Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports media…
Concussions: Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks to Troy Aikman and others in the aftermath of the NFL concussion case.
Aikman, who has said back problems rather than migraine headaches were more related to why he retired, pointed out this week that he was not one of the plaintiffs suing the league. But he called the settlement “another win for the NFL … that’s a lot of money (paid out), but relatively speaking, in terms of what could have been paid, it’s not that much.
“There are guys who will be able to benefit, and some money will be put into research. (But) the one thing I’m disappointed about is that the NFL didn’t have to acknowledge what they knew and when they knew it (concerning brain injury research). It’s not about tarnishing the NFL, but I think full disclosure would have been the best way to go.”
CBS’ Boomer Esiason, who suffered such a severe concussion while playing quarterback for the New York Jets in 1995 that he was one of the first to undergo an extensive concussion study during the season while unable to play, said he’s “grateful” for the 4,500 players who went forth with the lawsuit and “I may fall under this fund if I need it.”
Broadcaster draft: Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing conducted his annual college football fantasy broadcasting draft.
Round 1
1) Ourand: Chris Fowler, ESPN, studio host
With so many games on TV, the best way to stand out is with a pre- or post-game show. College GameDay is the best show covering college sports today, and Fowler is the best anchor. This is the easiest pick of the draft.
2) Deitsch: Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN, game analyst
Luck or RGIII? Fowler and Herbstreit were going 1-2 in this draft in some order and with the GameDay host going first overall, this was an easy selection. Herbstreit is versatile enough to excel in either the studio or game format, and he’ll do both for my network.
3) Kenney: Rece Davis, ESPN, studio host
I was hoping to get either Davis or Fowler, because the gulf between these two and the remaining studio hosts is huge. Davis has the misfortune of being paired with the clownish duo of Mark May and Lou Holtz on ESPN’s wrap-up show, which means I generally don’t see that much of him on Saturdays. There has to be a better way to utilize his considerable talents.
4) Yoder: Mark May, ESPN, studio analyst
No wait, that’s a joke…
4) Yoder: Gus Johnson, Fox, play by play
My lead play by play man was an excruciating pick, but I went with Gus over Brent Musburger & Verne Lundquist. I don’t know how much longer I’ll have some of those other top names so I’m looking both short and long term with this pick. Gus has received much more hype for his college basketball and soccer work (for better and worse) but his enthusiasm and style is a great fit for college football.
NFL broadcasting guide: Richard Deitsch of MMQB has an extensive guide of the networks’ game coverage for 2013.
It’s a simple question with a complex answer. What makes a successful NFL game broadcast?
“I think a successful game broadcast is one where everyone is working in concert together to tell a story,” says CBS Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz, the network’s lead NFL play-by-play voice since 2004. “It is an effort of about 250 strong for our crew, and everybody has an important part to play to make sure the story is told accurately. The art of it, when you boil it down, is storytelling, and not just anecdotal stuff. It’s about why a play did or did not work, or why a player or coach made that decision. It’s storytelling whether from a play-by-play man or analyst, or the producer having the right sequence of replays, or the director visually showing you what happened.
Sunday Night Football: I’m not exactly sure what this is, but Neil Best of Newsday says Sunday night’s game will be featured on FreeD TV.
Starting with Sunday’s Giants-Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium and continuing with Notre Dame vs. Arizona Oct. 5 and Redskins vs. Cowboys Oct. 13, every NBC game at the Cowboys’ building will feature “FreeD” TV.
The plan, fashioned by a company called Replay Technologies, is to mount a total of 24 high-speed cameras — 12 on each end — covering every angle in both red zones to provide a seamless 360-degree arc of replay possibilities.
“FreeD,” short for “free dimensional video,” also will be shown on the Cowboys’ famously mammoth in-stadium video board.
Fox College Saturday: Ken Fang at Awful Announcing thought the season debut was much better than last year’s version.
Does it work? Well, there are segments where Klatt takes the lead and the show truly becomes his. Andrews has improved after her shaky start with Fox College Saturday last year. There’s only been one show in 2013, but Andrews does better handing off to this crew than when she had to carry George and Harrington in 2012. There is definitely better chemistry in this year’s cast and it helps that Klatt has been brought in to co-host.
Peyton Manning, TV analyst: Richard Deitsch of SI.com speculates on the great QB’s future as an analyst, if he goes that route.
How likely is Manning to go into the booth after he’s retired? For as many interviews and studio appearances he’s done over his 15 NFL seasons, the Broncos quarterback has never indicated that he’ll pursue broadcasting after his career ends. (Worth noting is his father, Archie, a broadcaster for CBS Sports, told the Indianapolis Business Journal in 2011 that he was not sure if Peyton’s heart was into broadcasting.)
In an interview with SI.com last week, though, Manning’s former coach, Tony Dungy, predicted Manning would be a broadcaster five years from now. “I would say he would,” said Dungy, an analyst for NBC’s Football Night In America. “He enjoys the game so much and it is a way to keep yourself involved. He would also be phenomenal. He has everything you are looking for. I joked with [NBC Sports executive producer] Sam Flood awhile back: If we hired him at NBC, it would triple Sam’s workload. Peyton will be so prepared and not leave a stone unturned. He would put 30 hours a week into it because he will want to be the best. Whoever hires him, they have to know what comes the territory. But if he did this he would be phenomenal.”
Dan Wetzel: The Yahoo! Sports columnist does an interview on APSE’s site with Dan Wiederer on the art of column writing.
For me, I think it’s important that I report out every column as much as possible. We have a great NBA reporter, Adrian Wojnarowski, and Jeff Passan, another of our columnists. We have a lot of great people and we talk a lot about reporting every column. Needless to say, there are times when you can’t always report out a column. Something breaking and there’s no access. Like Tiger Woods smashing his car into the fire hydrant. You’re not getting Tiger Woods on the phone. At that moment, nobody is. So sometimes you don’t have the choice. But for 99 percent of columns, how can you report it out? What can you give the reader that they’re not getting without your reporting eye? So you have to zero in on using your access and asking the right questions.
Georgia Tech announcer: Mike Tierney in the New York Times writes about the unusual hire for the voice of Georgia Tech football.
Less than an hour later, after a swig of water that would stay in his system for a while, Gaudin delivered his first unrecorded words to the Georgia Tech audience: “Live from Bobby Dodd Stadium. Welcome, everybody. I’m Brandon Gaudin.”
There was no telling how many listeners heard that and said, “Who?”
Football is a young man’s game, but the art of describing it on the radio has largely been the purview of those middle-aged and older. Georgia Tech athletics is affiliated with IMG College, which holds the multimedia rights to the football programs of 80 universities, making it the largest such network. On average, two jobs within that group become available each year, and 15 of the current IMG announcers have been calling games from the same campus for at least 30 years, longer than Gaudin, 29, has been alive.
Namath and Bryant: Sports Books Review Center reviews Rising Tide, a new book on Joe Namath’s years in Alabama with Paul “Bear” Bryant.
Bryant was waiting for him, even having him up to his fabled coaching tower when Namath arrived. We forget what a great athlete Namath was in those pre-knee operation days, but he was a standout in all sports (he could dunk a basketball without a running start) and had excellent speed.
The authors do capture the atmosphere that greeted Namath in Alabama. This is someone who had black friends back home, and who therefore wasn’t used to the idea of separate drinking fountains and bus lobbies. We couldn’t see what was Joe did what he wanted – being a special athlete always has had its advantages – and while it ruffled some feathers he was good enough and friendly enough to make it work.
Most of the book is devoted to a game-by-game account of Namath’s seasons there. There’s some good research involved here and the story moves along, although it is a little difficult to make football games from 50 years ago fresh and interesting. It’s striking how much the game of football has changed since then. Namath had games where he only threw a handful of times, something of a waste of his talent. But, when he had to throw, he was a sight. Namath did more than enough for people to realize he was something special.
Podcasts
Big Lead-Jason McIntyre: Jay Glazer
Awful Announcing: Darren Sharper, NFL Network.
Sports-Casters: Dave Dameshek (NFL Network, NFL.Com), Richard Deitsch (Sports Illustrated, SI.Com) and Jeff Duncan (Times-Picayune, NOLA.Com)