Kicking around more media notes
With all-Beckham, all-the-time coverage of his maybe debut with the Galaxy on Saturday night at Home Depot Center -- ESPN sure hopes he's there, based on all the money its spending on covering it and having him on the cover of its magazine, a week after Sports Illustrated did the same -- it's interesting how perhaps the snappiest piece of commentary about L.A.'s newest sports thing comes from a fake political news pontificator, who in a very round about way has already made a connection between the lad and our steroid problem.
On Wednesday's edition of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," host Steven Colbert named Davey Beckham his "Alpha Dog of the Week," saying:
"I've had Beckham fever ever since he was at Man U and Posh toured with the Spice Girls. There will never be another act manufactured for focus groups half as good as them. But now, thanks to a $250 million contract with the L.A. Galaxy, Becks has crossed the pond and is marking America as his territory. There has been a media onslaught ever since the Becks have arrived on American soil. So you can imagine the feverish excitement when, at his first practice, Beckham ... stretched, and then sat out due to an ankle injury. He's listed as day to day at this point.
"It takes alpha-sized man crumpets to drum up that much coverage and cash and not do the one thing that is theoritically interesting about you.
"And bravo, Becks, for establishing a firm place among the big dogs of the American sports elite, like Barry Bonds, who sat out a whole series against the Cubs this week due to swollen ankles. You know what I hear is great for bringing that swelling down? Steroids."
We head forward, after today's Daily News media column and notes, with more to ponder, even non-Beckham related:
==More a Q-and-A with ESPN's Tom McNeeley (the coordinating producer for Saturday's Galaxy-Chelsea telecast), and analysts Eric Wynalda and Tommy Smyth:
Question: How big is this game for those who know little to nothing about soccer, and how will this draw them to the TV versus what the hardcore fans may want to see?
Answer by Wynalda (pictured): There are very few people who transcent their sports. You've seen it in the U.S. with a Jordan. This parallels more with what Gretzky went though, even though I wouldn't put Beckham on the same caliber with his ability toward the game. The amount of interest since the announcement came in January has been an ongoing clock. Now we start to gauge who'll be intested? Soccer moms, or someone who watches football and baseball but his wife is rearranging her schedule to watch this? We don't know yet. We can't answer that until after this match and then sort it out in a month or so.
Answer by McNeeley: We need to find the proper mix of soccer and entertainment here. The way young people watch TV now while online makes the ESPN360 coverage a great option to have. I know there's a perception that maybe ESPN hasn't done as much soccer that we're looked at through a magnifying glass, but during the World Cup we had a great run.
Answer more by Wynalda: The ESPN model is to service the fan everywhere at all levels. I don't feel the ESPN360 is any kind of disservice. It's just a different way to get into Beckham's world. In England, tabloids pay 250 million pounds just to know what he's eating for breakfast. This gives fans access to what he's doing at all times. I'm not saying we sneak into his house and watch him shower, but really, it's a helluva lot worse what they're doing across the ocean to him. It's all new for us. I applaud ESPN for putting the money into this and giving fans a serious look at him as opposed to sweepig it under the rug.
Answer by Smyth (pictured): I've watched soccer evolve and you don't get anywhere without taking chances. Kids today are born with a Playstation in their crib. If you're going to get kids involved you have to give them something to look at. In our sport, changes comes differently. We suggested two people do a game in the booth, and it was strange. Then we popped a clock and score graphic on the scrren, and that's now very common. What ESPN is doing is reacting to the public and what it wants. We'll cover it for everyone, from the hardcore fan to the soccer mom who just wants to look at Beckham and thinks he's hot. We have all aspects covered. Sometimes, it seems to the traditionalists that we've gone too far the other way, but at the end of the day, it's football, and it's soccer, and it's entertainment.
Q: What do you compare Saturday's coverage to in terms of anything else you've covered at ESPN?
A from McNeeley: I've been lucky to produce a lot of NHL and Little League World Series and NBA. The toughest thing about soccer is there isn't a lot of natural stops for commercial breaks. To me, you can't compare this to anything. You can compare the hype to a Monday Night Football game or a post-season NBA game.
Q: What are the contingency plans if Beckham doesn't play Saturday:
A from McNeeley: We'd direct the audience to join our ESPN360.com coverage to see shots of Beckham on the sidelines, warming up, perhaps going into the game in the second half, which we'll keep remind the audience. There are so many subtexts attached to this game that there's enough to talk about. We'll just be ready to juggle things as they go along. We do have a lot of exceptional other players to cover.
==Galaxy director of media relations Patrick Donnelly said there are about 400 media credentials issued for Saturday's game at Home Depot Center, more than four times the usual allotment. The HDC press box only accomodates 40 people, so there is a buildout extension that will fit another 100, plus a second media overflow booth on the concourse level overlooking section 138 on the southeast corner that’ll take 150 more. A media tent outside the stadium that will be used for post-game interviews will also televise the game to credentialed reporters who only need to follow the game without in-game coverage.
==As part of ESPN's coverage of Beckham's debut, long-time L.A.-based statistician Doug Mann said that, while working from the production truck, he will keep a tally of every Beckham touch, passes attempted and passes completed, to be used as needed by the broadcasters or in graphic form.
==Of the 12 games ESPN2 has left on its MLS regular-season schedule, the Galaxy have five scheduled Thursday night appearances: at D.C. United (Aug. 9), two against Chivas USA (Aug. 23, which Beckham may miss because of a commitment to his England national team, and Sept. 13), at Kansas City (Sept. 27) and home against the New York Red Bulls (Oct. 18). ESPN is negotiating with the MLS to carry (not exclusively) the Aug. 5 Galaxy game at Toronto, which will mark Beckham's MLS debut. FSN West willl also have that game, in addition to Aug 12 at New England (4 p.m.); Aug. 25 at Colorado (4 p.m.); Sept. 16 vs. Houston (5 p.m.); Sept. 19 at Salt Lake (6 p.m.); Sept. 23 vs. Dallas (5p.m.); Sept. 30 at Columbus (2 p.m., delayed); Oct. 7 at Houston (noon) and Oct. 21 at Chicago (noon).
==Fox Soccer Channel will start a new 13-episode weekly magazine show, "David Beckham's Soccer USA," premiering Wednesday at 6 p.m. A company called 19 Entertainment Production, in association with the MLS and Soccer Untied Marketing will pull the shows together, using Simon Fuller as one of the executive producers. “David Beckham’s arrival is a tremendous milestone in U.S. soccer history, and Fox Soccer Channel is intent on covering his impact on the game from every possible angle,” said David Sternberg, executive vice president and general manager of Fox Soccer Channel. “David Beckham’s Soccer USA will provide an insider’s look at his performance with the Los Angeles Galaxy, as well as complement Fox Soccer Channel’s exclusive match coverage each week on MLS Saturday on FSC.”
Read on...
==More Q-and-A with Dan Patrick, who says he won't return to his ESPN Radio show until Aug. 13, then to his final five shows before leaving to start his own syndicated network:
Q: Are you allowed to talk about your new job before you officially leave your old one?
A: I'm just trying to be fair and not say things out of context, because there's so many tenticals attached to it. I'm just trying to follow protocal. The Content Factor will help me syndicate, going out and marketing it and drawing interest and seeing how it plays out. I told them I'd take care of the radio part and they take care of selling it and making sure someone's listening. The template is in place. I'm impressed with them and their radio experience.
I do what to go out on my own, but I wasn't ready to do what Olbermann or Kilborn or Eisen or Myers did. Having a family (with four kids) affects that. So I'm making a decision that seems only based on me but really on my wife and family.
ESPN has been unbelievably great about all this. They've been fair, and up front and honest. That's been the fortunate part.
Q: So this departure has nothing to do with a mid-life crisis?
A: I've already bought the '65 and '66 Corvette, so my mid-life crisis was a long time ago. This was more an epiphany, a realization ... is this all that's left of my career? So maybe a feeling of morality. What else do I want to do? I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Q: Any thoughts of joining the Sporting News Radio Network, headed up by your brother, Bill?
A: I wasn't interested in getting in with another brand name right off the bat. I appreciate what they have, but ... If I fall flat on my face, maybe he'll return my call. I really felt like I was apart of the lineup on KSPN in Los Angeles. Larry Gifford (the program director) did a good job bringing in so many different personalities, and USC football. It's a tough address to give up. Everyone there did a great job embracing my show and making me feel as I was part of the local radio station, which is hard to do. It takes the other hosts to be on board and not make me feel like a necessary evil. That happens at some affiliates. I could interview someone like Ricky Williams, and the other local hosts wouldn't address it because they wanted that interivew. That never happened (at 710-AM). You need good synergy and Gifford make it work seamlessly.
Q: Does working at ESPN for that long give you a claustrophobic feeling, that your whole identity is defined by one company and you'll never be able to break free of that?
A: You really deal in a vaccuum at ESPN. There's nothing wrong with working there, but after 18 years, it was a lot of the same. I still had people come up to me and say, 'You're the SportsCenter dude.' I wanted to establish something different. Olbermann may be at MSNBC for years, but he'll still be identified as a SportsCenter guy. And people will always ask, 'Why are you leaving?' I'm leaving for all the right reasons. That's what people asked me when I stopped doing SportsCenter and went to radio. 'What happened?' they'd ask. 'Nothing, I just wanted to do something else.' It wasn't like I was slipping out the back door. I used to have this fear that I'd get fired at ESPN, so I'd work these crazy hours. In a three-year period, I did radio and TV, and I'd take an hour and a half nap after the radio show and then do the 11 p.m SportsCenter. I'd be in at 10:30 a.m. and out by midnight. It was crazy, but I felt I needed to do what they asked or I'd be digging ditches somewhere, laying cable for ESPN. That fear is over. I kind of compare it bungie jumping. I did that once in New Zealand. I'm waiting for the slack to take affect and get back up to the bridge now that I've jumped. And maybe I won't hear any more from friends who call and ask, 'Dude, you OK? You sure?' It's as if they want to talk me down from the ledge. They feel the same way: No one leaves ESPN. At least no one who's sane. Maybe I'm a little deranged after 18 years. Maybe that's all that happened. But it's a good feeling to walk out on my own terms with the respect of management.
==Cliff Drysdale, Patrick McEnroe (pictured) and Pam Shriver are part of ESPN2's coverage of the ATP's Countrywide Classic from UCLA, with today's quarterfinals (1:30 p.m.), Saturday's semifinals (11:30 a.m.) and Sunday's final (2 p.m.). The Tennis Channel also has coverage today (5:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. with singles and doubles quarterfinals), Saturday (from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. with singles and doubles semifinals) and Sunday) from 5 to 7 p.m. with doubles finals).
Meanwhile, the Tennis Channel has announced deals in place to do more than 100 hours from the upcoming U.S. Open and the 2008 Wimbledon championships. The deal with Wimbledon also has access to Wimbledon's library of classic matches and other historic video.
==In a somewhat rare occurance, neither FSN West nor FSN Prime Ticket has an Angels or Dodgers game this weekend. KCOP Channel 13 has all three Angels games in Minnesota today through Sunday, with Jose Mota and Mark Gubicza. KCAL Channel 9 has the Dodgers-Mets tonight and Sunday, while KTTV Channel 11 has the Fox regional coverage Saturday at 12:55 p.m., with Matt Vasgersian and Tim McCarver on the call (going to 56 percent of the country). Meanwhile, Fox reporter/writer Ken Rosenthal has some thoughts about preposterious Gary Sheffield's latest accusations heard on the current edition of HBO's "Real Sports," where he accuses Yankees manager Joe Torre of giving preferential treatment to white players over blacks, and that it's the media that keeps fueling his irratic popping off by giving him a public forum.
==As long as we're all feeling real good about Hank Aaron these days as sort of the anti-Bonds publicity drives toward his breaking the all-time home run record, ESPN2 will premiere a one-hour show called "ESPN Remembers: The Long Winter of Henry Aaron" on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The documentary, which NBC aired originally in October 1973 (Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record in April, 1974) with Tom Brokaw, will have new material from Brokaw and recent interviews with Aaron, Bonds and Dusty Baker (Aaron's former teammate, Bonds' former manager and ESPN analyst).
Says Brokaw (pictured) of the original story and how it developed: “We did think he was going to break the record (in 1973 when Brokaw and crew were following Aaron) and we were hoping for that, but then it turned out to be a much more important documentary because (he was stuck on 713 home runs after the season, just one short of tying the record) we renamed it "The Long Winter of Henry Aaron." And he kept from us at the beginning the kind of hateful mail he was getting. Then, when we began to look into that, we realized that there was a bigger storyline...America needed to know what he was going through at that time."
Meanwhile, ESPN will commit to providing live cut-ins (or short turn-around highlights) of Bonds' at bats when he goes for homers No. 754, 755 and 756. It can't do such when Fox is televising a game on a Saturday afternoon.
== HBO's "Costas Now" returns Tuesday (10 p.m.) with baseball as the topic on the table. MLB commissioner Bud Selig is scheduled to appear, and Bob Costas has an interview with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Ozzie Smith and comedian Chris Rock joins Costas in the roundtable segment. One of the features will focus on the Cannon St. All-Stars from Charleston, SC. In 1955, seven years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, this group of youngsters was banned from playing in a little league tournament because of the color of their skin.
==Don Barrett on LARadio.com is using deductive reasoning to report that the Dodgers have no choice but to stay at KWFB-AM (980) for their radio flagship needs for the next five years, despite the fact the station doesn't always act as if it's really all that interested in keeping the team around and interrupting its ability to report news and traffic. The current KWFB-Dodgers deal runs out at the end of this season. KSPN-AM (710) and KLAC-AM (570) are also said to be interested, but conflicts with USC football at the former (a deal was just extended through 2011) and with the Lakers on the later would preclude the Dodgers from wanting to play second-class citizen and be relegated to an alternate station during the overlapping September and (possibly) October schedules. The Angels won't be a factor in the KSPN dealings since team owner Arte Moreno is expected to move the team to his own (currently Spanish-language affiliate) 830-AM.
== Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman, Emanuel Steward and Harold Lederman are on the HBO PPV broadcast ($49.95) of Saturday's Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright fight from Las Vegas, starting at 6 p.m. ESPN2 "Friday Night Fights" host Brian Kenny, ESPN.com senior boxing writer Dan Rafael and the always talkative Stephen A. Smith will have today's weigh-in (live on ESPNEWS, 2 p.m.) and Rafael will have ESPN’s "Unofficial Scorecard” round-by-round scoring for Saturday’s 8 p.m. "SportsCenter" (depending on when the fight starts) and ESPNEWS. Both channels will also have post-fight interviews and press-conference coverage.
== Additional coverage of the British Open on CBSSportsLine.com today from 2 a.m. until 11 a.m. includes live streaming, webcasts from holes 16, 17 and 18; and a course flyover from all 18 holes to check them all out.
The Open Championship on ABC will include the debut of “TrackMan” technology, which will be used on the sixth and 10th holes, to graphically demonstrate ball speed, carry distance and trajectory. Additionally, ESPN will provide daily Open Championship highlights on ESPN.com and ESPN-branded wireless platforms. ESPN.com and ESPN wireless will have daily highlights.
With ABC's coverage on TV, the debut of "TrackMan" technology on the sixth and 10th holes are supposed to show ball speed with a graphic.
==Although most Ultimate Fighting Champions are a pay-per-view affair, Spike TV announced it will have the UFC 75 event, featuring a unification bout between Quintin “Rampage” Jackson and Pride fighter Dan “Hollywood” Henderson on Sept. 8 at 9 p.m. (delayed) from London. Last April, Spike TV drew 2.8 million viewers when it carried UFC 70 from Manchester, England (again, delayed on the West Coast). That was a bigger audience in the men 18-34 demographic than Fox’s coverage of NASCAR and ESPN’s NBA playoff game going head-to-head, as well as Fox’s coverage of the Yankees-Red Sox earlier that day.
==The Golf Channel, which has exclusive coverage of the PGA’s U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, has brought back its Aimpoint on-screen graphic that shows the putting line at select holes during its telecast through Sunday. Brian Hammons and Curt Byrum are the main broadcasters.
==This is TNT's final weekend of the season with the NASCAR package, as it carries the Nextel Cup event from Chicago on Sunday (1 to 4:30 p.m.). ESPN picks up the series on July 29 for the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the network's first Cup event since 2000. ESPN and ABC will do the last 17 races of the '07 season, including all 10 "Chase' events on ABC.
==DirecTV shot some new TV spots for its "NFL Sunday Ticket" that begin play this week, featuring the Manning family -- Archie, Peyton, Eli and mother Olivia -- with Matt Leinart. The ads, shot in Chattanooga, Tenn., features Eli and Peyton coming home to find their parents have seemed to adopt Leinart into their family, with Archie serving as his quarterback tutor. The current issue of Sports Illustrated (July 23, page 28) pretty much covers behind the sceens at the shoot.
==ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language version of ESPN, is the only place in the states to watch Pan American Games coverage from Brazil, and that includes the U.S. baseball team facing Cuba in today's gold-medal match at 9:20 a.m. Pepperdine righthander Brett Hunter makes the start for the U.S. team. In women's beach volleyball, Brooke Niles-Hanson (Calabasas High) and Angie Akers have advanced to the quarterfinals.
==The Big Ten Network announced it will use Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis as its main play-by-play/analyst team this season, taking the pair that was on Fox's coverage of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship game.
==Shaun White's participating in the vert ramp should be the focus of NBC's coverage of the latest AST Dew Tour event this weekend in Cleveland. White's competition is supposed to go live (delayed on the West Coast) from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. USA Network adds late-night coverage of the BMX dirt competition tonight and Saturday (midnight to 1 a.m.)
==And finally, The Sports Business Daily picked up this nugget off TVGuide.com: The producers of NBC’s "Friday Night Lights" are trying to get Rosie O'Donnell to play the role of a high school soccer coach six or seven episodes into the new season who is really angry about all of the school's resources going to football. We weren't even sure this series was picked up for the fall. Maybe the best way to Rosie fully on board is telling her Donald Trump will come in for a cameo as the school's athletic director.