider" who'll write blogs on the 710ESPN.com site.
=Saying he's not a replacement for the late Benny Parsons, TNT has hired NASCAR driver Kyle Petty (pictured here) to serve as a race analyst for six events during a five-week hiatus he'll take from the Nextel Cup circuit. Petty joins Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach for races from Jun 10 to July 15. Then, on Sunday June 24, Petty will be an analyst as he's actually driving his No. 45 Dodge live from the event in Sonoma. Petty did five Busch series events for TNT last year.
“I’m really looking forward to the California race; I think that is going to be something totally different," Petty said. "I do sing to myself inside of the helmet every now an then and I’m bad about talking at other drivers without pushing the button. This will give me the opportunity to cue the microphone and talk about what’s going on around me. Hopefully it will be a little more exciting than what my season was last year and I’ll be able to give the fans and the audience a little bit different perspective ... If I’m in contention near the end of the race, you better have me on a 15-second tape delay.�
TNT executive producer Jeff Behnke insists that “Kyle is not replacing our late, dear friend Benny Parsons on our coverage. We had a role for Benny and everybody at the Turner Sports family is deeply saddened that he will not be able to share with us his insights anymore, as well as the personality that made him a NASCAR legend. He was most certainly the rock of our TNT team."
=CBS does Sunday's NFL Pro Bowl (3 p.m.) for the first time since 1972, having Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf, Phil Simms and Shannon Sharpe call the action from Aloha Stadium. Gumbel, Dierdorf and Simms form a three-man booth, and Sharpe roams the sidelines. Regular NFL lead play-by-play man Jim Nantz will be with the golf guys at Pebble Beach for the AT&T Pro-Am, the final round leading into the Pro Bowl.
=An excerpt from former Olympic champion sprinter Tommie Smith’s new autobiography, Silent Gesture, appears on NBCSports.com's website, along with an interview that both Smith and John Carlos did for a story now on the site. Carlos insists that he let Smith win that 1968 Olympics race, while Smith disagrees. Both discuss their differences in how the race went and their black-power gloved fist they showed on the victory stand.
=The Tennis Channel and Versus has coverage of the U.S. Davis Cup first-round match in the Czech Republic this weekend, mostly on delay. Versus has all the matches (today through Sunday, 9 a.m., with the Tennis Channel coming in with replays (5 p.m.) each day.
=Former KROQ host Riki Rachtman will be the host of a new NASCAR 24/7 Live shot on NASCAR.com's revamped website. Rachtman, who also hosted MTV's "Headbangers Ball," and is the current host of "Racing Rocks" on the United Stations Radio Networks, has reinvented himself as a gearhead and will do three hour-long live shows per NASCAR weekend on the website, starting with Saturday (1 p.m.). “As a longtime NASCAR fan, this is truly the ultimate dream job, and I’m excited to do a job that I love with a sport that I’m so passionate about,� said Rachtman. “NASCAR fans are always hungry for new ways to get closer to the action, and I’m glad that Turner Sports (which operates the website) continues to think outside of the box to give them what they’re looking for.�
=You can wait until the last minute to signup for CBS Sportsline's NCAA March Madness On Demand internet access to streaming video from the first 56 games of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, or you can start signing up now and avoid the potential of being locked out from the service that proved to be wildly successful last season for those stuck at work during the weekday first- and third-round games. The service is free.
Signup for VIP access at CBS SportsLine.com or NCAAsports.com.
=Finally, just noticed this on the website of the L.A. Times from its media columnist: "A spokesman for Channel 5, responding to an item in this space last week regarding the fact that Channel 9 will be televising the remaining Lakers games this season in high-definition, pointed out his station has been televising home Clippers games in HD." Yes, Channel 5, aka KTLA, is owned by the Tribune Company. Which also owns the L.A. Times. So, Mr. Hand, wouldn't that be our station?