|
Media
Notes By George Stahl NEW YORK (AQB)--I know we are a week or so late with our list; however, we didn't want to get too far into 2000 without acknowledging the wacky year that 1999 was in sports media. So with that in mind, ArmchairQB.com presents the top ten sports media stories from 1999, in terms of both news and significance. 10. Pending move of Dick Enberg to CBS from NBC The voice of so many great moments on NBC goes to finish his announcing career as the No. 2 NFL voice on CBS. 9. Retirement/return of ABC's Keith Jackson Jackson is one of the few legends still working on a regular basis. It was great to hear him on the Rose Bowl - even if he couldn't remember Virginia Tech's nickname during a promo. 8. Return of Marv Albert to the NBA and NBC I was on more conference calls with him than any other person this year. I talked to him when Turner hired him in February, before his first Turner game in April, when NBC re-hired him over the summer and when NBC recently named him its No. 1 NBA voice. All this fuss over something that should have been expected. Albert becomes the first sportscaster forgiven after being excommunicated. 7. Rise of sports magazine shows The year started with HBO's Real Sports going monthly and ended with ESPN's Outside The Lines planning to go weekly beginning in April. Add to that Bob Costas' HBO show in 2001, and some networks are finally giving sports the critical eye it needs. 6. The dispute and then agreement between ESPN and Baseball Never had a network taken a sport that it was broadcasting to court, and then turn around and solve the dispute with a new five-year deal. 5. The dumping of Dan Dierdorf from Monday Night Football After 12 years, ABC and NFL fans finally had enough of Dierdorf. Or at least they thought they did. After hearing Boomer Esiason struggle as the lone analyst this season on Monday Night Football, many wanted Dierdorf back. NASCAR established itself as a major player on the sports scene with a six-year, $2.4 billion pact split between NBC and Fox. More importantly, though, because the pact goes through 2006 and the NFL pacts end in 2005, NBC - which holds the rights to the second half of the NASCAR season - won't be able to bid on Sunday afternoon package for at least the year 2006. That, for now, eliminates a lot of competition for the NFL packages and may hurt the league in negotiations. This deal is so important not so much because of the $6 billion price tag (although that's part of it) but because it's the first major all-encompassing broadcast contract. It includes Internet, marketing as well as broadcast rights. However, the contract is another dangerous sign for fans and networks because it continues to blur the lines of whether networks critically cover major sporting events or promote major sporting events for their own benefit. 2. Jim Gray's interview of Pete Rose The most discussed, over-analyzed two minutes on television since President Clinton's finger-pointing, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" speech. 1. ESPN's SportsCentury project ESPN set the standard for future sports documentaries. Whether you loved it or hated it, chances are that if you were a sports fan, you probably discussed the list sometime during the year. And with all the other lists, awards and titles going on, SportsCentury was able to separate itself from the pact and be considered - rightfully or not - as the true sports countdown list. Because of that, the first paragraph of Michael Jordan's obit will most likely say "a six-time NBA champion who was voted the greatest athlete in the 20th century."
Fox NFL analyst John Madden, like many New York Jets fans, can't figure out what Bill Belichick was doing this week when he resigned as Jets head coach one day after replacing Bill Parcells. "I wasn't surprised by the Parcells part of it. ... The Belichick thing just surprised me because I thought they were all set up," Madden said in a conference call Wednesday. "I had no idea that was coming, and I still don't understand it. I don't understand what he's saying." Fox/HBO studio analyst Cris Collinsworth thinks he understands. He said Belichick may have wanted to separate himself from Parcells, possibly by going to New England. "Even if he wins in New York, it would still be seen as Bill Parcells' team," Collinsworth said. "It's tough living in his shadow. Bill Parcells' a big shadow." Collinsworth explained that Patriots would be attractive to Belichick because he grew up in Boston area, has a chance to be his own guy, the money is great and the team reportedly wanted him. "I'm not saying it's right, but I can understand why." Now whether the Patriots are actually willing to pony up compensation for Belichick is a different question, Collinsworth said. "Whether or not New England is willing to do that, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure that Kraft hasn't accomplished what he set out to accomplish, which is destroy what I think will be the Super Bowl favorite a year from now. I mean, really, he got two-for-one. He got Parcells and Belichick out of there." Madden has his own questions about Belichick. "He didn't look real stable. I don't know if this is someone you're going to have a big fight for." Fox Sports Net NFL analyst Marv Levy said that no matter happens, Belichick is taking a big risk. "He's really rolling the dice in my opinion," Levy said, adding that you can't bet on future coaching jobs. Fox NFL analyst Matt Millen disagreed. "There's going to be other coaching jobs available, because I don't know how many good coaches are out there," he said. "Bill Belichick is going to be in demand." One job, though, that remains open for the forseeable future is the Jets job. Collinsworth said, "The amazing thing is that there is no one to coach the Jets and, in my opinion, they are far and away my preseason choice to win the Super Bowl next year - I don't care what happens the rest of this way." "The fact that they can't find a head coach is almost comical." Madden said he has a good coach in mind for the Jets. "If someone told me that now Parcells was going to come back again next year, that wouldn't surprise me at all." CNN/Sports Illustrated's Peter King said there's a chance that Parcells may return. "I asked him [Parcells] if there was any chance he'd coach the Jets this fall. He said to me, 'Look, I don't want to even leave that door open but I have told John Hess [the son of late owner Leon Hess] that I will stand by the football team.' "Now let me translate: I think that if John Hess and/or the new owners come to Bill Parcells and ask him stridently to please coach the team for one more year during this transition period, he definitely will consider doing that." CBS' top NFL game analyst and former Parcells quarterback Phil Simms said that on Monday, he thought he had seen the last of Parcells as coach. "On Monday, deep down I believed that Bill Parcells would never again coach an NFL game," Simms said in statement. "I think he had to dig deep inside this year to make the Jets what they were and realized he couldn't do it another year. He felt better about the state of the team and about leaving it in a pretty good way. "The fact that they started 1-6 and ended 8-8 makes it an easy transition for whoever takes over. If they would have continued to struggle, I believe he would have made sure they were back on sound ground before he retired." CBS NFL studio analyst Randy Cross said he thinks Parcells knew the time was right to leave. "Parcells may be a football coach but he has a lot of showman in him and knows the best way to go out is to always leave them wanting more. Would Bill Belichick be better off in Foxboro as head coach and general manager? If Tuna lost Belichick and other staff members, he had no chance of reproducing the winning ways of '98. He knows he couldn't do it all by himself, so he quit."
Collinsworth thinks the networks will line up in an attempt to hire his former NBC colleague Mike Ditka, who was fired by the Saints this week. "I think he'll be given the opportunity. I mean there was a fistfight to get Mike Ditka the last time when he came out. He's very talented. He's very much off the cuff. He doesn't spend a whole lot of time thinking about what he's going to say before hand and just blurts it out. "It makes for some of the greatest TV that you'd ever see, and that's sort of why he's in demand," Collinsworth said, adding that he sees the former coach coming back to television eventually, if not by next season. Madden, who had dinner with Ditka before the Saints' Christmas Eve game against Dallas, said the Ditka didn't think this was going to happen. "He didn't see this coming. He really didn't. At that time [before Christmas], he felt he was going to be back next year," Madden said. "He didn't believe that it was going to come at this time. I know he didn't because he told me that." King, though, said Ditka should have seen this coming. "I think the players lost faith in Mike Ditka to motivate them and to be a winning coach in the NFL. And I think Ditka had lost faith in himself," Ditka said in a statement. "The fact is that Ditka, even though he was a bit fire and brimstone-ish on Sundays, just wasn't the same. "I think basically, not only did the record indict Mike Ditka but immediate prospects for the future indicted him." As for the future of the Saints, King said, "Charley Casserly has been strongly recommended to Tom Benson by league officials to take that job and sort of re-shape that franchise in his image. "If Casserly takes the job, don't look for him to hire some big star coach. It's more likely a Dom Capers, the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville, or Jim Haslett, the defensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. Both of whom, coincidentally, have been in New Orleans before and were very popular with Benson." As for Ditka, in AQB's opinion, the best place for Ditka would be on Monday Night Football, where he would be able to spice Boomer Esiason's often-dull analysis. Another reason for adding Ditka would be MNF's ratings (see Media Notes II).
Millen said he likes the Rams and Colts in the playoffs, with the Vikings and the Bills as dark horses. Levy also likes the Rams in the NFC but picks the Jaguars in the AFC, and said the Bills have a chance. Collinsworth favors the Rams but is skeptical about how good they really are. He thinks the AFC is "completely wide open" but picks the Colts through a process of elimination. CBS studio analyst Craig James said his top five seeds in the NFL playoffs are 1. St. Louis, 2. Tennessee, 3.Tampa Bay, 4. Buffalo and 5. Jacksonville. Simms said, "St Louis is the overwhelming favorite in the NFC. I don't see one in the AFC. If you told me the Bills were going to the Super Bowl, I'd say OK. If it was Tennessee, I'd say that's possible. Same with Jacksonville and Indianapolis. All four are all capable of going to the Super Bowl and winning. Seattle or Miami would be big news." Finally, Madden said the two best teams that he has seen are the Rams and the Colts. Overall, though, the 11-time Emmy Award winner said he expects an exciting playoffs. "I think because this has been one of the more interesting years - not a good year, but an interesting year. I think that's going to carry through the playoffs. I don't think there's going to be great football teams - dominant teams - but I think there's going to be interesting games."
Madden doesn't like the early start of NFL playoff games. "Playing championship playoff games in the morning is about as backwards as we can be. Why we're still doing it I have no idea," he said. "Why we can't have one game in the afternoon and one game in prime-time, I have no idea." "Who plays playoff games, championship games in the morning? In what sport? Anywhere? Don't tell me Wimbledon, either." Madden also said he would like to develop technology that makes it clear when an official is blowing his whistle. This way, during either live action or on replay, everybody will know when the officials stopped play.
Reaction was mixed to the firing of Green Bay Packers head coach Ray Rhodes, after just one 8-8 season. "I was surprised if you looked at the record, but I'm not surprised with Ron [Wolf, Packers general manager]," Millen said. "Ron Wolf has never been afraid to say, 'I'm wrong, move-on.' I think he's looking at the big picture and he only has so many years with Brett Favre. And he's looking at it saying that if he doesn't fix the chemistry, discipline or whatever he saw and move on, the situation will not get better." Madden agreed. "I never felt there was a mesh there between the Packer players and the coaches. It was just like they were never on the same page." CBS' Simms said Wolf knew a change had to be made. "GM Ron Wolf looked around at his big stars - Antonio Freeman, Brett Favre, Dorsey Levens, Vonnie Holliday and Leroy Butler - and saw none of them had a solid year. That's when the big alarm went off. When your stars don't measure up, your team has no chance. That is reason for a coaching change," Nonetheless, Levy and Collinsworth didn't see it coming. "It was surprising to me for a coach in one year to be gone with an 8-8 season," Levy said. Collinsworth said, "I like Ray, so maybe I'm too close to the thing. [But] I was floored." He added that he thought either Packer coordinator might go but that without defensive end Reggie White and an injured Favre, an 8-8 record wasn't bad.
"I remember we were coming off of halftime and I think he was mad that the Detroit Lions weren't doing something and he came on growling. After making two-out-of-three points, he completely forgot the third but continued growling. "It's
those spontaneous, combustible moments that make him incredible
for television. I hope he comes back. I think the world of him and
I hope he gets back into whatever he wants to do." For more details and a complete list of televised sporting events for this weekend, check out ArmchairQB.com's Today's Lineup. |
Today's Lineup | Sports
Pages | Features | Newsstand
| Sports Links
Speak Out | Mailing
List | Spotters | About
Us | Home
