Media mush: The aftertaste
More media notes, after you're done with those corner kicks we threw out there in today's Daily News column on David Beckham and sidebar on Paul Page
A less-than-enthusiastic thumbs up for ESPN's introduction of the "Draft Track" that showed how wavy blue and yellow lines over a speeding NASCAR rig creates good and bad air for the others on the track. ESPN used it three times during its Brickyard 400 telecast on Sunday. The first time, play-by-play man Dr. Jerry Punch said: "I gotta love the fact the air changes colors with the pressure and air speed changes in the draft to let you know how the air changes when its turbulent." With all the smoke and flames coming out of some cars during several accidents, we weren't always sure what was Draft Track or was was plain old fumes, such as what happened to Jimmy Johnson's No. 48 car on lap 61. The best use of the Draft Track came with 39 laps to go and showed how Tony Stewart was able to pass by Kevin Harvick and take the lead based on how the airflow was affecting the front of his car.
A bigger thumbs up to Stewart who, during the live interview afterward, summed up his victory: "This one's for everyone of those fans in the stands that pull for me and take al lthe bullshit from everybody else." ESPN edited that "bullshit" part out of its "SportsCenter" replay. Stewart was later fined $25,000 and 25 points. It raised a question to Fox NASCAR analyst Larry McReynolds on his recent online Q-and-A session as to why some are fined more than others for swearing into a live mike.
Not that ESPN is dumbing NASCAR technology down too much with its Draft Track and other new elements to its coverage starting last week, but when you really get down to it, this "TV" report by The Onion gets to the essence of what the sport is all about, in terms even a Fontana resident can understand:
==The "What Smokes" and "What Chokes" items, again left off the media link on the website, can be found at the end of the column version that appeared in sister paper Long Beach Press Telegram ....
==Robin Roberts, the former ESPN "SportsCenter" anchor who now co-hosts ABC's "Good Morning America," announced this week she has an early form of breast cancer and is scheduled to begin treatment today. Roberts, 46, the leading scorer in Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball history, worked at ESPN from 1990 to 2005, when she was added to the morning network show.
==KCAL Channel 9, in its second year of covering the Dodgers as a local broadcast partner, said it will commit "an unprecidented amount of airtime" and other resouces to support the team's new ThinkCure non-profit charitable organization that will raise funds for cancer research at City of Hope and Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
The annonucement came during Wednesday's “Think Blue TV” pre-game show. For more information: www.thinkcure.org or 866-554-CURE (2873).
==HBO’s next edition of “Real Sports” on Aug. 14 will include a piece on “the underground world of dogfighting,” allowing reporter Bernard Goldberg to handle that subject matter.
==A quick thought about J.A. Andande's vacation relief work on ESPN's "Around the Horn" this week: As a fill-in for Michael Wilbon, Andande remains a Just Average former newspaper columnist. It's not a good thing when the person being interviewed -- such as Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who has some network broadcating experience -- is far more understandable than the one asking the questions.
==ESPN has lucked out into having, if all goes as scheduled, Tom Glavine's attempt to win his 300th game on Sunday Night Baseball (5 p.m.) when the New York Mets face the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. ESPN also says this is its 2,000th high definition telecast, which goes back to an Angels game against Texas in March, 2003.
==Versus says its coverage of the recently concluded Tour de France reached 20.5 million households, more than any other year in the network’s history, including Lance Armstrong’s final win in 2005. How could that have happened? More subscribers to pool from. It was also up four percent over 2006 for the 23 days of viewing. Versus also said its website, Versus.com, had 23.5 million page views during the race, up 20 percent from last year, most to watch the stage recaps by Al Trautwig and Bob Roll. “Despite the controversy that surrounded this year’s Tour de France, the event showed surprising resiliency among American viewers,” said Versus president Gavin Harvey in a statement. “The increase in viewership and tremendous growth in web traffic shows that fans were able to look past the scandals, enjoy one of the most intense competitions on earth and support the aggressive battle to rid the sport of cheaters.”
==ESPN has joined forces with Throwback Pictures to produce a two-hour documentary on Bobby Valentine's adventures managing the Chiba Marines of the Japanese League that will be scheduled to screen in the spring of 2008. The working title is "Bobby V in Japan." Original online webisodes and written blogs detailing the production of the film and baseball life in Japan will be produced exclusively for ESPN.com’s Page 2.
==At last, the ESPN "Who's Now" championship bracket has some down to the final two -- Tiger Woods vs. LeBron James -- and voting is still underway at ESPN.com before the announcement is made on Sunday's "SportsCenter." The "panel" has already voted Woods a 3-0 winner, but it's the fans who make the final choice, and they've already overruled plenty in this nail-biting experience starting July 1. The panel actually picked Shaquille O'Neal over James in the semifinals, but the voters picked James with 60 percent of the vote. WOW!
In the Palm Beach Post, ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer Glenn Jacobs said that "Who's Now" has been the "story with the most traffic on espn.com ... for four weeks," with people casting four million votes. "Sports is built on debate. We took that idea and tweaked it.”
== The annual hour-long special show based on this summer's Special Olympics Southern California Summer Games airs first Saturday at 4 p.m. on KCBS Channel 2, then repeats Aug. 11 at 4 p.m. on KCAL Channel 9. John Ireland and Lena Nguyen host it. The show will feature interviews with Rafer Johnson, Mike Garrett and Jim Abbott, plus footage from the games that took place in June at Long Beach State.
==For those with a dish or cable system access to the YES Network in New York: The Aug. 6, 1979 game between the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles that was played hours after the funeral of Yankees captain Thurman Munson will be replayed on the network Monday at 6 p.m. (PDT). YES has licensed the game, a full-length replay, from MLB, who obtained the ABC "Monday Night Baseball" broadcast as part of its rights deal with ESPN. Howard Cosell does the play by play. "As soon as we started 'Yankee Classics,' this game was right up on our list, and we're thrilled to obtain it," said YES President of Production & Programming John Filippelli told the SportsBusiness Journal. "The emotion of this game is so raw, so bone-chilling, by far one of the most emotional games I've ever seen."
==Best sports headline in The Onion this week:
==CBS picks up the final two rounds of the Bridgestone Invitational (10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday) from Akron, Ohio, the warmup to next week's PGA Championship. All 50 players from the latest world golf rankings are in the field. CBS will include a PGA Championship preview on Sunday from 9 to 10 a.m. hosted by Bill Macatee.
==The NFL Network has hired Craig Janoff to direct its Thursday and Saturday night live NFL games, starting with Sunday's New Orleans-Pittsburgh Pro Football Hall of Fame Game at 5 p.m. Janoff spent 22 years at ABC Sports, directing Monday Night Football from 1988-99 as well as Monday Night Baseball, Wide World of Sports and college football. He's credited with developing the “helmet cam,” “floor cam” and “free flight” used in the NBA, and gyro-mounted, stabilized tracking devices used in horse racing. Mark Loomis produces for the NFL Network.
==NBC picks up the men's and women's finals of the AVP Chicago Open on Saturday and Sunday (1:30 to 3 p.m. each day) with Chris Marlowe, Mike Dodd, Karch Kiraly and Heather Cox. Saturday's coverage is preceeded by the live telecat of the Hambletonian harness race (12:30 p.m.) with Tom Hammond, Mike Battaglia, Donna Barton and Gary Seibel.
==Sirius Satellite Radio signed a deal with reigning Scottish Premiere League champion Celtic Football Club to carry games starting with Sunday's contest against Kilmarnock (6 a.m. PDT). Games will air on Channel 126, with schedules on www.sirius.com/soccer.
==Taking this Fantasy Football stuff down another notch, ESPN.com has been revealing inductees into the "ESPN Fantasy Football Hall of Fame" to honor those players who come out of nowhere to help fantasy GMs win their league titles.
According to ESPN's press release: "ESPN Fantasy Football experts analyzed the performances of fantasy standouts for the last 10 seasons and identified 48 players who have earned a place in the inaugural class of the FHOF. The Hall recognizes those players who have recorded the best Fantasy Football seasons of all time as well as the surprise performers -- from third-stringers and injury replacements to waiver wire pick ups and other relative unknowns. They might only have had one stellar season (or even a few stellar games), but the impact they had on the millions of fantasy football teams, leagues and players around the country is enough to earn them a spot in fantasy football history, and eternal gratitude from their owners.
"The Minnesota Vikings lead the league with five inductees in the class of 2007. From the all-around success of Daunte Culpepper’s standout seasons in 2000 and 2004 to Leroy Hoard, a “Touchdown Vulture” who scored 10 touchdowns in both the 1998 and ‘99 seasons, the Vikings have consistently turned out players who produce for their fantasy GMs. Three teams trail the Vikings with four FHOF players -- Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts."
OK, just stop it right now.
==To help promote its "Sunday Night Football" package, because commercials aren't enough, NBC has launched a
SundayNightisFootballNight.com site. The other marketing stuff -- six weeks worth of ads on TV, print, radio and the Internet, plus in arenas and stadiums, movie theaters, taxi cabs and even New York City's Times Square -- will annoy you all later.
==ESPN continues its attempt to buy up all the niche sports websites by purchasing the London-based professional rugby website, scrum.com, according to the Sports Business Journal. This year, ESPN has bought the fantasy site TalentedMrRoto.com, the basketball site TrueHoop.com, the NASCAR site Jayski.com and the cricket site Cricinfo.com, along with several college football fan sites, including WeAreSC.com.
==Which leads to the final note, the highlights from Pete Arbogast blog posted July 30 on WeAreSc.com (note: head shot is not actual size) include him casually announcing he's signed a new three-year deal to continue as the football voice (not basketball, despite his deepest backstabbing) and more ramblings about Pac-10 media day, where he singles out two people who missed -- or he didn't see, one of the two:
"It was good to see so many other conference play-by-play guys attending (the Pac-10 Media Day), usually only a couple come in. This time, along with myself, Chris Roberts of UCLA, Ted Robinson of Stanford, Joe Starkey of Cal, Jerry Allen of Oregon, Brian Jeffries of Arizona and Mike Parker of OSU. Only WSU and ASU were not there, or at least I didn’t see them. I spent at least some time talking to each of my colleagues and friends in the “gang of ten”.
"Said hello to many friends in the business—in the effort not to leave anyone out it will have to suffice to say it was good to see everyone and good to get rolling again."
Then, on to more pressing matters: How he will steer the ship of the new USC website:
"As you know by now, if you’ve read the official school web site or the blurb in Larry Stewart’s column in the Times, we are beginning a huge project with regards to the content on the USC web site. ... www.usctrojans.com for the uninitiated."
A blurb in the Times? Must have missed it. Oh, was that the same thing we did about 10 paragraphs on, with a photo of the website, and a large headline on page 2 of last Friday's Daily News? It must be...
"My role will be this: Along with continuing to do the radio calls for the Trojans football team (I just signed a new three year deal), I will be called on to do play-by-play of all home women’s basketball games, many home baseball games, and various other live and taped sporting events on campus, via the internet. I, along with several student assistants, will co-host a daily “radio” webcast (with camera running) live at Heritage Hall Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to noon, with live guests from the athletic department and athletic teams.
"With regards to that show, you are welcome to view it live and in person of course, and from what I’ve heard, you will be able to see/listen live every day for the first short period of time, prior to needing a subscription to continue. It’s $9.95 a month, or $99.95 a year. "
So that's how you'll get paid? From USC fans?
"We have a treasure trove of old USC sports game film. Right now it’s mainly football with some basketball, and a little baseball. We will be working to get more of the other sports. Each week we will do a piece with regards to that week’s football opponent with a look back at a great game between the two foes.
"We will be placing on the site tons of game film for you to look at and remember…"
We? Oh, it's not just him? Tom Kelly has something to do with these broadcasts as well. Must have slipped Pete's mind.
"I have been putting together a list of games, getting them ready, with the help of many others in the video department and beginning the process of choosing which games I think you’d like to see first from days gone by.
"If you have a suggestion as to a specific game (let’s keep them on the older side for the time being) be sure to let me know. We have worked on the 1963 USC-Wisconsin Rose Bowl and the 1967 SC-UCLA game so far."
Oh, you mean two games that Kelly actually called? Or will you be overdubbing them?
"Plus I get to help mentor the younger guys interested in play by play at The University, another great perk. For me, personally, it was as if the job was written by someone who knows me and what I love to do on a daily basis, specifically. It is a perfect job for me."
Perfect in every way. Daily fodder to sift though. And just enough rope to eventually hang what's left of his career.
UPDATE:Here's what we mean by daily fodder: From today's (Aug. 3) WeAreSC blog entry, already a review of their inaugural 11 a.m. to noon internet radio show that perhaps 3 people heard, and will be the same 3 listening today at 11 a.m., based on this little blurb:
The first show got off the ground with a slight “bump”, as we had a technical glitch that caused the kickoff show to be delayed by about ten minutes, but once we got going it flowed smoothly from our end. ....
By the way, notice the picture used on the blog, one of Arbogast with this hand on his shoulder (see above). Always wondered who the unlucky guy was that ended up getting cut out just so all of Arbo's mug could make it in there ...
We finally figured it out who that poor bastard is, the one who didn't deserve to be included...
Comments
So the only place Petey can get a job is actually working for USC. No professional broadcasting outlet wants anything to do with him.
Posted by: USC_89 | August 3, 2007 07:33 AM
ESPN and technological advancements in coverage...yeah...
First, don't look for them to truly show how they do "Draft Track" because they'd have to admit it's just a guess on their part. My first thought, now they're fingerpainting! When my brother saw it, he said "Put it up on the refrigerator with the rest"
ESPN's other "innovations" would appear to be use of an "in car reporter", a driver that communicates with the booth via radio. Wow, what an innovation - in the mid-1980's when ESPN first used radio contact between drivers and the booth. Everything old is new again if we change the name.
In their BGN coverage, ESPN has this wonderful little trick of turning on ALL of the spotters' radios at one time. What an innovation - cacophony. And apparently someone at the network thinks this is really, really cool. Talk about pointless.
Smoke and mirrors. Can someone please provide a contact for the Emmy Committee? someone needs to point out why ESPN shouldn't get any awards for this nothingness.
Posted by: JThur | August 7, 2007 10:24 AM