LAWRENCE, Kan. – As CBS embarks on another NCAA Tournament, it is important to remember just how good they are at doing this event. Sure, they will miff some viewers by jumping around from site to site to update other games – the necessary evil known as “walking the dog” – but when your game is on the line, you can be sure you’ll see it live.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Audience metrics are a funny thing. Enormous value is given to what are simply estimates. In “traditional media” like radio and television, they have always been admittedly flawed in one form or another. After all, in the days before cable, how could anyone possibly know how many people are actually watching a television show? The same has always been true of radio. It’s impossible to measure with absolute certainty an audience receiving an over-the-air signal.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – I can sum up Super Bowl XLIV in a phrase: good but not great. Save a commercial here or a play call there, little about either the game or the telecast was particularly noteworthy. As much as the many fans who’ve proclaimed themselves members of the “Who Dat Nation” would like to think that this game will go down “as one of those sports moments,” it won’t.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – In a rare moment, reporter Mary Joe Fernandez landed a live interview from James Blake’s box in Arthur Ashe Stadium with older brother Thomas, who spoke candidly during the fifth set. As the younger Blake mounted a comeback, he failed to capitalize on three match points, and Tommy Haas answered by forcing a tiebreak.
Meanwhile, the trio of Dick Enberg, John McEnroe and Mary Carillo, who spent much of the afternoon in jocular exchange, flipped on the serious switch when the occasion called for it and provided excellent, meaningful commentary that viewers have come to expect; and coordinating producer Bob Mansbach, working his 27th U.S. Open, expertly selected relevant replays that director Bob Fishman interwove with dramatic live shots of the players, their families, coaches and fans in what Enberg declared the highlight of the two-week tournament.
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.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Think Outside the Box: For some reason, networks have begun to show a growing number of replays with various split-screen effects. Here’s a thought: STOP! It began with Fox’s baseball coverage in the last few years and can now be seen on some of ABC’s college football telecasts.While some viewers may be able to follow two replays going simultaneously at opposite ends of the screen, no network seems to be able to integrate that with a background that doesn’t look absolutely hideous. Fox used its mind-numbing cookie-cutter shapes rather than simple polygons, and ABC’s background looked so pixelated that it was practically unbearable to watch. Whatever happened to the good ‘ole days when it was sufficient to show the isolated shot of the quarterback throwing and the subsequent pressure from the opposition’s defensive line and then seeing the receivers in isolation from a separate angle. I don’t remember anyone complaining that they couldn’t see both at the exact same time.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Let me be the first person to say that ESPN did a horrendous job in its coverage of last night’s ridiculous finish to the Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons basketball game. Blame is being handed out in various directions to all parties involved, but no one seems to be pointing any fingers at the 24-hour sports network in its third year covering the National Basketball Association with its sister network ABC.
If there was ever a reason for people not to watch the NBA, then this is it. What is it that separates the NBA from college basketball? Furthermore, what separates the NBA from other professional sports leagues? The answer is the way it is shown on television. Should anyone be all that surprised when this happens in a league that is all about invading personal space? How else could anyone possibly rationalize the use of “Floor Cam,” which shows nothing but the spandex shorts that the players wear under their uniforms? This is the league whose poster boy is an accused rapist, whose players are the most notorious for infidelity, promiscuity, drug use, alcohol abuse and domestic violence.