Category Archives: Sherman Spotlight

New CBS Sports Radio network: Strong lineup, but will you be able to hear station in your town?

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Second of two part on new CBS Sports Radio network:

Officials for the new CBS Sports Radio network felt good about its opening day lineup when the network went to air on Jan. 2:

6:00-9:00AM: Tiki Barber, Brandon Tierney and Dana Jacobson

9:00AM-12:00Noon: John Feinstein

12:00Noon-3:00PM: Jim Rome

3:00-6:00PM: Doug Gottlieb

6:00-10:00PM: Chris Moore and Brian Jones

10:00PM-2:00AM: Scott Ferrall

2:00-6:00AM: Damon Amendolara

Rome’s track record speaks for itself; Gottlieb established a following at ESPN; Feinstein, the bestselling sports book author of all time, has yet to shy away from an argument; and the morning team is an interesting mix. Here’s the Q/A I did with Jacobson.

I’d like to listen to CBS Sports Radio in my car, but there’s one problem. It’s not available on any AM/FM outlets in Chicago and it also isn’t on Sirius/XM.

The new venture can be heard in 250 markets. However, some of those markets only carry the morning show or Rome’s program. In some cases, such as CBS-owned WSCR-AM in Chicago, it’s just a periodic sports minute featuring a commentary from a CBS sports personality.

Clearly, in order for CBS Sports Radio to be successful, it needs to be available to the masses. Yes, you can access the network’s shows online. But if you’re like me, you do virtually all your radio listening in the car.

I spoke to Chris Oliviero, senior vice-president for programming, about the distribution and goals for the new network.

I can’t hear your station in Chicago. Where are you at regarding distribution?

We just started. The hard part of my job right now is convincing people that we’re so far ahead of the game for being a start-up. If you look back at the history of ESPN radio, they were on weekend only for a few years.

I’m excited that people compare us to ESPN and their footprint. However, we want to make sure people judge us through the prism of being only a few days old. When you look at it through that prism, we’re way ahead of the other networks.

That may be the case, but the distribution levels are so much greater today than when ESPN started. So are the expectation levels.

We’re actively pursuing an affiliate in Chicago. Our goal is to clear every major market. Until we get to that point, people can experience the network (via online).

Having said, we’re a radio company. We want to be heard on radio. We’re going to try to get into as many markets as quickly as possible.

What is your plan to place the station on Sirius/XM?

We have no business plan based on being on satellite. I would say, the people who have satellite, it would be great to be able to give them our product. It’s not essential. With the way technology is going these days, I can get to those people without satellite. If somebody is listening on satellite radio, what is the likelihood that the person has access to the Internet and mobile? I’d say, it’s pretty high.

How do you feel about the lineup you assembled?

We had a pretty short window to pull together a 24/7 station. I think we put together a respectable, credible, engaging, high-quality lineup.

Having (Rome and Gottlieb) gave us instant credibility. Both left good positions to join us. They were betting on what we’re planning to do here.

What was your thinking with the morning show?

That was the last one we announced. We wanted to take our time. We knew it would be immediately compared to Mike & Mike on ESPN. That’s the standard bearer for a national syndicated sports show.

We wanted to offer something different in morning drive. We have three strong personalities. We have the former athlete in Tiki, and we’ll get the female perspective from Dana, which is something that’s missing in the market place. The three of them are a good combination. They provide a different sound to sports talk.

There’s a lot of sports talk radio out there. How does CBS Sports Radio differentiate itself from the rest?

You do it with content and you do it with distribution. This is a marriage between two very large radio operations: Cumulus Media and CBS.. So right off the bat, we have access to radio stations, which is critical. From a distribution standpoint, we have a great starting point.

Then it does go back to the content. Is our flavor of sports talk better than ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC Sports? We think with the talent we’ve hired and the lineup we’ve launched with, we’re in a good position. We’ve got a great staff. To use a sports analogy, we have great coaches and great players. When you put those two together, that’s going to be our opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q/A with Dana Jacobson: On leaving ESPN; joining CBS Sports Radio; and being one of few women in sports talk radio

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First of two parts on new CBS Sports Radio network.

Sometimes, you have to go with your heart more than common sense.

At least that’s the way Dana Jacobson (@danajacobson) felt when she decided to walk away from a new contract proposal from ESPN last spring with no other job offers on the table. She said while she loved her 10-plus years at ESPN, the passion for the job wasn’t there anymore.

Also inspired by the desire to live where she actually wanted to live for once (no offense, Bristol), Jacobson, 41, sold her house and car and moved to New York. Opportunity then knocked when the new CBS Sports Radio network offered her a spot on the morning show.

On Jan. 2, she joined Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney to kick off CBS’ big sports talk radio initiative.

In a Q/A, Jacobson talks about why she left ESPN and how it feels to be one of the few women in sports talk radio.

Why did you decide to leave ESPN?

I knew how it felt to be passionate about doing something. I wasn’t feeling it as much there. I was trying to figure out my place there (after she left First Take). When I first started doing SportsCenter, it was such an amazing thing do. When I started doing it again (in 2012), it was like, ‘Wow, do I want to keep doing this?’

Last January or February, I didn’t feel like there was something drawing me to stay there other than it’s ESPN. It’s a great place, and there are great people. But I needed to do something else.

Were people surprised when you told them you leaving ESPN?

The people who knew me got it. Most people thought I was crazy. ‘Why are you leaving an ESPN offer on the table when you don’t have a job?’ I get it. There were days when I said, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’

But I knew it was right. I knew what I was looking for. I couldn’t describe it, but I’d know when I saw it. If I ever was going to take a chance–I’m not married and have no obligations–this is the time to do it. I didn’t know how it would end up, but I just knew it would work out.

How is radio different than television?

Radio is more free form. You can’t fake it. When I first talked (to CBS), I said, ‘The thing that I love about radio is the thing that scared me to death when the program director at Sacramento first asked me to do it. What if I don’t know something? I don’t know everything.’ TV is much more structured. In radio, it goes wherever it’s going to go. You can’t hide.

It’s a chance to be myself. Yeah, I’ll say something silly sometimes. Hopefully, I’ll also say something intelligent.

There aren’t many women doing sports talk radio. How does a woman fit in on what is considered a guy-talk medium?

The story I tell is that when I first started at ESPN, my dad would say, ‘You’re really good at it, but I’d rather be watching sports with a guy doing it.’ Then at one point, he called, ‘I know you’re my daughter, and I know you’re a woman, but I stopped thinking about whether I was watching a man or a woman.’ I find that as my biggest compliment when someone said something like to me.

I don’t shy away from being a woman and talk about things the way a woman would. Women also listen (to sports talk radio). I hope to fit in by providing a different take on things, a different chemistry. I can say the things nobody else is saying.

It is amazing to me in 2013, that if you look on a national scale, there’s barely any women doing (sports talk radio). I don’t know why. I’m thrilled I have the chance to do it. I hope some young girls will listen and say, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’

Chemistry is to important on sports talk radio. How do you it is going to work with you, Barber and Tierney?

Sports talk radio is like sitting in the bar with your friends talking about sports. From the first show, I thought there was a good blend. We’re going to be similar on some things, and on some things we’re going to be forever different. When RGIII got hurt, Tiki talked about how he should have pulled himself, because he was hurting the team. I threw it back at him. I said, ‘No way. You never wanted to come out of the game when you were playing. Now you’re saying he should have pulled himself?’ I love those type of discussions.

Where do you hope this all goes?

The TV stuff, we’re playing by ear. I had the opportunity to fill in for Jim (on Jim Rome’s CBS Sports Network show), and that was great. I’ll do some college basketball as we get closer to the tournament.

(When she left ESPN), I never saw the radio thing coming. I hadn’t even thought about radio. It’s very exciting.

I’m not starting over, but it feels like when I first got to ESPN and looked at all the opportunities. It feels the same way here. It’s all very energizing.

Tuesday: The new CBS Sports Radio network has put together a formidable lineup, but will you be able to hear it in your town?

 

Laid-off Washington Times sportswriter: Hope have more tomorrows than yesterdays in my career

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Newspaper layoffs. We’ve become numb to it by now. They seem to happen almost daily.

Still, I was struck by an item at Romenesko.com last week. He ran a tweet from Patrick Stevens, a sportswriter who just found out he was being laid off by the Washington Times. The tweet said: “Can go ahead and cross ‘live tweeting while being fired’ off the bucket list.”

I found the tweet amusing, and it gave me the idea to contact Stevens. I told him I wanted to provide a snapshot of what it’s like for somebody to be going through this experience.

Stevens agreed. At the top, he said he is upbeat even though his future is uncertain.

Tellingly, he said, “I’m hoping I have more tomorrows than yesterdays in my career.”

His situation: Stevens was in his second stint with the Times. He worked there from 2002-2009. Then he was rehired in Feb., 2011. Stevens covered the DC college sports scene for the paper. “It’s a terrific beat,” he said. “Something always is happening.”

Stevens, though, got a bad feeling when the paper announced in November that it was going to have more layoffs.

“Let’s just put it this way,” Stevens said. “When they announced that, I felt it was time to update the resume.”

Sure enough, Stevens wasn’t surprised when he received the news Friday. Earlier that morning, he found out the hard drive in his computer was dead.

“At least I didn’t round things off by getting in a car accident,” Stevens said.

What now?: Stevens is 32 and isn’t married. He said he might feel differently if he had a family to support.

“I’m in a much better spot because of my situation,” he said.

The first thing Stevens did was restart his website, D1scourse.com, which focuses on DC-Baltimore college sports.

“I launched it when I was in between jobs the first time,” Stevens said. “The worst thing that can happen is that you disappear. This will keep me busy.”

Stevens said he isn’t going to flood the market with resumes. With all his connections, Stevens hopes something will materialize in the DC area.

“Things have a way of presenting themselves,” Stevens said.

The future: The last time Stevens was out of work, he started thinking of what else he could do. He couldn’t think of anything else.

“It was a bit unnerving,” he said.

Stevens is a sportswriter. That’s what he wants to do. Yet the rug already has been pulled out from him twice. Given the volatility of the industry, how can he be sure about any kind of security if he does get another job?

“Regarding the state of the industry, it’s fair to say that the odds of me making it to the finish line, of doing this another 30 years, aren’t very good,” Stevens said. “Do I think the outlook is bleak? Yeah. You have to be blind not to think that. That’s knowledge that I will have to act upon at some point. I don’t know when.”

Now isn’t the time, Stevens said. Not at age 32. He stressed repeatedly that he is feeling confident about his prospects.

“I don’t think it will be impossible to find another job,” Stevens said. “I’m not going, ‘Woe is me.’ I figured it out before and I will do it again.”

If anything, Stevens said the support he received in the wake of his firing has given him a huge lift. There were numerous tweets, texts, emails and calls.

“It really meant a lot to me,” Stevens said. “The outpouring (of support) far outweighed how much that morning sucked. It made me more optimistic about where things are headed now.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun has been sucked out of Hall of Fame day

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Nobody gets into the Hall of Fame today. The formal announcement comes at 2 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Special coverage begins at noon.

I might be wrong. Perhaps Jack Morris slips in, but it seems unlikely that he can get 75 percent of the vote.

Even if Morris or somebody else gets elected, there will be questions about whether they were deserving. Did the voters simply vote for them because they didn’t want to turn in an empty ballot? Were these default votes?

This is a crummy situation. Hall of Fame day used to be a fun occasion for baseball. Not anymore.

Seriously, on a ballot that features normal first-ballot locks like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, and perhaps even Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza, it’ll seem like a letdown if somebody like Morris (3.90 career ERA is a no for me) or Tim Raines (short window of greatness) gains entry to Cooperstown today.

There’s too much angst and confusion over the entire process. And unless somebody defines the standards, it’s going to be that way until all the juiced stars from the steroid era move on down the road, which will be a long time from now.

Writes T.J. Quinn in ESPN.com:

An issue as serious as this deserves answers to those questions. If the BBWAA continues to serve as the Hall’s electoral body, the organization must develop guidelines with the Hall of Fame about how to handle it. Noting that character is a criterion simply isn’t enough, especially for any club that includes Ty Cobb as a member.

Quinn, who hasn’t covered baseball regularly since 2002, said he hasn’t voted during the last two years.

I have come to the conclusion that it isn’t my mess to solve, and I wouldn’t be qualified to solve it even if it were. I’m out.

I agree. Whenever somebody asks who should vote if the writers aren’t going to do it, I have a standard reply: “That shouldn’t be our problem.” I assume baseball has plenty of smart people who can figure that out. A panel of historians, broadcasters, even astute Hall of Famers should be able to get the job done.

Regardless, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza and other steroid users (hello, A-Rod and Manny) aren’t going away. Their names will loom over future Hall of Fame votes, taking some of the attention away from deserving players; 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are up next year.

Something needs to be done to clear up this situation. To see if the fun can be restored to Hall of Fame day.

 

 

 

Former NY Times baseball writer casts final Hall of Fame vote; says writers shouldn’t be involved

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Murray Chass, who started covering baseball in 1960, says he is opting out as a Hall of Fame voter.

The former New York Times baseball writer now writes a blog at murraychass.com. In a post, he says that he cast his 2013 vote for Tiger pitcher Jack Morris. Chass, winner of the 2003 Spink Award, said, “If Morris is not elected this time, I will vote for him next year in his final year of eligibility and then be done.”

Why? Chass writes:

Though I don’t believe there is a more qualified set of electors, certainly not the new-age stats guys who are envious of the writers and believe they should determine Hall of Famers, I don’t think reporters and columnists who cover and comment on baseball news should be making baseball news.

The steroids issue has made it impossible to conduct a rational vote and cast a reasonable ballot. No matter how a writer votes or on what he bases his decision whom to vote for or not to vote for, his reasoning has to be flawed and open to challenge.

Later, Chass writes:

Years ago, I introduced a motion at a national writers’ meeting that we withdraw from voting. Had the motion been voted on at that meeting, I think it would have had a good chance of passing. If it had passed, we wouldn’t be debating the steroids issue now. But a quick-thinking writer moved to table the vote until the entire national membership could vote by mail.

My motion easily lost so here we are today talking about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell among others.

I couldn’t agree more with Chass. As I said in a December post, sportswriters should report the news, not make the news.

With the steroids issue, the stakes now are so much higher for the Hall of Fame voters. This isn’t about batting averages or World Series records anymore. This is about making a verdict about an entire era of baseball. As I wrote earlier, name another situation where an editor allows a reporter to play judge and jury on a story that he/she then covers.

When the vote is announced Wednesday, many baseball writers will be, in effect, reporting on themselves.

Last week, current New York Times baseball writer Tyler Kepner noted his paper has a policy prohibiting him from voting. In a tweet, he said: ” There are so many inherent contradictions in the process, it’s almost a relief I can’t vote.”

Dave O’Brien, who covers baseball for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, responded in a tweet: “For 1st time, I feel same.”

I have a feeling many other writers feel the same way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q/A with Musburger: On Brian Kelly and Nick Saban, calling the big game for ESPN, and going strong at 73

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Not to date myself or Brent Musburger, but I have a video with old footage of Musburger narrating sports highlights for WBBM-Ch. 2 in Chicago. It was of a Chicago-Boston hockey game featuring players like Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita in their primes. That’s really going back in time.

Now more than four decades later, Musburger’s remarkable career still has him dancing on sports’ biggest stage. He and Kirk Herbstreit will be on the call tonight for the humongous Notre Dame-Alabama title game.

Musburger will dissect all the storylines as only he can. However, there’s one he won’t address. At age 73, how much longer does he want to work?

The question came up during an ESPN teleconference last week with Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, producer Bill Bonnell and director Derek Mobley. Here are some excerpts with the questions directed at Musburger.

You’ve done so many big events over the years.  Any sense as far as how many years you’d like to go on doing this?

As long as they’ll have me.  I don’t do retirement very well.

Is there still the same charge doing big events as there was even much earlier in your career?

I’m always asked to look back, and I have a very difficult time because I always think that the best event that I am ever going to cover is the next one, so I’m looking at this one, and to answer your question, is absolutely.

What has been your experience in dealing with Brian Kelly and Nick Saban?

They’re not at all alike.  Brian Kelly is the son of an Irish politician, and no one works a room any better than Brian Kelly.  He loves to see you, loves to have your company in the room, and then pretends that he’s telling you everything that’s going to happen, and he always keeps something in the saddlebags.  A very, very savvy coach.

With Nick Saban, kind of wears his emotions on his sleeve, and let me give you a comparison of the last two championships.  When he was getting ready to play Texas in the Rose Bowl for the BCS Championship a few years back, we went into the room to talk to him, and I don’t know, we might have had a half dozen other people.  I always like to have the producer and the director, the spotter, the statistician, I always like to have a support crew, and I could tell immediately that Saban was uneasy with so many people coming into the room.  He had a video frozen of the Texas secondary, very, very good secondary ‑ several of those fellows are still playing Sunday football ‑ and he was kind of sitting there in his chair and he was kind of bobbing back and forth and sort of uneasy about the interview.  And I knew that he was uptight about the Texas Longhorns.

Last year we went to see him at practice in the Superdome, and you would have thought he was getting ready for a September football game.  He already knew that he could move the ball effectively on LSU, and more than that, he felt he could shut down the offense, which he did.

So Nick was very forthcoming about exactly what he was going to do in that game, and then when practice started, he goes to the defensive end of the field.  I don’t think he took one look at the offense.  He has always been a defensive guru since the day he worked with Coach Belichick up in Cleveland and then came to college football.

Both are very open about practice.  Both like to have announcers come to practice, unlike Les Miles, who kicked us out last year for 30 minutes, then let us back in, and we looked at each other in the second half, and we said, Miles locked us out for this?  Both very open coaches, very easy to deal with.  You can reach them whenever you want to.

As someone who kind of was around the Midwest in the ’60s and ’70s following Notre Dame when they played Alabama and Paul “Bear” Bryant, talk about the historical perspective of what it means for these two teams to meet again in the title game.

Well, you’ve been watching the Big Ten here the last few years, and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame are certainly the best football team in the Midwest right now, and we could not have said that for the last decade or so.  But certainly they have stepped out above, and hats off to coach Brian Kelly who’s been able to do this.  I go back with the Fighting Irish to the days when Ara Parseghian left my alma mater, left Northwestern, and went to South Bend and I was covering as a newspaper man, and I covered some of those great Irish teams of Parseghian and of course Terry Brennan and Johnny Latter and George Connor, I worked NFL games with George, and all of those legendary Notre Dame players I was familiar with back in Chicago.

So I’ve always appreciated Notre Dame, and I understand why people love going to school down there, and there’s nothing ‑‑ in fact, what I miss, of all the things I miss is the fact we don’t do any home games of Notre Dame.  We did four Irish football games this year, but they were in East Lansing, Norman, Boston and Los Angeles.  I would dearly love to get back.  In 1988, the last time they won the National Championship, I did two games there.  I did the Michigan game at night to open it up, and then later in the year the classic with the Miami in which there was a fistfight in the tunnel before the game, and it just continued through.

I love the mystique of Notre Dame, and I certainly understand what’s going on with Alabama and the fact that this could become one of the great dynasties of college football.  If Nick Saban wins this one, this run by the Crimson Tide during the BCS era coming out of the toughest conference in the country, you’re going to have to pay big tribute to Nick and what he’s accomplished at Tuscaloosa.

What do you think the BCS and the future plans for a college football playoff?

You know, the championship game, love it or hate it, and obviously there’s probably more people who hate it than love it, the BCS formula made the championship game bigger and bigger than ever.  We used to have a bowl system whereby one might be playing in one bowl and then two in the other, and then we would all vote afterwards to declare who was the national champion.  But what has happened with the advent of the BCS in my opinion is that the championship game has grown to get up there to rival some of the NFL playoff games, whereas the other bowls have sort of dropped off because they lack some of the importance of the National Championship game.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen in a couple years when they go to four because in my opinion we’re just going to hear more people let’s go to eight, let’s go to 16.  We’ll have to wait to see how that plays out.

Later: Herbstreit’s comments during the teleconference.

 

Q/A with author of new Manziel e-book: Challenges were somewhat significant

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Johnny Football, aka Johnny Manziel, should help deliver Fox Sports a strong rating tonight for Texas A&M-Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.

The Heisman Trophy winner as a freshman is the hottest thing going in college football. People want to know more about him.

HarperCollins sought to get in on the hoopla with a new e-book: Johnny Football: Johnny Manziel’s Road from the Texas Hill Country to the top of College Football.

Written by Josh Katzowitz, the book is more like an extended 11,000-word profile. Priced at $1.99, it is designed to capitalize quickly on the interest surrounding Manziel.

In a Q/A, Katzowitz talks about the challenges of turning around the project with such a tight deadline, and what this type of e-book could mean for the future in publishing.

When did you receive this assignment and what were the challenges of doing such a book on short notice?

Let’s see. I got the first email from my editor, Adam Korn, on Nov. 15 about exploring the idea of writing an e-book on Manziel. I sent him my pitch Nov. 20, and I followed that with Chapters 2 and 3 on Dec. 5. I emailed him Chapters 4 and 5 two days after that, and then, after Manziel won the Heisman Trophy on Dec. 8, I had to turn in the first chapter/intro and the final chapter/epilogue two days after that. The challenges for me were somewhat significant. Since I cover the NFL for CBSSports.com, I didn’t pay extremely close attention to Manziel’s season. After I got the assignment, I spent about a week just researching and interviewing before I even wrote a word.

HarperCollins/William Morrow wanted 10,000-11,000 words for the e-book, so it wasn’t a ton of writing. But with the research and the interviewing and the dictating and the re-reading and the editing and everything else that goes into writing a book – aside from just the plain old writing – it was certainly a time crunch. The funny thing is: in my two previous books, I was a little bit late getting my book to the publisher. On this one, I nailed the deadline.

What kind of access did you get from Manziel, his family, Texas A&M coaches?

My access to Manziel was pretty much what everybody else got. Not much, because of A&M coach Kevin Sumlin’s rule about freshmen not talking to the media. Nobody could get him until after A&M’s regular season was complete. Then, it was teleconferences and pre-Heisman press conferences. ESPN obviously got some additional time with him for the Heisman ceremony, but by the time I could have gotten any extra time with him, most of the book was done anyway. I did drive to College Station-Bryan, Texas and spent part of an evening with Johnny’s mother and sister. Despite the media crush they were experiencing (just by being related to Manziel), they were very accommodating.

What kind of behind-the-scenes access did you get during Heisman presentation?

It was tough, if not impossible, to get any one-on-one time with Manziel, but watching the way he dealt with the media and the way he carried himself during this process was really impressive. Plus, I did the typical “reporter who’s desperate for color walks slowly behind the subject praying for something to leap out at him after the final press conference” move, and with the A&M fans screaming at from the floor above him at the Marriott Marquis, I got the final scene of the book. Behind-the-scenes stuff during the Heisman weekend isn’t much different than a pregame MLB clubhouse, in that there’s not a ton of news, but sometimes, you stumble onto something noteworthy.

What were able to learn about Manziel? Any surprises?

I found out some great information about his very colorful family history. Even though his great-great uncle, Bobby Manziel, came to this country without much money, he became sparring partners and friends with Jack Dempsey, and they struck it rich together discovering oil in east Texas. The Manziel’s basically ran the town of Tyler, Texas, and some people think they still do (and those people might be right). As far as I can tell, none of that history was written about during this year of Manziel hype. I enjoy leafing through newspapers of the 1950s and finding out info like this, so for me, that was one of the most rewarding experiences I had during this project.

How tough is it to do a biography on someone who is so young?

It would have been tough if I had to write 100,000 words on a 19-year-old who’d been in the national spotlight for only about three months. But I didn’t have to write that long, so together with his family history, the discussion about why Manziel is perfect for the A&M offense, the highest of the highlights of the 2012 season, and what Manziel’s family was going through at the time, I ended up writing too many words and having to cut. But if I can compare it to the music industry, I wasn’t releasing a 12-song album with this book. Instead, I was releasing a single for the radio. If I had to write a full LP about Manziel, it would have been tough to accomplish.

Anything else?

This was my first experience writing an e-book, and I’m interested to see if they really are the wave of the future for the book publishing industry. It’s hard to imagine the print products dying out completely, leaving us all holding our Kindles and Nooks. But that uncertainty is also what’s kind of cool about working in the media landscape today. I always thought it would have been awesome to have lived in the 1940s, worked for a big-time paper and competed in the real newspaper wars. But this is a really cool time to work in the media, mostly because it’s the Wild, Wild West out here and nobody really knows the future. Hopefully with books like Johnny Football, we can figure out how to get there in one piece.

What’s ahead for 2013: Will Gruden jump? Last season for McCarver? Fox gears up new sports network

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Back in the saddle and ready to go for 2013.

There will be plenty of stories on the agenda. Here are a few for the watch list.

Gruden going?: With seven coaching vacancies in the NFL, and possibly more, you know there are going to be teams who will want to make Gruden a very rich man. While he continues to say he is content calling Monday Night Football, he clearly is a football coach. And a coach works the sidelines, not the booth. Plus he hits 50 this year, and those milestone birthdays have a way affecting decisions about a person’s future.

If I were going to bet, I’d say Mike Tirico has a new MNF partner in 2013.

Finale for McCarver?: In a July interview, Tim McCarver told me 2013 is the final year of his contract with Fox Sports. He wavered at whether he wants to work beyond this year.

“Like anyone else, your health is paramount,” McCarver said back then. “I hope I’m clear enough to say, ‘I’ve had enough. This is it.’ I’m good at that. I’ll know.”

McCarver will be 72 when he works his 24th World Series in October. Don’t be surprised if it is his last.

Fox Sports 1: It isn’t official yet, but Fox is expected to transform its Speed Channel into an all-sports network this year. Fox has a significant inventory of games, including Major League Baseball and college football. While it won’t be ESPN, the game content could enable Fox1 to stand out more than the NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network.

Dodger bucks: Speaking of Fox, the network appears to be doubling down on local sports cable outlets, as evidenced by recent deals with the YES Network and Sports Time Ohio. Still out there is that mega $280 million per year deal with the Dodgers for Fox’s sports outlet in Los Angeles. It’s already a game-changer for baseball.

Here comes Michelle: It is year two for the re-branded NBC Sports Network. The NHL strike has been a major downer. The network needs games, period.

On the non-game front, the goal now is for the network to develop some signature personalities. In comes Michelle Beadle. Expect plenty of promotion for her new show, The Crossover, which begins during Super Bowl week.

Beadle will be an important player for NBC Sports Network. She has the ability to lure viewers who used to watch her over at ESPN.

Radio games: CBS and NBC get in the game on the radio front with the launch of new networks. CBS’ 24/7 lineup features Jim Rome, Doug Gottlieb, Tiki Barber, and John Feinstein. NBC currently is working evenings (Erik Kuselias) and weekends (Jon Stashower) and will go full time in the spring. As is always the case, both networks have a long way to catch up on the radio side to ESPN, and Fox Sports, for that matter.

Mohr time: Speaking of Fox Sports Radio, Jay Mohr has launched a new afternoon show on the network. He told Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner:

“We will have good guests on the local show Wednesday. We had Kobe Bryant and Brian Billick, so Fox will keep the sports stars coming. My Rolodex of top comics will be in full use. They are great sports fans, and we will showcase them in a segment in our final hour titled ‘Last Call,’ where they will have some fun and give us some insight. Fans want smart, fun and entertaining sports talk, and that is our goal.”

Book report: This year’s big sports book should come from the brother team of Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru. The ESPN reporters are working on a book about football and brain injuries, scheduled to be published by Random House.

Fainaru-Wada was co-author of Game of Shadows, the book the blew open the doors about steroids and Barry Bonds and Marion Jones. I would expect their new book on the major issue confronting the NFL and football to be very illuminating.

Yahoo!-NBC: It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this new Yahoo! Sports-NBC marriage. Yahoo! gets NBC Sports video for its site, while NBC gets Yahoo!’s critical mass. You can be sure the folks in Bristol will be following closely.

Super CBS: It is CBS’ turn to air the upcoming Super Bowl. As always, the pressure and scrutiny will be intense for the network’s coverage of the big game. Featuring a cast of thousands, CBS plans to use its base in New Orleans as a platform to display and promote virtually every show on its networks. It’s a wonder that there will be any hotel rooms left for the teams.

Quiet on Tebow?: Not a chance. He’ll get traded somewhere and the craziness will begin again.

 

 

 

Memorial: Steve Sabol heads list of losses on sports media front in 2012

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We said goodbye in 2012 to many individuals who elevated the level of sports media. With gratitude.

Steve Sabol: A true genius who revolutionized how we watch the NFL. His favorite quote:

“My dad has a great expression. “Tell me a fact, and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth, and I’ll believe. But tell me a story, and it will live in my heart forever.'”

Sabol’s stories will live forever.

Beano Cook: ESPN’s colorful college football analyst who had a unique perspective on the game. Unfortunately, he wasn’t granted this wish:

“I’d like to do the last scoreboard show and then go,” he once said. “I don’t want to die in the middle of the football season. I have to know who’s No. 1 in the last polls.”

Even though Cook died during the middle of the season, I’m fairly sure he is giving heaven the lowdown on Notre Dame-Alabama.

Robert Creamer: The long-time writer and editor for Sports Illustrated and the author of Babe, perhaps the best sports biography. Just before he died, he wrote about what he enjoyed about baseball:

“That’s easy– the wonder of ‘What happens next?’

“When I’m watching a game between teams I’m interested in, sometimes that wonder — and the fullfilment of it, as in the sixth game of the 2011 World Series — can be excruciatingly exciting, and its fullfilment as you watch and wait can be almost literally incredible.”

Furman Bisher: The legendary columnist in Atlanta who still was churning them out in his 90s. Dave Kindred recalled his old friend:

“One time, two years ago, his glorious wife, Linda, called him in the Augusta  press room and Furman became a high school kid in love. “I just finished,  honey,” he said. “It wasn’t much. I keep trying. I’ll do that perfect column  someday.”

Jim Huber: One of my favorites, the Turner Broadcasting analyst was known for his writing and terrific essays. This was the opening to his last book on Tom Watson’s near miss at the 2009 British Open.

“He climbed out of bed for what must have been the tenth time that interminable Sunday night. Making certain he did not awaken his wife, he made his way silently onto the balcony off the bedroom of the hotel high atop a hill. Clouds hung low over the dark Irish Sea, but he could still see the outline of the Ailsa Craig miles off the shoreline. A sliver of Scottish moon sprinkled shadows across the land.

“The grandstands, empty and cold now, hid the 18th green from view, but there was no shrouding the huge, familiar old yellow scoreboard off to the left. He did not have to squint to read the names still at the top. He would see them imprinted on his intricate mind for all time.”

Well done, Jim.

Jim Durham: The veteran play-by-play for the Bulls and ESPN. His long-time partner, Jack Ramsey, had this assessment when Durham was honored by the Hall of Fame in 2011:

“He’s the best I’ve ever heard on radio,” Ramsey said. “He seems to have been taken for granted because he’s such a self effacing guy. But he has everything—the great voice, the instinct for coming to the exciting parts of the game so that you can feel it in his voice. He never misses a tip, a pass, deflection, every shot, every defensive play and with great recall. He’s just amazing. This was long overdue.”

Chris Economaki: A pioneer as a motor sports journalist. From no less than A.J. Foyt:

“He saw the sport grow to where it is today and how it grew, including NASCAR. And he contributed to that growth. I’d say when he was in his heyday of writing that more people would read his column than any column that’s been written today by far. I know I did.”

Bert Sugar: The colorful boxing writer and sports historian. From Sports Illustrated’s Richard Hoffer:

“Mostly, though, he was there to provide atmosphere, some of it coming from his  ever-present cigar, to be sure. Just the sight of him in his equally  ever-present fedora (no one — nobody — ever saw the actual top of his head),  his plaid pants, waving that cigar in one hand and a glass of vodka in the  other, was enough to restore the sport to its Golden Age. He was a one-man  re-enactment of a Toots Shor bar scene, a gentle reminder that this is all  nonsense, not to be taken too seriously, that to truly witness greatness demands  a jaundiced eye as well as jaundice.”

Bill Jauss: The veteran Chicago Tribune sportswriter who was part of the cult show, Sportswriters on TV. From Rick Telander, a panelist on the show:

“Jauss loved the little guy. He spoke — he likes to say — for Joe and Jane Six-Pack. But he sells himself short. He spoke for Joe and Jane Martini, too. He spoke for everyone with a heart.”

 

 

 

 

More what they said in 2012: Olympics, NHL, ESPN, state of sportswriting and more

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Part 2

More of using quotes to tell the tale of sports media in 2012. These range from August through the end of the year.

NBC executive Alan Wurtzel on the Olympics: “We know the people who are watching the streaming are more likely to watch in primetime. Some of them want to see the movie again. Some of them want to hear the comments and analysis. In an interesting way, streaming has served as a barker. They watch and tell their friends, ‘I can’t believe what I just saw.’ Basically, it’s 1 + 1 = 3.”

Buzz Bissinger tweet: “But Comcast/NBC doesn’t give shit. Ratings off the roof. All they care about. Fuck the first amendment. Fuck free speech. Fuck Comcast/NBC.”

New York Times’ Jere Longeman on LoLo Jones: “Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games. This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be — vixen, virgin, victim — to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.”

NBC Sports Network president Jon Miller back in August: “I’m not a big Twitter follower, but I do follow the NHL on Twitter to find out as much as I can about the situation. It’s very important for us for the two sides to come together and for the season to start on time. The NHL is our most important property. To not have a start of the season would be tough on us.

Notre Dame radio analyst Allen Pinkett in an interview: “I’ve always felt like, to have a successful team, you gotta have a few bad citizens on the team,” Pinkett told The McNeil and Spiegel Show. “I mean, that’s how Ohio State used to win all the time. They would have two or three guys that were criminals. That just adds to the chemistry of the team. I think Notre Dame is growing because maybe they have some guys that are doing something worthy of a suspension, which creates edge on the football team. You can’t have a football team full of choir boys. You get your butt kicked if you have a team full of choir boys. You gotta have a little bit of edge, but the coach has to be the dictator and ultimate ruler.”

Jason Whitlock: “Seriously, most puddles are deeper than Paterno. It’s the antithesis of John Feinstein’s “A Season on the Brink” and Buzz Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights.” Paterno is “A Tuesday with JoePa (and Guido).”

ESPN executive producer Mark Gross on Little League World Series: “If the kid is crying his eyes out, we don’t dwell on it. We’re respectful of the kids and how they play. It’s not about dwelling on the negative. We’re not looking to embarrass anybody. We’re just looking to document the event. Do you see a kid crying? It is part of the game. Ten minutes later, you might see him running to an arcade game.”

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf:  “If it were up to me, there wouldn’t be homerism. It’s not up to me. It’s up to the fans and they get what they want.”

Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan on stepping aside: “What matters most to me as I wind down my association with this great newspaper is that I firmly believe I have been a member of a true All-Star team in sports journalism for the entire 44 years. We tend to judge sports figures by the number of championship rings they have been fortunate enough to accumulate. I want to be judged by the people I’ve worked with. Lists are dangerous, because someone obvious invariably is left off. So I won’t risk that. Just appreciate that I have been in a killer lineup for 44 years.”

Jeremy Schaap on E:60: “To me, that’s what I do. I understand, it’s not what drives the ratings, although we (E:60) hold our own. Our commitment to journalism is there. In the conversation about what’s on ESPN, the focus is going to be on the less edifying stuff. But I don’t think we’re there as a counterweight. I think there’s a sincere interest in doing this kind of journalism.”

David Feherty on hosting live show for the Golf Channel at the Ryder Cup:  “I was jumpier than a box of frogs until the bell rang last night.  That’s typically ‑‑ I’d be worried if I wasn’t, because like I said in the opening monologue, confidence is that warm, fuzzy feeling you get before you fall on your ass.”

John Clayton on ESPN commercial: “I mean more than 2 million hits on YouTube. Whoa. You’re looking on Twitter and you see LeBron James saying I’m hilarious in the commercial. I mean, c’mon.”

Mike Tirico on two-man booth for Monday Night Football:  “I would say the difference, simply, having more of a conversation with one person, as opposed to spreading it out back and forth. That’s where the dynamic of the broadcast changes. People were under the false impression that a three‑man booth led to more chatter. Like any other broadcast ‑‑ there are no plays that go by with complete silence so, there’s just as much real estate.”

Sally Jenkins on Lance Armstrong: “I can tell you that while my thoughts are complicated Lance remains a friend of mine, and my personal opinion of him was never based on what he did or didn’t do while riding a bike up an Alp. I like the guy.”

Jay Mariotti: “Why continue to embrace a craft that literally almost killed me, a profession currently diluted by so many unskilled bloggers and corporate suckups that it has lost much of its soul? My answer remains the same as it has for three decades: Because I still love sports, and because I still love to write. Sports + writing = sportswriter.”

Jerry Reinsdorf to sports radio founder Jeff Smulyan: “You certainly have the undying, lasting envy of every sports owner and athlete in sports as the guy who created sports radio. Before you came along, the only thing we had to deal with was the idiots in the newspapers.  Now you’ve managed to give a microphone to every moron in the world.”

Dino Costa: “I can answer in a way that talks about the industry of sports talk radio. On balance, all sports talk radio sounds exactly the same. There is a status quo that underwhelms me. It’s homogenized garbage that deals with the lowest common denominator. The predictability is frightening. The same subject, same comments every day. It stays in the same lane and drones on and on.”

APSE President Gerry Hearn: “There have been a lot of brushfires this year that are new, and these issues will continue to happen unless we as sports editors and sports management step up. They want to control the information at universities not just for traffic, but as competitors. “We have to ensure as best we can the access that our reporters need to do their jobs.”

Malcolm Moran, new head of National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana: “For the first time in the history of the industry, a 20-something journalist could have an advantage over a 40-something candidate. Graduates as recent as the class of 2007 have told me they feel as though they missed out on having the new technology included in their course work. If a younger candidate can meet all the timeless expectations of the industry, and demonstrate that he or she can tell stories across platforms, the assumption is that the candidate will handle the technology more easily than the more experienced veteran. Media outlets are willing to sacrifice institutional memory – and the higher salaries that comes with that – for more cost-effective, techno-savvy candidates. I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying it’s happening.”

Michael Wilbon on state of sportswriting: “There’s not as much good stuff as there used to be. Don’t get me wrong. I turned down some good pieces. But I know what it used to be. There’s not enough stuff that compels me. The volume (of quality writing) is not close.

“We’re all chasing the same story. Most of it I don’t care about. Where’s LeBron going? Even the great writers aren’t as great as they used to be. They’re smarter. They may be good reporters. They may get information we care about, but they’re not as good at writing. I’m not as great as I used to be. You’re too busy trying to get it posted before Yahoo! does. It’s all a rush to get it posted, to be first.”

Marv Albert on being 71: “I feel I’m better now than I ever have been. You learn so much as you’re doing it. I’m watching tapes and I’ll see things that get me annoyed and where I know I can improve. I understand better letting the crowd play more. I’ve always said it was important for me who I was working with, because I like to kid around a lot. But I’ve also learned to use my partner better.

“I’m feeling good. There’s no reason to stop.”

ESPN president John Skipper: “We have standards of journalism that are at the highest order. There’s a separate question, which is, ‘Are we adhering to them?’ But at least our intention and what we publish is that we are going to adhere to high standards. We don’t discourage the scrutiny, we welcome it. Generally, we react to it.”

Ed Goren, former Fox Sports executive producer: “When is enough enough? I mean, how does ESPN do it paying $55 million for one Monday night game? The business is becoming more difficult because of the elevated rights fees. It’s challenging. Maybe I’m not quite smart enough to figure it out. Hopefully, the people at the various networks are smarter than me.”

Jack Whitaker, 88, receiving Hall of Fame honor: “Thank you for giving me this award and for giving it to me in time for me to remember I got it.”