Monthly Archives: April 2009
What They’re Saying- April 24th, 2009
Here are what some of the sports media columnists from across the country are writing this Friday…
Neil Best at Newsday does a marathon viewing of the MLB Network…
Phil Mushnick at the NY Post questions the questions being ask of the Mets by SNY broadcasters…Justin Terranova talks Yanks-Sox with Tim McCarver…He also has 5 questions for Herm Edwards…
Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald looks at how ESPN and the NFL Network will cover this weekend’s NFL Draft…
Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake City Deseret News says the Jazz are getting the appropriate criticis, from NBA analysts this playoff season…
Ray Buck at the Fort Worth Star Telegram has some Mavericks’ media notes in his Friday column..
Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star looks at the early work of new Dodgers voice Eric Collins…
Tom Hoffarth at the LA Daily News looks at how the NFL Draft analysts size up USC quarterback Mark Sanchez…
Diane Pucin at the LA Times says there is too much talk leading up to the NFL Draft…
John Maffei at the North County Times talks about how much former Chiefs coach Herm Edwards will add to ESPN’s draft coverage…
Jay Posner at the San Diego Union Tribune says that no news is good news when it comes to new Padres TV voice Mark Neely…
Mel Bracht at the Oklahoman gives us his preview of the NFL Draft coverage…Mel also has his weekly local media notes…
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Setinel looks at improving NBA ratings for ABC…
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell at the Boston Globe notes that local sports personality Michael Felger is adding more to his plate…
Deadlines Now Mean Bad News for Sports Fans
This post should be filed under the category of “why bother”…
Even with the financial obstacles facing the newspaper industry, you would think their priority is, first and foremost, continuing to produce a timely, professional product. Well that’s not necessarily the case. And the readers are the ones who are suffering.
I live in Rhode Island, where the Providence Journal is the paper of record. I rarely read the printed paper anymore but still read their news online. The changes they have made to their production of the paper over the last year has been nothing less than an insult to readers, especially those of the sports page.
What They’re Saying- April 17th, 2009
It’s been quite the week in sports media, highlighted by the passing of Harry Kalas and the retirement of John Madden. Let’s see what some of the print newspaper sports media columnists have in their paper today…
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has some local numbers from last week’s Masters.
Bill Doyle at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette talks with Celtics play-by-play man Mike Gorman on how the networks have taken away coverage of the NBA Playoffs away from the local clubs…
Mel Bracht at the Oklahoman gives us his take on the Madden retirement…
Diane Pucin at the LA Times looks at the Madden retirement, and the elevation of Cris Collinsworth to take his spot at NBC.
More on Madden by Jay Posner at the San Diego Union Tribune…
Tom Jones at the St. Petersberg Times give sus his 2 cents on Madden stepping down…
As does Ray Frager at the Baltimore Sun. I like the eBay, bus reference in the first line…
Speaking of bus rides, John Maffei at the North County Times hints that the weekly cross country travel was a factor in Madden’s retirement…
Tom Hoffarth at the LA Daily News shares his views on Madden’s career…Hoffarth has even more reaction to Madden…
Here’s a piece by Judd Zulgad at the Minneapolis Star Tribune…
And another on Madden from Ray Buck at the Forth Worth Star Telegram…
Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald talks about Madden and the subsequent moves needed to be made at NBC…
Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post Dispatch has his take on Madden…As well as a story on the HD offerings for Blues fans this playoff season…
Before talking about Madden, Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake City Desert News criticizes local television broadcasters for being homers…
In New York Phil Mushnick at the NY Post has head enough out of Mets’ analyst Keith Hernandez…Justin Terranova talks NHL Playoffs with MSG analyst Joe Micheletti. He also has 5 questions for the MLB Network’s Jim Kaat…
Neil Best at Newsday writes about how television sight lines in the new Yankee Stadium are less than perfect…
Ken Fang at Fang’s Bites talks with author Curt Smith on the passing of Harry Kalas…
Dave Darling at the Orlando Sentinel gives us his best sports television moments on the day of his last column. All the best Dave!
ESPNChicago and the Future of Local Sports Coverage
ESPNChicago launched this week to some mixed reviews — not of its content, which should still be the quality ESPN coverage you’re used to, but it’s existence at all.
Deadspin writer Dashiell Bennett’s wonders why we need this at all. Don’t newspapers already cover this? Isn’t this just “co-opting” what they do? Dan Shanoff, on the other hand, thinks it’s a great idea, wondering (the obvious question) why don’t they do this for all major sports cities?
Connecting to Harry Kalas
Longtime Philadelphia broadcaster Harry Kalas died unexpectedly yesterday in Washington at the age of 73. You can get complete coverage of the circumstances of his death and the reaction to it over at Philly.com.
Even though I am not a fan of the Philadelphia sports scene, when I heard the news of Kalas’ passing, I felt incredibly sad for the people of that city.
Sports fans today cannot appreciate how those in my era and earlier grew-up connected to their teams through their announcers. In New England I hung on every word of Ned Martin, Ken Coleman, and now Joe Castilione (Red Sox), Johnny Most (Celtics) and Fred Cuisick (Bruins). They were the teams for me. For Philadelphians Kalas was the team.
For those of you new to the site I grew up wanting to be a network play-by-play announcer. I got the bug after watching the Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. I knew I could never play baseball, but maybe I could call the game. Curt Gowdy (another former Red Sox announcer) was my idol. This was my way to be part of the team.
I also couldn’t wait to watch the NFL Game of the Week produced by NFL Films. To this day I try to catch some of the relays on NFL Network. Back then the Patriots were not a winning team. I was attracted to the program because of the announcers, John Facenda and Harry Kalas. The writing for these shows may have been good, but it was the voices of Facenda and Kalas that made them great. Many growing up in the 70′s and 80′s were connected to the NFL through Facenda and Kalas.
You don’t get many announcers like Kalas any more. Announcers of professional sports teams today rarely hang on in one place for an entire career. The quality of many of these announcers are also not up to the level of Kalas and his peers. Fans today cannot connect with their teams the way I did.
As much as I embrace the evolution of how we get our information, it’s equally sad to see the connections of the past go away. Harry Kalas was one of those connections. Rest in Peace.
