ESPN Tops
In Coverage
Of DiMaggio's Death
ESPN Plans Additional Shows On Its Three Networks.
By George Stahl
NEW YORK (AQB)--ESPN's coverage of Joe DiMaggio's death again proved why it is the worldwide leader in sports and why Fox Sports News is a distant second, if not third or fourth.
ESPN first announced the sad news shortly after 8 a.m. Monday and had a video tribute by Bob Ley ready to go. At 9 a.m., ESPN showed a half-hour's worth of clips and features. The network repeated those 30 minutes every hour on the hour until 1 p.m., with the overnight SportsCenter filling up the other half-hour.
Fox did not show or announce anything about Joe DiMaggio until 10 a.m., despite the fact that Chris Myers told viewers that they were "the first to know all the latest news in sports."
I don't think so.
At 10 a.m., Fox's Jon Kelley stumbled and bumbled through his opening on Dimaggio's death, eventually leading into an excellent piece by Keith Olbermann. Meanwhile, ESPN was repeating its half-hour show.
Until Fox improves its reaction to breaking news, the network will never seriously challenge ESPN's grasp on sports news. I know now that the only way for me to get the "latest news in sports" is to watch ESPN's SportsCenter in the morning.
On the Internet, ESPN proved equally as dominating. Before most sites had one story, ESPN had three. MSNBC also was quick with a story by MSNBC contributor Mike Celizic, as was CBS Sportsline with The Associated Press story.
Meanwhile, Fox online did a better job than Fox on television.
CNN/SI had a brief paragraph on its home page but took a while sticking up the whole story, while The Sporting News took the longest time of any of the major sports sites.
ESPN will continue its heavy coverage of DiMaggio's death with many shows over its three networks during the next few days:
At 9 p.m. EST Monday, ESPN will show a live, one-hour special Joe DiMaggio: A Baseball Legend, hosted by Bob Ley in Bristol, Conn., and Karl Ravech in Florida. The season premiere of Baseball Tonight will follow with additional reports and reaction.
ESPN2 will repeat the one-hour DiMaggio special at midnight.
ESPN Classic began televising 12 1/2 consecutive hours of DiMaggio-related programming at 5:30 p.m. Monday. The network also will show a three-hour block at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a six-hour mini-marathon Saturday starting at noon. ESPN Classic's DiMaggio schedule is:
- 8 p.m. Monday - The Way it Was: The 1936 World Series. DiMaggio is a panelist.
- 9 p.m. - The Boys of Summer: 1947 World Series
- 10 p.m. - Classic Sports Legends: Joe DiMaggio
- 10:30 p.m. - The Main Event with DiMaggio as the guest
- 11 p.m. - Sports Challenge. Panelist DiMaggio and the Yankees take on the Red Sox.
- 11:30 p.m. - Sports Challenge. The 1956 Yankees square off against Joe McCarthy's Yankees.
- Midnight-3 a.m. Tuesday - reair of the 8-11 p.m. block
- 3-6 a.m. Tuesday - reair of the midnight-3 a.m. block
- noon-3 p.m. Tuesday - reair of Monday's 8-11 p.m. block
- noon-6 p.m. Saturday - a DiMaggio tribute
| To read more about DiMaggio, click on any of the following: | |||
| CBS Sportsline | Chicago Tribune | CNN/SI | ESPN |
| Fox Sports | Los Angeles Times | MSNBC | New York Times |
| San Fran Chronicle | Sporting News | USA Today | Yankees.com |
| A&E's
Biography will feature Joe DiMaggio at 8 p.m. EST MSNBC will remember the Yankee Clipper on Time & Again at 6 p.m. EST |
|||
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