Media Madness: The Notes edition (oh, my!)
There'll be no reference from Dick Enberg about the DVD release of "Borat" or the new season of "South Park" during his call of Saturday's Pac-10 Conference basketball final (Channel 2, 3 p.m.). It's just not his style. Some say that's why he may not connnect as well with today's younger audience, but for those ADD viewers, they're missing out on a treat when Enberg calls a college basketball game. Following up on our story in today's Daily News about Enberg's preparation for March Madness, where he'll be paired with Jay Bilas on the NCAA Tournament coverage, we allow the professor to expand more on a couple of things:
Before the Bruins' loss Thursday, on UCLA's chances past the Pac-10 tournament: "I saw a lot of the Bruins on the local telecasts," said Enberg, who lives in LaJolla and covered the UCLA-Arizona game from Tuscon recently. "I think they're as good as last year (when they went to the final and lost to Florida), maybe better. I love watching (Darren) Collison. I think UCLA is one of 30 teams that could win it all. Maybe that's not an exaggeration. The selection committee can't even decide on who the four No. 1 seeds will be -- there's probably nine candidates. I do love how coach Howland has UCLA playing defense, and I'm sure John Wooden would echo that statement. There was a long stretch between Wooden and today's team that they had terrific players but forgot to play on the defensive end. Now Howland has brought it back and for that I applaud his efforts."
On the Sunday Selection Show (CBS, 3 p.m.): "Going back to how we'd do it at NBC, I think our version had maybe two cameras set up in a high school gym somewhere, Al McGuire would be taking a catnap and Billy Packer would be taking a shower trying to work out who'd be playing whom. And that was all our preparation. I know the reason it's become so big is because it cuts such a beautiful swatch across America. Everyone has a rooting interest. Either your team is from your geographical area, or you know someone who went to some school, or you just love the underdog -- and we're bound to have another George Mason be a team that makes it into the final 16 or final eight again."
One more thing about McGuire: The one-act play that Enberg wrote last year called "McGuire" will be performed in Atlanta on the Sunday between the Final Four and the championship game. "There are so many that can still relate to him," said Enberg of his former broadcast partner and successful coach at Marquette. "With so many people in town Sunday looking for something to do, this will be really special."
Read on for more notes ....
=One of the things Enberg said about connecting to today's college basketball audience is that he's not keen on calling attention to himself, but he did somewhat give credence to how Dick Vitale, "a high school sophomore in spirit," has made a career for himself. But is Vitale Hall of Fame material? He's up for induction into the Basketball Hall in Springfield, Mass., one of the 15 finalists. But according to CBS Sportsline.com columnist Gregg Doyel, it'll only happen over his dead body. Part of his column on the website: "It's true, he has become college basketball's most recognized voice. But try something for me, please: Next time you're driving a car, roll down your window. What's the most recognizable voice on the road? The car missing the muffler. That's Vitale. He's loud. He's persistent. He talks so much, he can't stop."
=During CBS' coverage of last Sunday's Duke-North Carolina telecast, analyst Billy Packer said that on the upcoming Selection Sunday show, he is "going to make a recommendation for future years in regard to the committee that I hope gets an opportunity to be followed." Broadcast partner Jim Nantz later referred to it as Packer's "exclusive announcement," to which Packer replied: "Well, let's not get carried away now." Our guess is that Packer will have some sort of suggestion about how the selection committee can combat this issue of conference tournaments that conveniently conclude on Sunday (ACC, Big Ten) and have possible No. 1 seeds lose in the finals. There's no real mechanism in place that allows the committee to rearrange everything on short notice. Or, Packer might want to address his assertion that Duke's Gerald Henderson really didn't try to break the nose of North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, as he said on the same telecast.
= Packer also said it when the topic of George Mason's run from a year ago came up: “Everybody is looking for who is going to be this year’s George Mason – (Big South champion) Winthrop and (Southern League champion) Davidson are two pretty good choices. They both have played outstanding schedules outside their conferences against power-type teams. Although the wins weren’t there, they were highly competitive. ... It’s hard to believe that we won’t (have another George Mason-type team emerge). I don’t ever think it’s going to be from the same league. I don’t think it’s ever going to be the same team or name. But you have to believe that it is a strong possibility when you see the balance in the country.”
=In addition to DirecTV's "Mega March Madness" $69 package that brings 37 out-of-market NCAA tournament games, CBS has allowed partner College Sports TV (CSTV) to air two first-round, out of market games to viewers who actually know where that channel is on their tiers. As Jay Posner of the San Diego Union Tribune points out, if CSTV does it right, it could fill a gap that exists in most years between 2 and 4 p.m. on the first two days of the tournament, when CBS pauses for stations in the East and Midwest to air news and those in the West to jam in Dr. Phil and Oprah.
= ESPN.com runs its 12th annual pick 'em men's tournament contest (winner gets $10,000), with entries needed by tipoff of the first game on Thursday. More info go to the website link here.
= FSN West has a version of the "Basketball 101" symposium sponsored by the LA Sports and Entertainment Commission that'll allow Lakers coach Phil Jackson and assistants Kurt Rambis and Brian Shaw explain some of the innerworkings of an NBA game. Airing Sunday on FSN West at 9 p.m. after the Lakers-mavs telecast, the "Lakers Insider" show hosted by Bill Macdonald also includes a tour of the team's Staples Center locker room.
= We figured ESPN's new corrections form that allows readers to submit mistakes they find on TV, radio, magazines, etc., would be a new popular item since it was instituted last week. From the weblink, here's some of the boners they've decided were worth fixing and acknowledging:
##Lions at Brady Quinn workout, March 5, 2007 1:33 PM: In a March 5 story on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning, it was reported that the Detroit Lions did not have a representative at Sunday's Brady Quinn workout. According to the Lions' public relations staff, the team had four coaches, two scouts and one front office executive at the workout. Lions President Matt Millen was not there, but he could attend a later Quinn workout.
## Creighton-Southern Illinois recap, March 5, 2007 11:23 AM: In a March 5 report on ESPN.com, the final score of the Creighton-Southern Illinois men's college basketball game was reversed in the graphic at the top of the page. Creighton won the game, 67-61. The score was correct in the news story.
## Iowa men's basketball coach: March 3, 2007 5:17 PM: In the March 12 edition of the ESPN the Magazine, a report indicating that Steve Alford might be "out" as Iowa men's basketball coach was incorrectly attributed to ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz. The report should have been credited to ESPN college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb.
And we enjoyed the take they had at Deadspin.com over this whole correctional facility that ESPN has deemed necessary and staying ahead of the curve... And make sure you read the readers' contributions to the deadspin item, such as this one from someone who goes by "twoeightnine": In November 1979 ESPN hired Chris Berman, we are deeply sorry. And from "Stevie19": Apparently, Stephen A. Smith had a show for a while. If anyone watched it, we are sorry. And from "Suss---": We apologize to our website readers for the difficulties in [Buffering ... 2% ... 13% ... 21% ... 42% ... 31% ... 38% ... 51% ... 59% ... 54% ... 63% ... 65% ... 71% ... 74% ... 80% ... 82% ... 86% ... 91% ... 92% ... 84% ... 90% ... 95% ... 98% ... 99% ... 99% ... 99% ... 100%] loading video content on ESPN360.
= Former ESPN baseball analyst Harold Reynolds will meet with network lawyers and a Connecticut judge today to attempt to get access to his personal files that might shed more light on why the network fired him last July in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, according to USA Today. Reynolds lawyer, Daniel Alterman, said they'll also seek a trial date in an attempt "to get this man's reputation back a little bit." ESPN contends it won't release the files because it would reveal more about the "five young women" making the allegations, according to a network legal motion.
= ESPN has given Colin Cowherd a test run as a TV guy, allowing him to host an ESPN Classic regular season called "Missing LInk" that started Wednesday (7 p.m.). The premise is kind of a "Six Degrees of Separation" link between some athlete today and one from yesteryear. On the first show, they made a connection between Lou Gehrig and Mike Tyson (tying them together because of connections to Leo Durocher, Willie Mays, Howard Cosell, Muhammad Ali and Trevor Berbick), Joe Paterno and Anna Kournikova (a stretch that includes both Joey and Padrig Harrington) and Alex Rodriguez and Chi Chi Rodriguez (another weird stretch that included ... now we forget). Viewers are left to guess before the commercial break what that link actually is after being presented with evidence leading into it. Upcoming episodes connect Cy Young to Vince Young, Bobby Jones to Bobby Knight, Jake LaMotta to Dennis Rodman, Ty Cobb to Tiger Woods, Dick Butkus to Dick Button and Muhammad Ali to Wayne Gretzky. At the very least, we get to see a face to match to Cowherd's voice which is heard every morning on ESPN Radio (KSPN-AM 710 from 6 to 10 a.m.)
=The Pacific Life Open tennis event from Indian Wells will get 30 hours of coverage on ESPN2 starting Wednesday and concluding with the men's final on Sunday, March 18 (noon). Cliff Drysdale, Mary Joe Fernandez, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver are on the call.
=Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge call Monday's Avengers-Orlando AFL game on ESPN2 at 4 p.m.
=Wladimir Klitschko's 12-round heavyweight bout in Mannheim, Germany against Ray Austin on Saturday will be shown twice Saturday on HBO -- first live at 1:45 p.m. and replayed at 10 p.m. Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Lennox Lewis are ringside. We can go off on a "Germany or Florida" tangent here, but ...
=Mike Thompson, who as program director at the former KXTA-AM 1150 helped run that station into oblivion, has been promoted to New Media program direction at ESPN Radio. He has been the program director at New York's 1050 ESPN Radio affiliate.
=Next episode of HBO's "Costas Now" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.) includes a sit-down with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski plus a pannel discussion on college hooops with NCAA president Miles Brand, former UCLA star Reggie Miller (with TNT), and Washington Post writer Sally Jenkins.
=NFL fans who aren’t fully satisfied by the Arena League on ABC/ESPN and don’t mind eating leftovers can get their fix on the NFL Network, which between now and July has blocked six hours of Sunday programming (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) to rebroadcast four condensed games from the 2006 season. The 90-minute version of games from Week One that’ll air this Sunday are Dallas-Jacksonville (10 a.m.), New Orleans-Cleveland (11:30 a.m.), Buffalo-New England (1 p.m.) and Indianapolis-N.Y. Giants (2:30 p.m.). The “bye week” comes April 28-29 for the network’s coverage of the NFL draft.
=Finally, the Boston Globe's Ron Borges is serving a two-month suspenion for plagiarism, a charge brought up by several blogsites that noticed word-for-word similiarity between some of the notes in his NFL column and those by Mike Sando in the Tacoma News Tribune. The problem stems from a notebook clearing house that many newspaper writers contribute to and then reuse in their own columns, kind of a network of news and notes that should be rewritten by each columnist as they use the stuff, but sometimes cutting and pasting serves them quicker. And riskier. Thursday, the Boston Herald reported that another case of plagiarism surfaced between Borges and a column written by South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Alex Marvez, but a Globe spokesman told the Herald that similarities between the two are "covered by the disclaimer that runs at the bottom of the notes column." Let's be careful out there.
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