The State of American Sports Broadcasting - Page 2

tybalt50 · January 5th, 2019, 12:30 AM

My all time favorite example of how any game should be announced was Vin Scully's call of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. He simply pointed out that the ball went through Buckner's legs, and then shut the hell up and let the pictures speak for themselves.

The problem with modern sportscasters is they misheard their teachers in Journalism school, when they were told to report as if the people listening or reading didn't know what you were talking about. Too many "journalists," (sports and other,) take that to mean, "assume your audience is a bunch of morons, and treat them that way."

Add to that the way ESPN has developed the attitude that the people who talk about sports are more important than the people playing sports, and you have the current state of sports journalism.

Gawd! I wish someone would just beat the shit out of Skip Bayliss and Stephen A Smith. (The A stands for asshole.)

Sports journalism has become days of talking about it, and an hour actually showing the game.

Now, if you want to see how sports journalism used to be, read Red Barber or Heywood Broun. OMG!! Barber's reports of baseball games were f'n poetic. And he didn't blather on endlessly. He just told the story.

rarej · January 5th, 2019, 01:59 AM

Frankdobe: Agreed, there will always be talented people within their given positions. It's a shame there aren't more. The gambling angle is also understood. It's a reason that when combined with the 24-hour cycle newscast contributed to this gradual expansion of televised content. With more content breeds less quality.

Otoko: Paul Page, Bobby Unser, and Sam Posey were too good for this world. Back when ABC's wide world of sports actually cared about the Indy 500. Page was also excellent during his tenure with CART on ESPN (of which the teletext font from the channel is permanently burned on my brain). I can still hear his voice from the intro of my favorite video game growing up, Indycar Racing II. That is beside the point, however.

Tybalt: Radio broadcasting requires a good commentator, of course. Without a well-rounded commentator, the listener is at a total loss as to what is happening. This probably the reason I have really begun to listen to radio broadcasts (and it's cheaper).

Since I recently graduated from a journalism school, you definitely have a point there. Many could be considered unqualified but since ESPN has taken to dedicating so much time to only talking about the games, these pundits contribute to the overall "hype" culture (for lack of a better term) that surrounds broadcasting nowadays. Gambling, and the audience it brings to the table, allows for these to continue on since there must be AD revenue coming in.

ShutUpLutz! · January 5th, 2019, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tybalt50

Add to that the way ESPN has developed the attitude that the people who talk about sports are more important than the people playing sports, and you have the current state of sports journalism.

Gawd! I wish someone would just beat the shit out of Skip Bayliss and Stephen A Smith. (The A stands for asshole.)

Sports journalism has become days of talking about it, and an hour actually showing the game.

Now, if you want to see how sports journalism used to be, read Red Barber or Heywood Broun. OMG!! Barber's reports of baseball games were f'n poetic. And he didn't blather on endlessly. He just told the story.

It's unfair to compare Red Barber and Heywood Broun to ESPN/FOX Sports 1. They are entirely different universes.

ESPN and FS1 are on 24/7/365 and ESPN has multiple channels and they have to have content to fill all that time, and that doesn't mean infomericals.

So the accountants sit down with upper management and figure out what the cheapest programming is, and that turns out to be:

1) Sticking a couple of cameras in a radio studio and having a "simulcast" of a sports radio show. With someone like Dan Patrick you spend tens of thousand of dollars decorating the studio to look like THE ULTIMATE MAN CAVE.

2) You have a 'debate show' which means two sports journalists and the occasional retired jock screaming and yelling at each other over the supposed "Hot Topics," of the day, which is often used to gin up some 'fake news" which is then thrown into the other sports shows that air on the various networks and more likely than not will end up on SportsCenter where it gets chewed on even more.

This approach can turn into something rancid and take over the entire network as the saga of Tim Tebow did at ESPN a few years ago. Skip Bayless WOULD NOT shut up about how Tebow was the Greatest QB Ever and the ratings for First Take went up and so the accountants and upper management got together and ESPN literally became All Tebow All the Time.

It should be noted that Bayless and Screamin' A Smith have never done play by play or color commentary.

OldSchool47 · January 5th, 2019, 02:59 AM

Let's cut to the chase. Here's how the next MLB World Series becomes the highest-rated televised sporting event ever. Ted Robinson is the play-by-play guy and Paris and Nicky Hilton are the color commentators. Paris and Nicky are totally nude and 6 times during the broadcast of each game viewers get a 5-second full-frontal view of the gals. 3 Paris and 3 Nicky. The 5-second snippets are unannounced so to see The Goods viewers must glue their eyes to the TV screen the entire game. Freckin' brill. Way better than the Super Bowl halftime circus.

OldSchool47 · January 5th, 2019, 03:38 AM

hyperbole (n.)

"obvious exaggeration in rhetoric," early 15c., from Latin hyperbole, from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond," from hyper- "beyond" (see hyper-) + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam," from bol-, nominative stem of ballein "to throw" (from PIE root *gwele- "to throw, reach"). Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates. Greek had a verb, hyperballein, "to throw over or beyond."

overdo (v.)

Old English oferdon "to do too much," from ofer (see over) + don (see do (v.)). Common Germanic (for example Old High German ubartuan). Meaning "to overtax, exhaust" (especially in phrase to overdo it) is attested from 1817. Of food, "to cook too long," first recorded 1680s (in past-participle adjective overdone).

melodrama (n.)

1784 (1782 as melo drame), "a dramatic composition in which music is used," from French mélodrame (1772), from Greek melos "song" (see melody) + French drame "drama" (see drama).

In early 19th century use, a stage-play (usually romantic and sentimental in plot and incident) in which songs were interspersed and in which the action was accompanied by orchestral music appropriate to the situations. In later use the musical element gradually ceased to be an essential feature of the 'melodrama', and the name now denotes a dramatic piece characterized by sensational incidents and violent appeals to the emotions, but with a happy ending. [OED]
The shift toward "a romantic and sensational dramatic piece with a happy ending" is evident by 1883. Also from French are Spanish melodrama, Italian melodramma, German melodram. Related: Melodramatize.

The melodramatist's task is to get his characters labelled good & wicked in his audience's minds, & to provide striking situations that shall provoke & relieve anxieties on behalf of poetic justice. [Fowler]

Source: https://www.etymonline.com/

SAgentMan · January 5th, 2019, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldSchool47

Source: https://www.etymonline.com/

Cool dictionary.

Peter Principle

1968, "in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence," named for (and by) Laurence Johnston Peter (1919-1990) Canadian-born U.S. educationalist and author, who described it in his book of the same name (1969).

ShutUpLutz! · January 5th, 2019, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tybalt50

My all time favorite example of how any game should be announced was Vin Scully's call of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. He simply pointed out that the ball went through Buckner's legs, and then shut the hell up and let the pictures speak for themselves.

The problem with modern sportscasters is they misheard their teachers in Journalism school, when they were told to report as if the people listening or reading didn't know what you were talking about. Too many "journalists," (sports and other,) take that to mean, "assume your audience is a bunch of morons, and treat them that way."

Add to that the way ESPN has developed the attitude that the people who talk about sports are more important than the people playing sports, and you have the current state of sports journalism.

Actually ESPN made a distinct point of curbing and even not renewing the contracts of certain Sportscenter anchors that the management felt were thinking of themselves as the attraction, rather than the highlights. The obvious example of this is Chris Berman, but he's been there forever and it could be argued helped the network achieve the dominance that it did, so he got a lot of slack, plus he wasn't on the air all that much really, except during the NFL season and for the Home Run Derrby.

Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick are two more who I won't go so far as to think they were bigger than the show, but watching the smugness that Patrick does his radio/tv show now, his ego certainly has gotten bigger. Olbermann is his own special case. With him it' a truly ferocious intelligence and couple that with the belief that he had ideas on how to make The Big Show better that weren't aligned with management and he didn't just burn bridges, he nuked the county. And his tendency not to get along well with others is what killed his MSNBC jobs, and put him out in the wilderness. His show Olbermann was good, but he ran into upper management again with his commentaries on Goddell and the NFL, whose dongs ESPN has been deepthroating for over 25 years. Now he's back doing the occasional Sportscenter and some baseball stuff.

There really isn't anyone at ESPN at least on air wise with the whole, "I'm bigger than the network," attirude anymore, but there are other issues with Screamin' A Smith and First Take.

The thing is, sports fans are fucking morons. They truly have zero idea how the NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL works in terms of training/contracts and money. The NFL, specifically the coaching staffs don't help at all treating everything about their prep as more important and secretive than the goddamn Manhattan Project. Anytime you hear some sports talk radio caller say some variation of, "(Insert name of player here) gets paid too much, I'D PLAY FOR FREE," and you find yourself nodding in agreement/saying "Fuck yeah!!!!" take a step back and think about what that would actually mean if you were playing in the NFL, as a starter for no money. No signing bonus, no contract, nothing. You can't collect unemployment because you have a job, you don't have money to pay rent and your teammates will get pissed at you sponging off them and crashing on their couch. And you can't go and get a job at Burger King or whatever because you have to spend 30-40 hours a week at practice/in meetings/training.

OldSchool47 · January 5th, 2019, 06:02 AM

I liked Dan Patrick and Craig Kilborn when they were ESPN anchors. Never liked Olbermann and Berman. Ted Robinson is my favorite play-by-play guy.

**FrankDobe** · January 5th, 2019, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

Paul Page , Bobby Unser and Sam Posey were a brilliant combination.

ABCs Wide World of Sports' coverage of motor sports entered the strastosphere
when they hired Jackie Stewart to do "color" or "sideline" reporting. I remember him walking through a fan area on the middle of an oval track somewhere. he came across a group of motor sports fans playing cards and there was some money on the table. he said with his great accent "I wouldn't leave that money there with a Scotsman ( himself ) walking around." classic line but sadly one that would probably get him in trouble today.

**FrankDobe** · January 5th, 2019, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShutUpLutz!

Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick are two more who I won't go so far as to think they were bigger than the show, but watching the smugness that Patrick does his radio/tv show now, his ego certainly has gotten bigger. Olbermann is his own special case. With him it' a truly ferocious intelligence and couple that with the belief that he had ideas on how to make The Big Show better that weren't aligned with management and he didn't just burn bridges, he nuked the county. And his tendency not to get along well with others is what killed his MSNBC jobs, and put him out in the wilderness. His show Olbermann was good, but he ran into upper management again with his commentaries on Goddell and the NFL, whose dongs ESPN has been deepthroating for over 25 years. Now he's back doing the occasional Sportscenter and some baseball stuff.

There really isn't anyone at ESPN at least on air wise with the whole, "I'm bigger than the network," attirude anymore, but there are other issues with Screamin' A Smith and First Take.

The thing is, sports fans are fucking morons. They truly have zero idea how the NFL/NBA/MLB/NHL works in terms of training/contracts and money.

Berman, Olberman, Patrick, now Bob Lee have gone beyond commentating and reporter to that of the old Walter Cronkite role of editorial commentator and for sure some of them rub some people the wrong way.
The majority of sports fans certainly do have intelligence issues and you pointed out sports talk radio is where they exhibit their stupidity on a daily basis. For example, "go ahead caller-yeah uhmmm I think the Lakers should trade Lonzo Ball for Anthony Davis." And you're right-the vast majority have NO idea of the financial end. They actually think people sitting in the stadiums and arenas are PAYING the entire salaries of their players ! Look at the Red Sox. Their park holds say 35,000 people and they play 81 games there. Call the tickets 50 bucks a piece. That's just under 142 million. Each visiting team gets a piece of the gate plus the costs of running the park. No, true revenue is derived from TV, and the cycle returns...."hi this is Steve A and Skip Bayless...." ughh

January 5th, 2019, 12:30 AM	#11
tybalt50 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 182 Thanks: 136 Thanked 1,617 Times in 181 Posts	My all time favorite example of how any game should be announced was Vin Scully's call of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. He simply pointed out that the ball went through Buckner's legs, and then shut the hell up and let the pictures speak for themselves. The problem with modern sportscasters is they misheard their teachers in Journalism school, when they were told to report as if the people listening or reading didn't know what you were talking about. Too many "journalists," (sports and other,) take that to mean, "assume your audience is a bunch of morons, and treat them that way." Add to that the way ESPN has developed the attitude that the people who talk about sports are more important than the people playing sports, and you have the current state of sports journalism. Gawd! I wish someone would just beat the shit out of Skip Bayliss and Stephen A Smith. (The A stands for asshole.) Sports journalism has become days of talking about it, and an hour actually showing the game. Now, if you want to see how sports journalism used to be, read Red Barber or Heywood Broun. OMG!! Barber's reports of baseball games were f'n poetic. And he didn't blather on endlessly. He just told the story.

January 5th, 2019, 01:59 AM	#12
rarej Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Posts: 6 Thanks: 688 Thanked 61 Times in 6 Posts	Frankdobe: Agreed, there will always be talented people within their given positions. It's a shame there aren't more. The gambling angle is also understood. It's a reason that when combined with the 24-hour cycle newscast contributed to this gradual expansion of televised content. With more content breeds less quality. Otoko: Paul Page, Bobby Unser, and Sam Posey were too good for this world. Back when ABC's wide world of sports actually cared about the Indy 500. Page was also excellent during his tenure with CART on ESPN (of which the teletext font from the channel is permanently burned on my brain). I can still hear his voice from the intro of my favorite video game growing up, Indycar Racing II. That is beside the point, however. Tybalt: Radio broadcasting requires a good commentator, of course. Without a well-rounded commentator, the listener is at a total loss as to what is happening. This probably the reason I have really begun to listen to radio broadcasts (and it's cheaper). Since I recently graduated from a journalism school, you definitely have a point there. Many could be considered unqualified but since ESPN has taken to dedicating so much time to only talking about the games, these pundits contribute to the overall "hype" culture (for lack of a better term) that surrounds broadcasting nowadays. Gambling, and the audience it brings to the table, allows for these to continue on since there must be AD revenue coming in.

January 5th, 2019, 02:59 AM	#14
OldSchool47 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 306 Thanks: 129 Thanked 3,044 Times in 299 Posts	Let's cut to the chase. Here's how the next MLB World Series becomes the highest-rated televised sporting event ever. Ted Robinson is the play-by-play guy and Paris and Nicky Hilton are the color commentators. Paris and Nicky are totally nude and 6 times during the broadcast of each game viewers get a 5-second full-frontal view of the gals. 3 Paris and 3 Nicky. The 5-second snippets are unannounced so to see The Goods viewers must glue their eyes to the TV screen the entire game. Freckin' brill. Way better than the Super Bowl halftime circus.

January 5th, 2019, 03:38 AM	#15
OldSchool47 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 306 Thanks: 129 Thanked 3,044 Times in 299 Posts	hyperbole (n.) "obvious exaggeration in rhetoric," early 15c., from Latin hyperbole, from Greek hyperbole "exaggeration, extravagance," literally "a throwing beyond," from hyper- "beyond" (see hyper-) + bole "a throwing, a casting, the stroke of a missile, bolt, beam," from bol-, nominative stem of ballein "to throw" (from PIE root gwele- "to throw, reach"). Rhetorical sense is found in Aristotle and Isocrates. Greek had a verb, hyperballein, "to throw over or beyond." overdo (v.)* Old English oferdon "to do too much," from ofer (see over) + don (see do (v.)). Common Germanic (for example Old High German ubartuan). Meaning "to overtax, exhaust" (especially in phrase to overdo it) is attested from 1817. Of food, "to cook too long," first recorded 1680s (in past-participle adjective overdone). melodrama (n.) 1784 (1782 as melo drame), "a dramatic composition in which music is used," from French mélodrame (1772), from Greek melos "song" (see melody) + French drame "drama" (see drama). In early 19th century use, a stage-play (usually romantic and sentimental in plot and incident) in which songs were interspersed and in which the action was accompanied by orchestral music appropriate to the situations. In later use the musical element gradually ceased to be an essential feature of the 'melodrama', and the name now denotes a dramatic piece characterized by sensational incidents and violent appeals to the emotions, but with a happy ending. [OED] The shift toward "a romantic and sensational dramatic piece with a happy ending" is evident by 1883. Also from French are Spanish melodrama, Italian melodramma, German melodram. Related: Melodramatize. The melodramatist's task is to get his characters labelled good & wicked in his audience's minds, & to provide striking situations that shall provoke & relieve anxieties on behalf of poetic justice. [Fowler] Source: https://www.etymonline.com/

January 5th, 2019, 06:02 AM	#18
OldSchool47 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 306 Thanks: 129 Thanked 3,044 Times in 299 Posts	I liked Dan Patrick and Craig Kilborn when they were ESPN anchors. Never liked Olbermann and Berman. Ted Robinson is my favorite play-by-play guy.