Category Archives: ESPN

Rose out again: ABC, TNT, ESPN, NBA TV will feel pain with several Bulls games scheduled for national TV

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It’s a dark and bleak day in Chicago. And I’m not talking about the dreary weather outside.

The news that Derrick Rose suffered another knee injury requiring surgery has the city in a collective funk. Everyone is concerned that Rose will become the Chicago basketball version of Gale Sayers.

Scary parallel: Both players got injured in their fourth seasons. Sayers never was the same. Hopefully, that won’t be the case for Rose, but you never know.

Also feeling the pain today are the NBA’s national TV partners. They were counting on the return of the 2010-11 MVP to produce a big year for the Bulls.

The networks loaded up on the Bulls this season: ESPN 10 times, on TNT nine times, on NBA-TV nine times and on ABC five times.

Some of those games already have been played, but there’s many more on the menu, including two Miami-Chicago games on ABC.

Not having Rose will hurt the marquee value of the Bulls national TV games. While the Bulls remained competitive last year without the star guard, it will be a challenge to hold things together two years in a row, as evidenced by a 39-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday.

A strong Chicago team always does big numbers for the NBA. If the Bulls falter without Rose, the league might have to readjust some of its national TV schedule.

Yes, the pain of Rose’s latest injury extends beyond Chicago.

 

 

 

ESPN attribution issue: Disagreeing with ombudsman over flap involving Brett McMurphy

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I was watching ESPN Sunday and something in the ever-present crawl caught my eye. I didn’t see what the exact story was, but the tagline said, “…first reported by NFL.com.”

I chuckled, knowing how sensitive ESPN is about the attribution issue, especially in light of a recent flap.

ESPN ombudsman Robert Lipsyte dedicated his latest column to unraveling a situation involving ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy.

Lipsyte writes:

On Nov. 6, Brent Zwerneman, who covers Texas A&M football for the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle, posted what he considered “huge news in our fair state:” A&M was no longer interested in playing the University of Texas in the regular season. He based that assumption on the implications of this quote: “We hope to play them again in a BCS or playoff game at some point.” He attributed the quote thusly: “A&M senior associate athletic director Jason Cook told me this afternoon.”

As Zwerneman wrote in blogs for the two newspapers (both owned by the Hearst Corporation, which also has a 20 percent interest in ESPN), that stance was a “far cry” from the Aggies’ previous “Anytime, anywhere,” attitude toward a game with the Longhorns, their former conference rivals in the Big 12. Zwerneman attributed this to the Aggies’ recent success since moving to the Southeast Conference.

In reporting the story, Zwerneman tipped his hat to the Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls, who had earlier tweeted that he was “told by a higher-up Longhorn that the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry ‘perhaps’ could resume.”

Three hours later, Brett McMurphy, a college sports reporter for ESPN, filed a similar story with exactly the same quote. From the piece: “‘We hope to play them again in a BCS bowl or playoff game at some point,’ Texas A&M senior associate athletic director Jason Cook told ESPN on Wednesday.”

McMurphy wrote that “Cook would not elaborate,” but he came to the same conclusion as Zwerneman. McMurphy wrote: “It’s pretty clear the Aggies have no intention of scheduling any future regular-season games with Texas.”

Zwerneman subsequently demanded that McMurphy credit him for the initial scoop, believing that McMurphy had been pointed to Cook and the story by Zwerneman’s tweets and blogs on the topic (just as Zwerneman had been pointed to it by Bohls).

Later, Lipsyte writes:

Zwerneman, 42, the newspaper reporter, has covered the Aggies for 17 years and written three books about the school. He believes it was “simply wrong” of ESPN’s McMurphy to fail to credit him with this “breaking story” and then “stunningly” claim credit for the quote, which “means one thing: an exclusive.”

McMurphy, 51, spent 22 years at The Tampa Tribune as well as short stints at CBSSports.com and AOL Fanhouse before joining ESPN in August 2012. He doesn’t dispute the fact that Zwerneman’s blogs alerted him to the Cook quote or the story. But he saw no reason to offer attribution — and his TV editor at ESPN concurs — because he independently interviewed Cook by phone “for 10 or 15 minutes” as well as other sources.

Cook gave him the same quote, McMurphy told me, and he doesn’t understand why Zwerneman “went off like a 12-year-old girl.” Feisty on the phone and on email, McMurphy wrote to me that “Brent — and now you — will have spent more time on this than Kennedy historians spent dissecting the Zapruder film.”

Even though McMurphy’s editor defended him, Lipsyte said ESPN should have attributed its story back to the Texas reports.

He writes:

Nevertheless, I think there’s a flag on this play. I disagree with Salituro that it’s only about two reporters getting the same quote. Why would McMurphy call the Aggies’ Cook in the first place if he hadn’t been alerted by Zwerneman’s reporting? Whether Cook repeated the quote verbatim to McMurphy or merely agreed it was authentic is immaterial — that “told ESPN” is generally interpreted as ESPN having been told exclusively, or at least first. McMurphy might have slightly advanced the story by confirming it and adding some background of his own (neither story topped 250 words), but a tip of his hat would have been ethically proper.

I disagree. I’ve been on the other end some scoops that I’ve reported in Chicago. The credit lasts about 10 seconds before everyone else confirms the information.

McMurphy did his own interview for the story. Perhaps using the line “told ESPN on Wednesday” made it seem as if it was his exclusive. However, I believe McMurphy was just trying to show those were his quotes.

Also, this wasn’t a breaking news story. Rather, this was about confirming something that already was out there: A&M won’t be playing Texas.

I have to say I would have handled the story the same way as McMurphy. That’s how things work in the new media world.

Now we’ll have to see how the Sherman Report ombudsman weighs in on that one.

 

 

 

 

New ESPN SportsCenter app: Enables for more personalization, easier access to favorite teams

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It’s just a matter of time before you push a button and Chris Berman is standing next to you reading scores. Now there’s an interesting, if not scary, thought.

Anyway, here’s the latest from ESPN on its new app:

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ESPN Digital Media today launched the SportsCenter app, an all-new, next-generation app for iPhone and Android handsets designed to provide sports fans a comprehensive, personalized mix of the ESPN content they want, anytime, anywhere. Users will receive the SportsCenter app as an update to ESPN’s ScoreCenter, the most popular free sports app of all time with more than 43,000,000 downloads.

The SportsCenter app delivers live scores, breaking news, video highlights, feature stories, native social integration, in-line alert settings, GameCast access, and more. Taking full advantage of iOS7 and Android functionality, the SportsCenter app presents an entirely new experience for fans, with an elegant design that makes it easy to access unprecedented levels of ESPN content most relevant to them.

Navigation is designed around three content pillars: Scores, News and ESPN Now.

Enhanced Scores – With live scores from favorite teams and the day’s best games, the Scores screen allows fans to set alerts and access expanded information for each game with a simple tap.

Enhanced News – Curated by SportsCenter, the News screen presents the best and latest headlines of the day with a mix of breaking news, features, video and highlight clips.

ESPN Now – Integrating contextual live scoring and social updates for a personalized set of teams and leagues from ESPN Twitter handles, the ESPN Now screen enables fans to reply, retweet, favorite, share, and email each post.

Other key features include:

Favorites and Clubhouses – The Favorites screen provides quick access to favorite teams and upcoming or current games. Tapping a team allows access to the all-new Clubhouse feature, which provides a team-specific theme that mimics the SportsCenter app’s main navigation, with Scores, News and ESPN Now tabs for each team.

Inbox – A personalized collection that enables fans to catch up on relevant alerts, scores, video highlights, and news based on their preferences and activity.

“The unique challenge for us is taking all of the content that only ESPN can produce and making it simple and easy for fans to find what’s important to them on a mobile screen,” said Ryan Spoon, senior vice president, Product Development. “Optimizing for iOS7 and Android allowed us do that, developing functionality that is true to the device but also consistent across devices with the familiar look and feel of ESPN and SportsCenter.”

Launch of the SportsCenter app comes as the demand for mobile sports content continues to grow. Last September, a month in which ESPN Digital Media set a sports category record with 72,700,000 unique users, more sports fans consumed ESPN content via mobile devices than online computers for the first time ever.

Advertisers for the SportsCenter app at launch include MillerCoors, Kay Jewelers and Bud Light.

 

Dick Vitale writes about being bullied: Got teased because drifting eye

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In the wake of the controversy with the Miami Dolphins, Dick Vitale decided to weigh in about his personal experiences on ESPN.com. He came to realize that being teased over a drifting eye, the result of a childhood accident, actually was bullying.

Vitale writes:

As a kid, I wasn’t familiar with the word “bullying.” I always believed it was just teasing at the time, but I was teased big time. When I was 4 or 5 years old, I lost vision in my left eye in an accident with a pencil. I had no control of my left eye, so it would drift. I had no ability to look people directly in the eye.

It drove me wild.

My peers didn’t make it any easier. I was teased over and over, but I was afraid to complain about it to a teacher or coach because I felt I would be labeled as soft or weak. I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. I just wanted the name-calling to stop.

I remember sitting in my room crying while I stared in the mirror trying to cover up the fact that I couldn’t look people in the eye.

Later Vitale writes:

As an adult in the world of television, my problem led to a difficult situation.

One time in the 1980s, I came out of the studio and asked one of the assistants how everything was going. I was told everything was great except for this one fan who kept calling, saying “ESPN should get rid of that one-eyed wacko. His eye is going all over the place.”

I was devastated.

After that conversation, I called up my boss, Steve Anderson, then vice president in charge of production. I told him that maybe I should get out of the TV business. I told him the story and expressed to him that I did not want to embarrass the network. Anderson put me at ease by explaining that I was hired for my basketball knowledge and enthusiasm.

Vitale eventually had surgery to correct the drifting eye issue. Yet the pain still remains vivid. He said he wrote the piece in the hopes it will help others in similar situations.

I’m 74 years old, and I have been so lucky and blessed. There have been some bumps in the road, but I have lived a dream. And today, if you’re being bullied, you do not have to just suck it up.

If you have a problem, tell the authorities. Speak with your parents, teachers or church leaders and talk about the pain. There are a lot of people out there who provide guidance and counseling.

Share your story. Do not be afraid.

Tebow has name, but what makes anyone think he would be good as analyst?

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This was inevitable.

Yesterday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Tim Tebow has hired CAA’s Nick Khan to join agent Jimmy Sexton in planning for his future. And that future doesn’t look like it will be on a football field.

Despite the rash of quarterback injuries this year, nobody is calling Tebow. I mean, Matt Flynn is on his third team.

So it looks like option B will be using the headsets for a different purpose. Matt Yoder of Awlful Announcing speculated on the broadcast possibilities for Tebow.

The likely option: the new SEC Network that launches next year. Guess who owns that network? Yep, ESPN, lover of all things Tebow.

Yoder writes:

But there’s one option that may be the best of all for Tim Tebow and ESPN – the SEC Network.

Tebow is the best SEC player in a generation.  And next year when ESPN launches the SEC Network next year it’s going to need people with ties to the league to feature on the network.  Besides Paul Finebaum of course.  SEC Network would be the best fit for Tebow because of the audience, the regional exposure, and the reps he could get as an analyst.  And he could appear on ESPN whenever the network sees fit.  If there’s any of these scenarios that seems most likely, I’d be willing to lay my money on Tebow joining ESPN as an analyst for SEC Network.

However, what makes anyone think Tebow would be a good analyst? He’s a really nice guy. Is he really going to knock a player or coach? Or even second-guess?

More likely, Tebow will say, “(Player X) really gave 100 percent effort there…”

That might be as rough as it gets for Tebow. His candor seems to be on par with his skills as a pocket passer.

Now Tebow’s deficiencies in a studio or booth won’t be as important as they were on the field. Given his name, he will be in demand.

It just seems unlikely that he will be any good.

 

Ditka calls Martin ‘a baby’; Where was the follow-up?

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As usual, Mike Ditka offered a candid, if not politically correct, assessment of the situation on ESPN’s NFL Countdown.

“I want to say one thing,” Ditka said.  “If I was the coach, I wouldn’t have either Incognito, the bully, or the baby, Martin, on my team.  That’s me.  [Does] that make me right?  No.  That makes me me.  And I would stand up to that, because you don’t do what Martin did and you don’t do want Incognito did.  Period.”

I didn’t see Ditka’s statement or what followed, but Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk did. He found it curious that nobody on the panel followed up on what the former Bears’ coach said.

Ditka remained quiet after sharing his own view that Martin is a baby.  While none of the other guys specifically directed their comments at Ditka or openly disagreed with him, the tension was palpable — and it was hard not to believe that Ditka was told to watch what he said.

As to what Ditka did say, ESPN had no comment.  While far more irresponsible things have been said on ESPN’s airwaves, Ditka’s insistence that Martin, who may be suffering from a real mental illness, is a “baby” represents the kind of comment that could get folks with lesser star power than Ditka removed from ESPN’s airwaves.

Indeed, without knowing the complete story, it is extreme to label Martin “a baby,” especially if he is battling mental illness. Obviously, it speaks to Ditka’s “old school” philosophy on football.

However, as Florio notes, what seems to be missing here is that nobody on the panel called Ditka on his statement. There should have been on a conversation and/or a debate. Ditka clearly isn’t alone with his sentiment.

Why didn’t it happen? Was it a missed opportunity for Chris Berman and the rest of the Countdown crew, or did the panel not want to go where Ditka went?

 

 

 

 

Super Thursday: With Oregon-Stanford, Baylor-Oklahoma, who needs Washington-Vikings?

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As Thursday nights go, this is a most excellent pre-Thanksgiving feast. Maybe the best ever for college football.

ESPN has No. 3 Oregon traveling to No. 5 Stanford tonight. Meanwhile, Fox Sports 1 will show No. 6 Baylor hosting No. 10 Oklahoma.

Two games with four top 10 teams and plenty of BCS implications on a Thursday night. I mean, who needs Washington at Minnesota on NFL Network? That’s Mediocre vs. Terrible.

How did this bounty happen? According to ESPN, Stanford was slated to host a Thursday night game this year, and the network requested the one against Oregon. Voila, ESPN now gets one of the best match-ups of the year on any day.

Fox Sports 1 also has a strong game. The staggered starting times will allow college football fans to watch the end of both games: Baylor-Oklahoma starts at 7:30 ET and Oregon-Stanford is at 9 p.m. ET.

How unusual are these Thursday night powerhouse games? Bill Connelly of SB Nation writes that since 2009, there only have been two match-ups on Thursday nights featuring ranked teams: Sept. 15, 2011: No. 3 LSU 19, No. 25 Mississippi State 6; Nov. 10, 2011: No. 10 Virginia Tech 37, No. 21 Georgia Tech 26.

Connelly:

We rarely expect to see elite teams playing on Thursday nights. These games are usually reserved for programs that are happy to risk iffy weeknight attendance for a spot on national television. We’ve seen a lot of Georgia Tech on Thursday nights over the years, for instance. But the big teams and huge games are typically saved for Saturdays.

Alabama-LSU is slated for Saturday night on CBS. That should be more than enough to fill your plate. ABC is showing Notre Dame at Pittsburgh in primetime. When in doubt, always go with the Irish, right ABC?

However, for quality and quantity, it will be hard to top Thursday night. Both ESPN and Fox Sports 1 should do strong ratings. Whether they beat the NFL monster remains to be seen, but the pros will lose many viewers to the college games.

Enjoy the feast, college football fans.

 

Candid MikeTirico: ‘Not a lot of good football being played right now’; weary MNF hoping for upgrade with Bears-Packers

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Give credit to Mike Tirico for being blunt.

“”There’s just not a lot of good football being played right now,” he said.

Tirico and Jon Gruden hope they get a significant upgrade tonight with Chicago at Green Bay on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers should be solid, but it’s no sure thing for the Bears with journeyman Josh McCown making his first start of the season at quarterback.

Anything, though, should be better than the last couple of weeks for MNF crew. Last week, you almost could feel Russell Wilson’s pain through Gruden, as the quarterback barely got out of St. Louis in one piece. The week before, Minnesota-New York Giants went to new levels of ineptitude.

During the third quarter, Tirico flat out said the play was “terrible.” Howard Cosell would have been proud.

“I don’t want to try to deceive the fans,”Tirico said. “If the game is bad, it’s bad. I’m not trying to embarrass people, but you have to say it.”

Why has the play been so ragged, especially on Monday night? Part of it has to do with the match-ups, Tirico said.

“In NFL, scheduling is more challenging than ever,” Tirico said. “You can’t forecast from year to year. Look at the Giants and Steelers. They’re scheduled for prime time a bunch. St. Louis was 7-8-1 last year. They have Jeff Fisher, who has coached in a Super Bowl. They looked like they were building. The reality is they lost their QB and they only have one running back and receiver who has been in the league more than two years.

“Meanwhile, you have Kansas City (at 9-0); they were 2-14 last year. I don’t think NBC was counting on Houston being 2-5 for Sunday’s game.”

Next week, Tirico and MNF face another huge keep-’em-interested challenge with Miami at 0-9 Tampa Bay.

“Yeah, you thought Greg Schiano had Tampa on the right track,” Tirico said. “It’s hard to forecast more and more. You take what you’ve got and try to be honest with the viewers.”

So what are some of the factors involved with all this inconsistent play?

“Football is feeling the effects of the new CBA,” Tirico said. “There’s less padded practice, less time for work during the off-season. Teams are tinkering with the read-option offense. And then you have injuries on top of that. Seattle was missing their two offensive tackles. When you go up against a good pass rushing team like St. Louis, you’re going to be exposed.

“One of the things I look at when I do a game is the number of first-year players. More often than not, you’ve got 16-18, even 20 players. There’s a very transient nature of the NFL. You multiply that by the complexity of the game and what defenses are doing, and it results in seeing not as much cohesive football.”

The scheduling flex option isn’t in place for MNF, so they are stuck with they’ve got. Fortunately for them, it does improve after Miami-Tampa Bay.

Nov. 18: New England at Carolina now looks like a strong match-up thanks to the resurgent Panthers.

Nov. 25: San Francisco at Washington.  RGIII might be finally hitting his stride.

Dec. 2: New Orleans at Seattle. Big game with home field advantage riding in playoffs.

Dec. 9: Dallas at Chicago. Match-up with possible playoff implications.

Dec. 16: Baltimore at Detroit: A chance to showcase Megatron.

Dec. 23: Atlanta at San Franciso: Looked like a solid game at beginning of season. Not anymore.

Regardless of the match-up and the quality of the game, Tirico, Gruden and the rest of the MNF crew will be there. Usually, most of the viewers remain on board, even if the ride is bad.

“Whether it’s fantasy football or the gambling nature of the game that appeals to people, the popularity of football is strong,” Tirico said. “People still like to watch the game. We only can control what we can control. We do our best to cover it and it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”