Top 10 sports media- related things we see causing tension during
the 10th month of the 10th year of this decade:
10 You may be looking live now at the first day of the Ryder Cupcompetition on ESPN, but what time the sun comes up for day twodepends, again, on NBC's clock.
The network's call to go with a 5 1/2-hour digital delay (doesanyone use videotape anymore?) during Saturday's play in Wales meansit doesn't have to bump Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly latertonight and there's still time to cash in on some overnightinfomercials. But by the time we're allowed to view it - thatawkward 5 a.m., because that's how it lines up with an 8 a.m. EDTlaunch - the event could be decided and we'd already know about itthanks to our Internet machine.
'What? I didn't know that,' Paul Azinger, the 2008 U.S. Cupcaptain and an ESPN analyst tonight, told USA Today when told aboutthe Saturday TV delay. 'I don't even know how to comment.'
It's the Summer Olympics all over again. And this must be the NBCcompromise, after Dick Ebersol couldn't convince the Ryder Cuppeople to actually start their event in the dark with flashlights soit could be in prime time the night before on the East Coast.
9 The NHL's U.S. TV rights with Versus and NBC expire after thisseason, and commissioner Gary Bettman recently said 'we will havediscussions in the not-so-distant future ... we will deal with thenext contracts in the ordinary course.'
What's been ordinary about how the NHL buries its product on TV?And what's to wait for?
'There is a lot of hype and focus on it,' Bettman added. 'We arenot at the stage viewing it with the same level of scrutiny as it'sbeen getting. That's not to say it's not important.'
Read between the lines: Make sure your cable or dish system hasthe National Geographic Channel.
8 An Associated Press report on the Miami Heat's opening oftraining camp this week noted there were about 275 media credentialsgiven out and 'players posed for pictures with some reporters afterpractice, a sight that rarely, if ever, happens in Miami.'
Note to 'reporters:' There's a slight difference between being'embedded' and 'in bed' with the team you cover.
7 A new Deloitte survey shows while plenty of 3D TV sets areready to be sold, 83 percent of the respondents 'agree 3D is notimportant enough to buy a new television.'
And then there's wearing the glasses.
'Aside from possibly being uncomfortable and geeky, they are alsoa barrier to the multitasking that consumers engage in whilewatching TV, including surfing the Web, reading e-mail, talking oninstant message and reading books, newspapers and magazines,' saidDeloitte's Ed Moran in a story on Televisionbroadcast.com.
ESPN's programmers, who spoon-feed the key 18-to-34 maleattention deficit disorder demographic, couldn't factor that inbefore launching its own 3D TV channel?
6 The Lakers begin the 2010-11 season with all the contracts oftheir broadcasters - Joel Meyers and Stu Lantz on TV, Spero Dedesand Mychal Thompson on radio - needing to be renewed, or rejected,moving forward.
5 ESPN's change-over this week to a high-definition broadcast of'Pardon the Interruption' and 'Around the Horn' will be the greatestdeterrent to any future sportswriters aspiring to stroke their egoson TV. Except for Woody Paige.
4 Eric Karros' wide, wild goatee. Not a violation of his Fox MLBcontract?
3 CBS college basketball play-by-play man Gus Johnson, who usesthe catch phrase 'Rise and Fire' to no end, has launched a line of T-shirts with that graphic on it. A version on the NCAA.com storesells for $34.95.
For a 'lightweight ribbed' piece of cotton with short sleeves.
2 FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal writes this week:
'Baseball, due to its refusal to expand instant replay, is headedfor more controversy this postseason. And the sport's powers thatbe, led by commissioner Bud Selig, have no one but themselves toblame.
'Once again, baseball is about to walk straight through a glassdoor. I will not feel sorry for the sport when some blown calloccurs in Game 3 of the World Series and the play is shown to death -not just on all-sports networks but also all-news channels - turningoff even casual fans. ...'
A hint that Fox, which again carries the World Series and isRosenthal's employer, will load up with extra replay machines?
1 Immediately after the Texas Rangers agreed to a new 20-yearextension last week with the local Fox Sports Net channel for areported $1.5 billion, which figures to boost the team's playerpayroll by at least $25 million a year, speculation started abouthow this is a good sign for Dodgers current owner Frank McCourtlooking to line his pockets soon with a cash influx from Fox SportsWest/Prime Ticket.
Unless he goes ahead with a Dodgers' network; DTV is the workingtitle, according to divorce court records.
'Why would Fox be willing to shell out so much for the Rangers inan era when the LosAngeles Dodgers, a bigger market team with a morevaluable product and was once owned by Fox, takes in only about $45million a year for its cable rights?' asked the Dallas Morning News'Barry Horn. 'The answer is simple. Fox has done the math and thinksthe value is there.'
Once Fox does its due diligence with the Dodgers, and sees theMcCourts still are in charge, what value will it find?
WHAT SMOKES
Fox's ability to find a sponsor willing to finance a pushed-upfirst pitch to the third game of the upcoming World Series is astart in the right direction toward making the product more viewer-friendly for future generations. Yet it's hardly a major move, perse - a 3:57 p.m. PT/6:57 p.m. ET for the game set Oct. 30 -considering it's only an hour earlier from every other start time(except Sunday's Game 4, which will wait for the finish of Fox's NFLcoverage). 'We've said over the years that if advertisers werewilling to support earlier starts at prime time levels, we'd be ableto begin games earlier,' Fox Sports president Eric Shanks said in arelease. He noted Chevrolet is the sponsor (with parent-company GMstill 60 percent owned by the U.S. government) that stepped up.
Zenyatta's attempt Saturday at Hollywood Park to win her 19thrace in a row in a final prep for defense of the Breeders' CupClassic in November airs live on ESPN at about 4:10 p.m., busting inon the 'NASCAR Sprint Cup Happy Hour' and the college footballscoreboard shows. Joe Tessitore, Randy Moss, Jerry Bailey, HankGoldberg, Jeannine Edwards and Jay Privman make up the broadcastteam for the Lady's Secret Stakes. ESPN Classic (and ESPN3.com) willbe on live Saturday from 3:30-5 p.m. to do the pre- to post-racecoverage.
WHAT CHOKES
Yup, the Lakers' two practice games in Europe next week are onTV. But make note if you're a KCAL-Channel 9 watcher - it's on aseven-hour delay for both Monday's 7p.m. telecast in London (againstMinnesota) and the Thursday game in Spain (against Barcelona). TheLakers' TV team of Joel Meyers and Stu Lantz will call them, but noton site. They'll be watching on a monitor and adding the dialoguefrom an L.A. studio. The Lakers' radio team of Spero Dedes andMychal Thompson will do the games live for KSPN-AM (710) from thesites. NBA TV also has Monday's game live.
