As a long time White Sox fan, I love that Jose Abreu landed on the cover of SI. But I’m also nervous. He was walking gingerly on a bad ankle last night.
Could it be….the jinx? NOOOO!!!!
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Spoiler alert: CBS’ Jason La Canfora will be tweeting out picks again during draft; ESPN, NFL Net won’t
To tweet or not to tweet.
That is the annual question going into tonight’s NFL draft. Once again, ESPN and the NFL Network have told their reporters be selective about tweeting. This has to be Adam Schefter’s personal version of hell.
From Richard Deitsch of SI.com:
While ESPN and NFL Network will compete fiercely for audience this week, SI.com can report that once again the networks have come together for a gentleman’s agreement on the subject of tipping draft picks. Both networks have pledged not to show images of players on the phone in the green room at Radio City Music Hall and not to report pick-by-pick selections on the Twitter feeds of staffers prior to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announcing the picks on the podium. That Twitter agreement carries through at least the first two rounds.
Once again, that agreement doesn’t apply to Jason La Canfora. The CBS and CBSSports.com NFL insider plans to tweet out picks and more to his nearly 400,000 followers.
In an email, he wrote: “I’ll be doing my job, same as always brother.”
When I followed up, asking if he thought he had an advantage because of the limitations applied to the ESPN and NFL Network reporters, La Canfora responded:
“I don’t really care one way or the other. I’m charged with reporting as much fair and accurate information as possible with all things NFL, and free agency and the draft are about as news-driven as possible.
“I’m not concerned with whatever anyone else is or isn’t doing, just looking to serve out audience at cbssports.com with the best, most timely information as we possibly can, and to make sure my colleagues Will Brinson and Pete Prisco have the best info possible as quickly as possible for the live draft shows they are doing on the website.
“It’s a non-issue for me. Same approach as I have with anything else in regards to this job.”
If you don’t want your suspense ruined, then unfollow La Canfora for the night. Or just stay away from Twitter completely since other NFL reporters will be tweeting out picks.
However, you will be missing out if you put yourself in a Twitter blackout. There is a ton of good information in those tweets. It’s worth knowing a few of those picks ahead of time.
Yes, coverage of NFL draft has changed a bit; Flashback to what ESPN did in ’81
I love posting this video every year.
For a little perspective about coverage of the NFL draft on ESPN and NFL Network, it’s always good to see how ESPN covered the NFL draft in 1981.
It was all so primitive. Check out the guy who had to turn on Pete Rozelle’s microphone.
A favorite part is a young Chris Berman getting reaction from a restaurant in New York, complete with the checkered table cloth.
All in all, the whole thing seemed like a pointless exercise. Who would want to watch coverage of something as boring as the NFL draft? Right?
******
As for this year’s draft, Richard Deitsch of SI.com has the complete rundown.
Sports Emmys: Emrick named best play-by-play; NBC leads with six Emmys
On the road today. Will have a more detailed account on last night’s Sports Emmys later.
For the results, here is the report from Variety.
A highlight of the evening was Mike Emrick winning for best play-by-play. A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable for a hockey announcer to win this award. Not anymore.
While “Doc” would cringe at this comparison, he truly has become the Vin Scully of his sport.
The best line of the evening came from Cris Collinsworth, who won for best analyst. Collinsworth noted the multiple Emmys won by Hard Knocks for their series on the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I want to thank Hard Knocks for one of the greatest nights in Bengals history,” said the former Bengal.
Q/A with Ted Turner: Changed landscape of sports on TV; Receives overdue Sports Emmy Lifetime Achievement honor
The Sports Emmys were Tuesday night in New York. It is the big annual gathering of broadcasters and sports executives as they celebrate the year in TV sports. You always have to be careful because you might get hit with someone’s ego.
Yet last night, all of these superstars and mega power brokers were dwarfed by one man: Ted Turner.
Turner was this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In the announcement, NATAS chairman Malachy Wienges said, “The world of sports and news television has been forever changed by the vision of this one man.”
Indeed, before Turner changed the world TV news and journalism with CNN, he altered the landscape of sports on television. In 1970s, his move in airing Atlanta Braves and Hawks games on WTBS was a forerunner for ESPN and other sports cable networks, national and local, serving fans a 24/7 menu of games, sports news, talk and analysis.
Previous winners of the Lifetime award have included Jim McKay, Dick Ebersol, Howard Cosell, and Pat Summerall, to name a few. When it came time to award this year’s recipient, many on the panel had assumed Turner already had received the honor.
“The initial thought we had was, ‘Why didn’t we think of this before?” said CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus. “When his name was brought up, it was instantaneous. Of course. Look at what he’s done in the world of sports. It was a no brainer.”
McManus then added, “Ted Turner is the kind of person for whom Lifetime Achievement awards are created.”
Turner Sports President David Levy called Turner a true visionary.
“He said, ‘Content is king’ before anyone else said content is king,” Levy said. “He realized sports were a huge part of that content. He really understood the business better than anyone else.”
I had a chance to conduct a Q/A with Turner via email:
Why did you view sports (the Braves and Hawks) as such an important vehicle for WTBS?
Turner: We needed viewers, and Atlanta sports teams came with built-in audiences. Fans wanted to see the Braves play, and were willing to buy UHF antennas if necessary. Once they had the antennas, we knew that people would watch not only the Braves, but our other programming as well.
What kind of reaction did people have when you decided to air all the Braves games from coast-to-coast? Eventually, MLB fought you over territorial issues, but early on, did people think you were crazy?
Turner: Sure, people thought I was crazy. But, I knew it would help our ratings, and I was right. Once the Braves became known as “America’s Team”, my critics stopped calling me “crazy”.
Were you surprised that the games became so popular and that the Braves became America’s Team?
Turner: The Atlanta Braves were initially a losing team, so I really didn’t see airing their games outside of the Atlanta market as a threat to other franchises. But, I was wrong. A lot of people didn’t like the idea, but it proved to really pay off for us by increasing ratings and the Braves’ fan base.
What impact did your decision to air Braves games on TBS eventually have on the sports TV landscape?
Turner: It definitely paved the way for ESPN and similar networks because the idea of being able to watch and follow teams of your choosing, regardless of geography, was now possible. People enjoy having a choice in entertainment – whether it be news, sports or other programming.
This year, Turner Sports aired its first Final Four games. How does that make you feel? Could you ever have imagined your network landing these games way back when?
Turner: I think it’s great. It’s incredible how far Turner Sports has come over the years, and it’s grown even more in recent years. Turner Sports has proven itself as a major player, and it gives me great pride to have started it.
Sports Emmys tonight: ESPN leads way with 30 nominations; Ted Turner to receive Lifetime Achievement
Off to New York this morning to attend tonight’s Sports Emmy Awards at the Lincoln Center.
I’m not a big award guy. After serving as a judge for a few writing contests, I got a first-hand look at how arbitrary the process can be for these kinds of things.
Rather, I make my annual trek because it is a great one-stop shop to see everyone in the business. Looking forward to spending time with former DePaul legend and current HBO Sports PR guru Ray Stallone in the media room.
I also hope to meet Ted Turner, this year’s winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. I will have a Q/A with Turner on my site tomorrow.
As for the awards, I know it means a lot for the winners to walk out of the room with a Sports Emmy. Here are the categories and nominees for the higher profile awards and here is a link for the complete list.
Outstanding Sports Personality – Play-by-Play
Marv Albert TNT/tbs/TruTV/CBS
Mike Breen ABC/ESPN
Joe Buck FOX
Bob Costas MLB Network
Mike Emrick NBC/NBCSN
********
Outstanding Sports Personality – Sports Event Analyst
Cris Collinsworth NBC
Gary Danielson CBS
Kirk Herbstreit ESPN
Tim McCarver FOX
*******
Outstanding Sports Personality – Studio Analyst
Cris Collinsworth Showtime
Al Leiter MLB Network
Rick Neuheisel PAC-12 Network
Harold Reynolds MLB Network/FOX
Michael Strahan FOX
Tom Verducci tbs/MLB Network
*******
Outstanding Sports Personality – Sports Reporter
Pierre McGuire NBC/NBCSN
Ken Rosenthal FOX
Lisa Salters ESPN
Michele Tafoya NBC
Tom Verducci MLB Network
*******
Outstanding Studio Show – Weekly
College Gameday ESPN
Football
FOX NFL Sunday FOX
Inside the NBA on TNT TNT
Monday Night Countdown ESPN
NFL GameDay Morning NFL Network
*******
Outstanding Studio Show – Daily
Inside The NBA on TNT: Playoffs TNT
MLB Tonight MLB Network
Olbermann ESPN2
Pardon the Interruption ESPN
[Rydholm Projects]
SportsCenter ESPN
******
Outstanding Live Sports Series
ESPN College Football ABC / ESPN
ESPN Monday Night Football ESPN
HBO Boxing HBO
SEC on CBS CBS
Sunday Night Football NBC
********
Outstanding Playoff Coverage
American League Championship Series FOX
Red Sox vs. Tigers
MLB Postseason on tbs tbs
NBA Playoffs on TNT TNT
NFC Championship FOX
Falcons vs. 49ers
NFC Wild Card FOX
Seahawks vs. Redskins
*******
Outstanding Live Sports Special
2013 NBA Finals ABC / ESPN
Heat vs. Spurs
The Championships, Wimbledon ABC/ESPN
The 55th Annual Daytona 500 FOX
The 109th World Series FOX
Red Sox vs. Cardinals
The 34th America’s Cup NBCSN
******
Outstanding Sports Documentary
First: The Official Film of the London Olympic Games NBC
LT: The Life and Times Showtime
[CBS Sports/NFL Films]
The Doctor NBA TV
UFC Presents Ronda Rousey: Breaking Ground FS1
[A. Smith & Co.]
******
Outstanding Sports Documentary Series
24/7 HBO
Red Wings – Maple Leafs: Road to the Winter Classic
30 for 30 ESPN
A Football Life NFL Network
[NFL Films]
Casualties of the Gridiron CasualtiesoftheGridiron.com
[Conde Nast Entertainment]
The Journey Big Ten Network
Big Ten Basketball 2013
MLS Insider NBCSN
Nine for IX ESPN
******
Outstanding Sports News Anthology
60 Minutes Sports Showtime
[CBS News]
E: 60 ESPN2
NFL Films Presents NFL Network
[NFL Films]
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel HBO
******
Outstanding Sports Journalism
60 Minutes Sports Showtime
The Fall of Lance Armstrong [CBS News]
E: 60 ESPN2
Children of the Ring
In Play with Jimmy Roberts Golf Channel
Valentino Dixon
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel HBO
Putin’s Olympics: Cronyism and Corruption in Russia
******
Outstanding Short Feature
E: 60 ESPN2
Shear Will
Ironman World Championship NBC
Peace, Love, Grace [Texas Crew Productions]
SportsCenter ESPN
Richie Parker: Drive
Sunday NFL Countdown ESPN
O.J. Brigance: Heart of the Ravens
The Super Bowl Today CBS
Chuck Pagano: A Season of Family
******
Outstanding Long Feature
30 for 30 Shorts grantland.com
The Irrelevant Giant [ESPN Films]
30 for 30 Shorts grantland.com
Cutthroat [ESPN Films]
60 Minutes Sports Showtime
Great Falls [CBS News]
SportsCenter ESPN
The Lady Jags: Losing to Win
SportsCenter ESPN
Carry On
******
The Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award
24/7 HBO
Red Wings – Maple Leafs: Road to the Winter Classic
E: 60 ESPN2
The Ballad of Bushwacker
ESPN Grand Slam Tennis ABC / ESPN
Wimbledon & US Open
Football Night In America NBC
Redskins Name Commentary
NFL Films Presents NFL Network
Yours Truly, Dr. Z [NFL Films]
Gammons: Baseball needs to make dramatic changes to pick up pace; relievers must face 3 batters
Peter Gammons, writing at his site, rolls out some interesting statistics and possible solutions for the slow-play issue in baseball.
Gammons bemoans the numerous pitching changes that not only bog down a game, but also take the bats out of the hands of big left-handed hitters:
“It is ridiculous that impact lefthanded hitters like Joey Votto, David Ortiz, Shin-Soo Choo, Chase Utley and Anthony Rizzo will almost never face a righthanded pitcher from the seventh inning on,” says one National League GM. “Can’t we see some great hitters hit with games on the line? This whole matchups thing gets carried away, but everyone has two or three Randy Choates to throw at a Votto.”
Experienced managers howl in laughter and advise that MLB post orthopedic surgeons’ phone numbers in every clubhouse when the matchup computers get overloaded in the third or fourth innings of games and their managers are forced to be warming up right and lefthanders in the early innings. Pace of game? Is it thrilling to see five or six pitching changes a game? In 1972, a team used an average of 2.94 relievers per game. In 1992, 4.29. Now it’s 5.96.
Gammon’s solutions:
My suggestion is to limit rosters to 11 pitchers, which would open rosters to a hitter who could act as third catcher in extra-inning games, or a Tony Phillips kind of versatile performer. They could require that a reliever either finish an inning or have to face three hitters, but this way relievers would be required to have to retire batters from both sides of the plate and be groomed not to throw 3-5 pitches, but have to be used to 4-6 outs. Starters should pitch seven innings. Relievers should be able to get six outs on both sides of the plate.
That would limit matchups. Limit stalling while the next Randy Choate heats up to face Utley or Votto. Pace of game? Limit the number of combined visits by managers and pitching coaches to two a game—between them.
Gammons concludes:
It’s worth at least a few new and creative ideas. How many 13 and 15 year olds are beginning to ask, “Is this becoming The Deadball Era, or is this the Polar Vortex?” Come the All-Star Break, it’s worth studying.
I’m for anything that picks up the pace.
Who is MLB talking to? Selig says fans aren’t complaining about slow games in surveys
Saw this item in an interview with Bud Selig that Adam Rubin filed at ESPNNewYork.com:
Although the commissioner keeps close tabs on the length of games, he does not think it is a problem.
“They’re not getting longer,” Selig said. “We’re the same as last year. We’re right at three hours. Actually, this year, we’ve had an interesting group of 2:30, 2:40, 2:45, which proves to me it can be done.
“People talk about the length of the game, and all sporting events, by the way, take much longer. But the fans are turning out in record numbers. When we do a lot of polling, we don’t get that from a lot of our fans. However, having said all that, you bet I’m concerned. I monitor it on a weekly basis.”
OK, who is MLB surveying? It can’t be avid fans. Everyone I talk to complains about the slow-play issue.
Yes, fans are coming to the games in record numbers. I contend that has more do with the ballpark experience. There is an amusement park element of attending a game. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
However, Selig neglects to point out where slow play has its biggest impact: watching games on TV. Ratings, especially for the post-season, are at historic lows.
As I have written many times, much of the decline has to be about what were once 2:30-2:40 games stretching to 3:30-3:40 or more. The long, tedious games become brutal to watch. Viewers, especially the younger demo, are tuning out.
If MLB needs more input for its surveys, I’ll be glad to provide some names.
Mushnick: ‘When did “TMZ” get clearance to act like an extension of the FBI or the KGB’
Last week, I did a post on an item in Phil Mushnick’s column about a comment he made about Donald Sterling. He wrote:
“Not everyone, at 81, should reasonably or humanely be held accountable for whatever ugly comments come out their mouths.”
Mushnick took considerable heat; some justified, some not. Nobody was in the mood to give any excuses to Sterling.
Saturday, Mushnick had another observation about Sterling. This one was about how the story broke.
How many among the morally outraged media, politicians, pro athletes and even late night TV hosts who drew laughs burying Sterling in their monologues could withstand having their private conversations recorded then publicly disseminated?
How many could survive such a thing or would come out of it looking better — or even the same — as before?
How many big-shots who demand the media “respect my privacy” have stood up to say that while Sterling’s a repugnant bigot and doddering old fool, “catching” him in such a manner seems downright un-American, unfair?
And when did “TMZ” get clearance to act like an extension of the FBI or the KGB? Or was TMZ — which specializes in ambushing the prominent, ex-prominent and hopeful prominent — just doing its part to protect America from within, a branch of Homeland Security?
But the ends justify the means. Now that Sterling, who in an instant became Public Enemy No. 1, was caught then quickly and publicly executed, we and our loved ones can feel that much safer.
I agree with Mushnick here. The TMZ factor has been underplayed in this entire saga. Somebody leaked a private conversation between Sterling and his girlfriend.
Yes, it was reprehensible, but did the end justify the means here? The whole thing felt so dirty. This certainly wasn’t journalism at its best.
Will be interesting to see if TMZ gets more inflammatory recordings from the sports world. As Mushnick warns, watch what you say everyone.
Chicago news: Toni Ginnetti steps away from full-time duties at Sun-Times; still will work as contributor
There are few people in the business more respected than Toni Ginnetti. Robert Feder breaks the news that the long-time Chicago Sun-Times sportswriter will be walking away from full-time duties.
However, the good news is that Ginnetti isn’t “retiring.”
From the post:
Ginnetti, 63, said she chose to retire in part because the hours involved in covering baseball had become all-consuming in the age of digital journalism. “I still love the job but the work time becomes tough for all of us,” she told me. “So I’m fortunate that I could retire — mainly because Obamacare ensured I could get my own medical insurance — and now still be part of the paper but with a much more manageable schedule.
“Our colleague Herb Gould did the same thing, ‘retiring’ last fall but continuing with the paper as a regular freelancer, so he set the precedent. It works for the paper as it continues to go through cutting staff, and it works for us individually.”
From Jim Kirk, publisher and editor:
Calling Ginnetti “a true Chicago trailblazer,” Jim Kirk, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times, said: “Toni broke into the male-dominated world of sports newspaper reporting when few women were ever seen on the sideline or in the stadium press box. She helped pave the way for other women writers especially those covering professional baseball. We are grateful we’ll still carry her byline from time to time.”
I agree. Congratulations, Toni.