|
Media
Notes II By George Stahl NEW YORK (AQB)-CNN/SI's Peter King vented recently about the increased competition between him and other NFL information reporters to break league news. "It's become, pretty much, a ruthless, cutthroat, dog-eat-dog, Internet business. I think that the hardest thing in the world is to find something out on Friday at 4 o'clock and have nobody find out by Sunday morning at 10 o'clock. It's virtually impossible anymore. "Clearly, the competition is stronger than it's ever been, and I think that all of us who are in this information business right now look at it and say, 'If we don't bring our A game to the table every week, we're going to get slaughtered.'" King said in a conference call last month that while all this competition may be good for the NFL, he has some concerns about journalists' ethics. "I worry about two things in journalism. One, that people are going with half-baked stories, which I think unfortunately happens a lot in this information business because of the pressure to get stories on the air." The second things that bothers him is how quickly stories become public domain. King said he could break a story on the Internet and within two hours its "everybody's story ... and no one has any idea who broke the story." "Not that you go out in this business just to seek credit or anything, but it's nice occasionally if somebody realizes you got a story. I think the pilfering of stories, the publicness of stories, after one person breaks them, is kind of bothersome to the people who are in the business because it kind of feels like no matter what you do sometimes it's going to be pirated by the mainstream media, and it's just a little bit disturbing." Click to see Randy's review of the NFL preview magazines; the complete 1999 NFL television schedule; or the announcing assignments for week one.
Can the media please end all this "sympathy for the umpires" crap? Look, if the umpires couldn't handle being away from baseball, then they shouldn't have resigned. The fact is they tendered their resignations, baseball accepted and now they are gone. The umps should have thought about the consequences before saying "I quit" in the first place. Don't forget: The umpires played Russian Roulette with their jobs in an attempt to get a better contract. This was a negotiating tactic and, if it had worked, they would have been the ones to benefit from it. Instead, it failed, and now they have to suffer the fallout. However, I don't need media members, who know and are friends with umpires, to tell me that I should be concerned about these now out-of-work fathers and husbands. Well maybe these so-called great fathers and husbands should have thought about their families first and the union second before resigning. Now, those 22 unemployed umps will soon realize what many of us baseball fans already know - it's a lot easier to call a baseball game from the living room.
ESPN's College Gameday crew travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., this week for the Notre Dame-Michigan game, which is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC. This week's Gameday (11 a.m. Saturday) includes Shelley Smith's look at whether the luster is off Notre Dame's Golden Dome after all of the program's problems in the 1990s and Steve Cyphers' profile of Lou Holtz and his family. CNN's College Football Preview (11:30 a.m. CNN; noon CNN/SI) also will be in Ann Arbor with John Giannone and Ivan Maisel. Giannone examines Michigan's quarterback battle between senior Tom Brady and highly touted sophomore Drew Henson. In addition, the show will look at defending champion Tennessee, and in particular running back Jamal Lewis.
Two new shows will debut over the next two weeks on ESPN Classic. At 8 p.m. Friday, Chris Fowler hosts Classic Wide World of Sports. The weekly series will re-air those extreme sports featured through the years on Wide World of Sports, such as Acapulco cliff diving, barrel jumping and ski flying. Episodes will include legendary ABC hosts and reporters such as Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson, Don Meredith and Bill Fleming. Friday's show is on Evel Knievel. Next week, the program features barrel jumping, cliff diving and the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show. At 8 p.m. Sept. 14, ESPN Classic reveals The Lost Treasures of NFL Films, a series of five one-hour programs featuring vintage NFL Films footage. The series, which features footage never seen on television, not only traces the growth of the game but also the development of NFL Films itself. The first episode covers 1962-65 and includes interviews of Ed Sabol (founder of NFL Films) and Steve Sabol woven together with game footage. The following episodes will trace 1966-69; The American Football League; Lost Sounds of NFL Films; and the 1970s. Don't worry if you're like me and don't get ESPN Classic, The Lost Treasures will be shown on ESPN and ESPN2 at a later date.
Now all ESPN has to do is add volume to the announcers' mikes because it was occasionally hard to hear them over the crowd.
ESPN also said it will re-air the previous night's late SportsCenter on ESPN2 Saturday and Sunday mornings. The 2 a.m. SportsCenter will repeat four times on ESPN2 beginning 6 a.m. Saturday and two times starting 7 a.m. Sunday.
NBC televises Game 2 of the WNBA Finals at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday and Game 3 (if necessary) at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday. . ... ...ESPN will televise the Pepsi Southern 500 from Darlington, S.C., at 1 p.m. Sunday. ... ...Fox Sports Net's 1999 college football schedule begins this weekend with five games spread over Saturday, Sunday and Monday. ... ...Page One with Nick Charles (7:30 a.m. CNN Sunday; 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. CNN/SI) talks with Scott Green, an NFL referee and a co-partner in a government relations firm, about his life on and off the football field. .... ....In case you hadn't noticed, ESPN is using that "1st and Ten" line to mark where the first down is on its Thursday and Saturday primetime college football telecasts. ... ...On Fox's In the Zone (12:30 p.m. Saturday), Philadelphia Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal shows viewers how to make the classic Philadelphia cheesesteak at Philly's famous Jim's Steaks on South Street, where I spent many a night during my high school years. ... ...ESPN Classic airs the 1981 Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia, which includes Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and at 9 p.m. Wednesday. ... ...Preseason ratings for ABC's Monday Night Football rose 9% to 9.5 from 8.7 last year. ... ...Finally, ESPN has secured AT&T and Milk as gold level sponsors for the 2000 Winter X Games, which will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports from Feb. 4 through Feb. 8, 2000. For more details and a complete list of televised sporting events this weekend, check out ArmchairQB.com's Today's Lineup. |
||
I
know it was only one game, but the new Thursday night college football
threesome of Mike Tirico, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit
might be the best rookie announcing team in football this year.
Herbstreit was a very pleasant surprise as he was extremely insightful
and concise in his first game, while Corso added a spark and a coach's
eye to the telecast. The twosome made Tirico even better, as the
play-by-play announcer routinely incorporated the analysts' insight
into his call.
Today's Lineup | Sports
Pages | Features | Newsstand
| Sports Links
Speak Out | Mailing
List | Spotters | About
Us | Home
