LAWRENCE, Kan. – What has gotten into the Kansas Jayhawks? Two incidents of fighting between members of the school’s football and basketball teams in less than 24 hours are inexcusable and embarrassing.

At a time when Kansas football has started their season 3-0, breaking into the top 20 in all polls, and Kansas basketball is the preseason number one, these guys should be enjoying themselves and prepping for opponents.

Instead, word spreads of an altercation involving guard Tyshawn Taylor and other players on both teams. It turns out that, according to a KU Public Safety report published on the Lawrence-Journal World website, an argument involving 8 people escalated to an all out fight with more than 100 people present.

Filed under:
College, Opinion/Editorial by Scott A. Winer

LAWRENCE, Kan. – 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.

Filed under:
Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV by Scott A. Winer

LAWRENCE, Kan. – I’ve never really loved editing. Something about it always seemed anticlimactic to me, which is largely why I prefer live television over film. There is just something about the adrenaline rush of doing anything live in the moment that you can’t match in an edit room. But it’s a necessary evil and one that is becoming more and more a part of live broadcasting.

For the last six years I’ve been living in college towns: four years in Lawrence and two years in Syracuse. The University of Kansas offers the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications; Syracuse University boasts the prominent S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Whether students in those schools intend to be reporters, producers, directors, writers, announcers, anchors or something entirely different, nearly all of them will take at least one or two classes that require them to edit video.

(Both universities also have separate film departments, KU’s in its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and SU’s in its College of Visual and Performing Arts. In most cases, students do more work with video than actual film, and editing is often required.)

Filed under:
College, Opinion/Editorial by Scott A. Winer

LAWRENCE, Kan. – On a cold January night in Eastern Kansas, the heated rivalry between the Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers was reignited inside Allen Fieldhouse. The gates opened and the students poured in, decked out in their crimson and blue, filling the highly-sought-after student sections to the brim.

Meanwhile, outside the venue in the 53-foot-long high definition production truck for ESPN’s first night of “Student Spirit Week,” temperatures were also rising beneath the collars of some of the telecast’s key production personnel. As has become the custom at KU, countless students donned their royal blue “Muck Fizzou” t-shirts, displaying the now-trite spoonerism reflecting the student body’s hatred for the Tigers. And, while ESPN may be on cable, it still has standards for what it will and won’t allow on the air. The t-shirts did not make the cut.

Often the case – as with the Fieldhouse’s TV-unfriendly layout – since the school won’t change, the network must. The result: director Ken Dennis and his team of camera operators must be constantly vigilant to keep the shirts off the air. So, no matter how brilliant the paint job is on your face, if your torso is covered in a “Muck Fizzou” shirt, don’t count on getting any air time. To complicate matters further, since the game is in high definition, Dennis must be aware of the wider frame that HD allows, ruling out even more shots.

Filed under:
College, Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV, Television by Scott A. Winer

LAWRENCE, Kan. – I’m back at KU for the spring semester, introducing a new look to the site, to me and to Jayhawk Sports Talk. While specifics of the coming season at KUJH are still pending, I will share my recommendations for the weekend programs you shouldn’t miss:

Filed under:
Late Night TV, Music/Variety, Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV, Television by Scott A. Winer

ROSWELL, Ga. – Relatively true to form, I have remained fairly busy despite being on a month-long break from KU and KUJH. Since returning to Atlanta, I have been on the road, attending NFL games in St. Louis and Green Bay on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, respectively. In St. Louis, I spent the Rams-49ers game in the Rams Radio booth with play-by-play man Steve Savard and Coach Jim Hanifan, filling in for the irreplaceable Jack Snow. For my first ever game at Lambeau Field, an essential destination for any NFL fan, I sat in the CBS Radio/Westwood One booth for the national radio broadcast, where Dave Sims and Jeff Bostic called the 170th meeting between the Packers and Bears with Kevin Kiley on the sideline. This weekend, with bowl season in full swing, I will likely attend the Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl, both of which will be at the Georgia Dome this year, as well as the Falcons-Panthers game. Translation: a weekend chock-full of football is in store, a good time to say the least.

Filed under:
College, Opinion/Editorial, Sports TV, Television by Scott A. Winer