LAWRENCE, Kansas – After putting forth my arbitrary list of the best in live television for the past year, I have seen that the Sports Emmy Awards were given out last night. I’ve decided that, since I have yet to look at the winners, I might as well give my picks to a slightly less arbitrary selection.

Here’s a quick digression: I’m sitting in the Kansas Union on the KU campus in Lawrence with ESPN’s newsmagazine attempt, E:60, on a television to my left. I can’t really hear what’s being said. What I can tell is that the film noir pitch meeting footage is horribly over the top, and the camerawork for the interviews in this Stephon Marbury piece is basically what I’d expect from ESPN trying to do break into this genre. Could someone please watch Real Sports or 60 Minutes?! They do it right.

Here are my winners:

Outstanding Live Sports Special:  The Championships, Wimbledon – Gentlemen’s Final (NBC)

Outstanding Live Sports Series: NBC Sunday Night Football (NBC)

Outstanding Live Event Turnaround: 2008 Tour de France (CBS)

Outstanding Edited Sports Special: The Greatest Game Ever Played (ESPN)

Outstanding Sports Documentary: Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football (HBO)

Outstanding Edited Sports Series/Anthology: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly: Inside the NFL (CBS/Showtime)

Outstanding Studio Show – Daily: Inside the NBA – Playoffs (TNT)

Outstanding Sports Journalism: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Horse Slaughter: Running for Their Lives (HBO)

Outstanding Short Feature: 2008 NCAA Basketball on CBS, Jason Ray Feature (CBS)

Outstanding Long Feature: 2008 NCAA Basketball on CBS – Final Four, Zambia’s Hope Feature (CBS)

Outstanding Open/Tease: NFL on Fox: Super Bowl XLII, Super Bowl XLII – Perfection (Fox)

Outstanding New Approaches Sports Event Coverage: NFL Sunday Ticket Experience (DirecTV)

Outstanding New Approaches Sports Programming: Sport Science (FSN)

Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Programming – Short Format: Anatomy of a Play (NFL.com)

Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Host: Ernie Johnson (TNT/TBS)

Outstanding Sports Personality – Play-by-Play: Jim Nantz (CBS)

Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Analyst: Tom Jackson (ESPN)

Outstanding Sports Personality – Event Analyst: Cris Collinsworth (NFL Network/NBC)

Outstanding Technical Team Remote: Games of the XXIX Olympiad (NBC)

Outstanding Technical Team Studio: Games of the XXIX Olympiad (NBC)

Outstanding Camera Work: 2008 NCAA Basketball on CBS – Final Four, Zambia’s Hope (CBS)

Outstanding Editing: NBA on TNT (TNT)

The Dick Schaap Writing Award: NFL Films Presents: Lost in Confetti (NFL Network)

Outstanding Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics: NFL on CBS, AFC Championship Game Tease (CBS)

Outstanding Live Event Sound: MLB on FOX (Fox)

Outstanding Post Produced Audio/Sound: Road to the Super Bowl (Fox/NFL Films)

Outstanding Graphic Design: Games of the XXIX Olympiad (NBC)

Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction: NFL on CBS, AFC Championship Game Tease (CBS)

The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award: ESPN Axis (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNews)

Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement – Institutional: 2008 Fantasy Football, Blues (NFL Network/Restless Films)

Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement – Episodic: NBC Sunday Night Football – Kick-off Weekend, Manning Brothers (NBC)

Here’s the complete list of nominees.

Filed under: Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV