Give us enough rope, and we'll hang some media notes online
We're struggling with trying to make sense out of the reaction to this Kelly Tilghman-Tiger Woods comment on the Golf Channel last week, and why, if so offensive, it took so long for disciplinary action to take place. It's the dreadful subject of today's Daily News media column.
Here's the YouTube verson someone doctored and put up on the site, but at least you get the visual context of the remarks:
Meanwhile, these notes of somewhat interest fall through the cracks:
==In Richard Sandomir's column on the Tilghman subject in today's New York Times, Golf Channel president Page Thompson reacts to the comments: "Quite frankly, I don’t know what she was thinking. I found the comment to be offensive. No one here thinks that Kelly meant the remark to hurt Tiger Woods or anyone else, but the words were hurtful and that’s why she was suspended.” Thompson said he also didn't think Tilghman would end up being fired for her stupidity. “We’re talking about someone with a spotless, 10-year record,” he said. “There is no evidence in her background of offensive beliefs and statements. She’s a friend of Tiger Woods’s. She’s a pioneer woman sportscaster. Her whole background would make you say that this is a remark that is completely out of character.”
==Check out the column by the Long Beach Press Telegram's Bob Keisser, who attended the memorial service for Stu Nahan on Wednesday.
==XM Satellite radio, which last week announced it had added the Dan Patrick Show to its lineup, will give Tony Kornheiser his own show for those making the early drive to work -- it'll air from 5:15 to 7 a.m. on channel 144. Kornheiser, the ESPN "Pardon the Interruption" co-host and third man in the booth during "Monday Night Football," has done national and local radio shows for 14 years while still doing columns for the Washington Post. His show will originate from the Washington DC studios of WWWT-AM.
Kornheiser's XM broadcast will lead into Patrick's show on the same channel from 7 to 9 a.m.
==Patrick has been doing his best to get Reggie Miller, a current game analyst for TNT’s NBA games, to work the phrase “passion bucket” into a broadcast. It was first used during a recent interview Patrick did with new UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel, who decided that was the best way to describe his program. Patrick asked Neuheisel if would be more emtional this year to face the University of Washington, where he used to coach, or USC. Neuheisel said: "In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC."
Miller said he tried to get it into the Seattle-Phoenix telecast last week, and promised again to work it into the San Antonio-Detroit telecast Thursday night.
==Should Terry Bradshaw make it to the end of his contract with Fox in 2011, he's thinking that will be the time to walk away, according to the New York Post. "I think in three years it may just be my time," said Bradshaw, who turned 59 last September. "I see the energy and the enthusiasm these young guys have, and I think it's time to hang it up."
==Onion Sports first major headline of 2008:
==Ahead-of-the-curve news of note from the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas:
**Microsoft put on a demonstration of the Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), an internet-connect TV channel through your DVR that will initially be used during boxing matches on Showtime and available for sports programming on TNT (NASCAR is the target audience). With an on-screen controller, viewers can access information, mess with audio and interact with other viewers. Sounds like there could be much more practical uses, but for now, that's about it. Read more about it at this New York Times blog post.
**CBS' March Madness on Demand online video site through CBSSports.com that gives viewers streaming video of the NCAA men's basketball tournament was named the winner of the technology and engineering Emmy Award. The other finalists in the category: MLB.com GameDay; RaceView on NASCAR.com, and MLB Extra Innings Interactive through DirecTV.
**NBCOlympics.com, which plans for more than 2,200 hours of live video from the Bejing Olympics this summer, will be distributed on Microsoft's new Sliverlight video player.
==Second-best Onion Sports story to land this year:
==If you tuned in early to CBS’ NFL pregame show Sunday, prior to its San Diego-Tennessee telecast, you got to see James Brown and – yes – Bill Cowher talk women’s basketball. "NFL Today" broke out early when the UConn-Purdue women's basketball game ended early, allowing for Brown and Cowher to talk to Nell Fortner, the women’s coach at Auburn, in the studio to fill time. Cowher is no stranger to women's hoops. His wife Kaye played at North Carolina State as well as the Women's Pro Basketball League. Two of his daughters (including Meagan, pictured here) currently play at Princeton, with the youngest daughter a high school player.
==After the Golf Channel packs up its gear from Hawaii and heads to Palm Springs for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (Wednesday through Friday starting at noon, Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 p.m.), the network will air a special Tuesday at 6 p.m. called "Trevino and Lopez," where Hall of Fame golfer Lee Trevino and comedian George Lopez talk about their bonding over golf.
==ESPN2 and the Tennis Channel charge ahead with coverage of the Australian Open starting Sunday at 4 p.m. through the men's final on Jan. 27. Serena Williams' victory over Maria Sharapova in the '06 women's finals helped ESPN2 draw its best tennis rating ever, a 1.9. ESPN2 has 137 hours of coverage live, with 480 more hours on ESPN360.com. Bud Collins joins ESPN for the first time for its tennis coverage, with Cliff Drysdale and Dick Enberg doing most of the play-by-play. Patrick McEnroe, Mary Carillo and Mary Joe Fernandez do much of the match analysis. Chris Fowler is the studio host. The ESPN2 coverage is usually in three parts each day: Live at 4 p.m., more live at 12:30 a.m. and same-day stuff at noon.
The Tennis Channel has about 70 hours of Australian Open programming and has signed Martina Navratilova as its primary commentator for all Grand Slam events this year, working with Bill Macatee. A six-hour daily show called "Australian Open Today" will take up a chunk of that programming. Thirty of those hours are devoted to live or first-run matches. Leif Shiras, recently retired Justin Gimelstob and current player Renee Stubbs will also do commentary.
==Someone named Carter Blackburn (pictured here, supposedly after his high school graduation), who got his career jumpstarted on CSTV, is joined by Bill Raftery to call Sunday's Stanford-Oregon college basketball telecast for CBS, following the Illinois-Indiana game (1:30 p.m.) with Verne Lundquist and Billy Packer that goes head-to-head with Fox's NFL playoff coverage.
Saturday, FSN Prime Ticket has managed to squeeze five games into a 10-hour window (expect some overlap), starting with the much-awaited UCLA-Washington State contest at the uncomfortable time of 11:30 a.m. from Pauley Pavilion (with Ted Robinson and Marques Johnson on the call). It's followed by Cal-Oregon State (with Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini at 1:30 p.m.), Washington-USC (with Jim Watson and Mike Montgomery at 3:30 p.m.), Gonzaga at Loyola Marymount (with Greg Heister and Craig Ehlo at 5:30 p.m.) and Portland at Pepperdine (with Paul Sunderland and Michael Cage) at 7:30 p.m.
==Saturday's annual Hula Bowl, where college football all-stars try to impress the NFL scouts, takes place at 3 p.m. on ... sorry, its Versus. Ron Thulin, Kelly Stouffer and Lewis Johnson hold the microphones with the standard leis. Among those rostered to compete: USC linebacker Thomas Williams and center Matt Spanos, and UCLA offensive lineman Shannon Tevaga.
==One last headline and story from Onion Sports:
==The World Championship Sports Network has exclusive webcasts of 12 major FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events, starting today in Switzerland. There's a $4.95 monthly subscription fee to consider.
==NBA TV throws on some D-League games under the headline of a "Showcase" presentation starting Monday and ending Thursday. All 14 teams get some airtime for this four-day event in Boise, Idaho. Former Laker and current FSN West analyst Norm Nixon joins the network in evaluating the talent. The Los Angeles D-Fenders have games on Tuesday (vs. Fort Worth, 10 a.m.) and Thursday (vs. Austin, 10 a.m.).
==And finally:
President Bush is featured on the latest episode of "Offshore Adventures Sunday" (6 a.m., ESPN2) to discuss the fishification of angling for striped bass on the Chesapeake Bay out of St. Michaels, Md. How'd he get enough time from his busy schedule to squeeze in a fishing trip?
==And really, really finally:
Quote of the new year already from Fox's Frank Caliendo, doing a Bobby DeNiro immitation on the most recent "Fox NFL Sunday" show, said:
"I saw a while ago where someone named a racehorse "Terryhowiejimmy" (after three of the Fox studio analysts). I'm really glad they went with the first names. "Bradshawslongjohnson" -- that doesn't sound very good."