Spanning the globe to give you the constant variety of sports media…
NBA TV rights: Jason McIntyre of Big Lead reports that Turner Sports, not ESPN, will feel the greatest threat from Fox Sports in the upcoming negotiations for the league’s TV rights.
The TV rights showdown over the NBA will accelerate in the coming weeks/months, and many in the media are portraying the battle as ESPN vs. Fox Sports.
One problem: Although it makes for a great headline, those aren’t the two networks to keep an eye on.
There’s virtually no chance ESPN is losing the NBA.
Turner? That’s another story.
The real bidding war will take place between Turner and Fox Sports, multiple industry sources tell The Big Lead. The NBA’s current TV deals with ABC/ESPN and TNT run through the 2015-2016 season. But the next TV deal is expected to be complete by early next year, with discussions expected to intensify in February, after Adam Silver takes over as commish for David Stern.
Keith Olbermann: Will Leitch of Sports on Earth writes that things will be different for Olbermann at ESPN than they were at MSNBC.
The ESPN of today is not the ESPN that Olbermann left. They’re the big dogs now, and whether Olbermann would want to admit it or not, thusly so is he.
When Olbermann was lobbing rhetorical bombs at President Bush from the MSNBC chair, well, this was a guy on a then-fledgling basic cable network screaming into the void at the leader of the free world. But last night, when Olbermann began his show with a shockingly long, 20-minute screed against New York Daily News Jets beat reporter Manish Mehta, it felt less like a justified takedown and more like institutional bullying. Olbermann wasn’t necessarily wrong about Mehta’s (and the New York media’s in general) ridiculousness about Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez, but to rain that much thunder on a beat guy? To have Jason Whitlock come in and talk about how “incapable” Mehta was? For 20 minutes of airtime on a signature ESPN station? It was using the world engine to squash an ant.
Keith Olbermann II: Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News is glad to have Olbermann back.
And reading between the lines in everything Olbermann does, even if there are some less-than-subtle jabs at his own company’s policies, is mandatory if anyone plans to stick with it past the some volatile opening monologue and get to the compelling interviews, retro sports highlight commentary and even a re-washing of his “worst people” segments as they relate to the sports world.
“I’m here to calm you down,” joked Wednesday night guest John McEnroe, introduced shortly after Olbermann’s railing against the NCAA’s decision to suspend Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel for the first half of Saturday’s opener, a follow-up lambasting from the night before where he created a well-told but refreshingly new spin on how the game Manziel plays is really “college pro football.”
“You don’t need to be that angry,” McEnroe continued. “You seemed fairly mellow early on, and now you’re coming on strong.”
McEnroe couldn’t be serious. But in a way, he was.
Vin Scully: Dan Shaugnessy of the Boston Globe writes about the great one coming back for his 859th year (or so it seems) in the Dodgers booth in 2014.
In all of sports, there is nothing like the Scully-Dodgers relationship. Ernie Harwell was the sweet honey voice of the Tigers for a million years and Marv Albert has been the signature caller of the Knicks forever. We came to associate Keith Jackson with college football and Al Michaels with believing in miracles. Boston has been graced with the iconic Curt Gowdy, the mellow Ned Martin, Drano-gargling Johnny Most, steady Gil Santos, puckish Fred Cusick, and pom-pom Joe Castiglione, who moved thousands of “can you believe it?” bottle openers after the Red Sox finally won in 2004.
All of these guys are/were great, but none can be Vin Scully. Only one man can be the greatest sports broadcaster who ever lived.
Vin Scully II: Howard Megdal of Sports on Earth also praises the great one.
Scully doesn’t just stay and chat a while, every day, for six months. He tells you things you didn’t know, and in a singularly interesting way. The Mets happen to have excellent announcers on both the radio and television sides — and still, when the Mets go to Los Angeles, I learn things about them I haven’t heard all season.
Bart Scott: Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News thinks Bart Scott has a chance to be very good on the new pregame show on CBS Sports Network.
Scott marketed himself to CBS in a most unusual way. The fact that he has a big mouth does not separate him from other former NFL players who tried making it on TV. What separates Scott is his overt dislike of the media.
So, when CBS Sports boss Sean McManus heard Scott once tried organizing a player boycott of the local media while he was with the Jets, he must have said: “Bart Scott, that’s our guy.” Or maybe what really impressed McManus was when Scott angrily approached Dan Leberfeld , the Jets Confidential publisher who was taking his picture, and said, “I’ll kick the s— out of you.”
Brian Urlacher: Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Sun-Times writes the new Fox Sports 1 analyst wasn’t so media friendly as a player.
On Sunday, I heard someone mention Brian Urlacher was going to be a TV analyst. I thought I must have heard wrong. No way the former Bears linebacker would join the Dark Side. He wasn’t as bad with the media as the aforementioned cornerback had been, but I never got the feeling he would have reached for a bucket if a reporter’s hair were on fire. So no way he would put in with us media slobs. I went back to minding my own business.
On Monday, I Googled ‘‘Urlacher’’ and ‘‘TV.’’ And there it was. Urlacher will be an NFL analyst for the new Fox Sports 1 network. I guess I missed the news while covering the Cubs’ big turnaround.
How’s that for a 180 on Urlacher’s part?
Urban Meyer: Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing thought Rolling Stone was wrong for including Meyer in a story about Aaron Hernandez.
That’s a pretty large, serious allegation to make… with almost no weight behind it. Meyer “may have” helped cover up failed drug tests and shootings? May have? Sure, and Urban Meyer also “may have” been the second gunman on the grassy knoll too.
When the actual piece was published today, it was revealed that Rolling Stone misfired in a needless attempt to capitalize on the cottage industry of painting Urban Meyer as a corrupt despot and it hurt the credibility of the rest of the piece as a result.
Pac 12 Network vs. DirecTV: Ben Koo of Awful Announcing examines the discord.
DTV will tell you it’s the Pac 12 Network’s fault for trying to ripoff their customers and not having an a la carte option for the channel. DirecTV operates the Root Sports affiliates that carry sporting events in Seattle and Pittsburgh and don’t seem to embrace the a la carte concept when it applies to them.
The Pac 12 Network will scream bloody murder that other providers entered into deals and this is just the market rate for the channel, and DTV is just being unreasonable.
Most industry experts will tell you that is has to do with a number and both sides are apart on that number. Here is the nonsense though:
It’s none of the above.
Sochi Olympics: Erin Sharoni, writing in the Huffington Post, suggests people become active on social media during the Games to protest Russia’s anti-gay stance.
So, if only for two weeks in February 2014, become a superfan, whether you’re gay, straight, in between, or something else entirely, and whether you’re watching from a dorm room, on an iPhone, or in the city of Sochi itself. Support the athletes, regardless of whom they sleep with, what nation they hail from, or what god they worship. For the sake of equality, civility, and in the name of tolerance, be seen and be heard. Every person reading these words has benefitted from someone else’s raised voice in the past. Pay it forward. Wearing a ribbon and silently signing an online petition is not enough. Get rowdy. Make noise. Invite everyone. Start the dance party, and keep people moving.
Greg Gumbel: Paul Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch talks about Gumbel’s Chicago roots.
Paul M. Banks: tell me about your time at WMAQ-TV
Greg Gumbel : It’s where I got my start; in March of 1973, I worked there for seven and a half years, it was a nice learning platform. Local news was frustrating to me because local news really isn’t about sports. Local news is fine with the local sports team until they are no longer in contention. And you couldn’t explain to these idiots running the place that sports fans don’t care if they’re in contention or not, they want to know what their team did.”
Whereas management thought they’re no longer in contention, so you don’t need that. Bull you do need that. So there was a certain amount of frustration built into doing local news, but it was a good learning platform and from there I went to ESPN and then to Madison Square Garden to CBS.
Podcasts:
BS Report: Bill Simmons talks to Matthew Berry about his new book on Fantasy Football.
Sports-Casters: Interviews with Andy Staples (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com), and Joe Lemire (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com).