Monthly Archives: April 2011
Cast of Journalism Stars Tapped to Write for Simmons’ Grantland
The new ESPN-driven website for Bill Simmons has a name, and a staff to go along with it.
The new site, which has been in the works by Simmons and the WWL for quite some time, will be called Grantland, named after legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice.
Simmons will be the Editor-in-Chief, overseeing a staff of editors and writers in what is being billed as a sports and pop culture website. Former GQ and Entertainment Weekly Senior Editor Dan Fierman will be the lead editor on the site.
Among the consulting editors will be Chuck Klosterman, Malcom Gladwell, and Dave Eggers. Here are some of the feature writers..
- Michael Weinreb, author of the much-acclaimed books Bigger Than the Game and Game of Kings, as well as a feature writer for ESPN.com’s E-Ticket and GQ;
- Katie Baker, a contributor to the New York Times Magazine, Deadspin, Gawker, and Mediaite.com, who worked for Goldman Sachs for six years before deciding to write full-time;
- Molly Lambert, a popular blogger and most recently the managing editor of This Recording;
- Chris Ryan, who has written about soccer for GQ, The Village Voice, and the Wall Street Journal;
- Robert Mays III, an award-winning feature writer, who most recently worked at the Boston Globe;
- Bill Barnwell, managing editor of Football Outsider and a statistical consultant for Major League Baseball, who has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and ESPN The Magazine.
- Patrice Evans, creator of The Assimilated Negro (TAN) blog and author of the forthcoming book Negropedia. He has contributed to The New York Times, Gawker, EbonyJet.com and other major outlets.
Simmons from the ESPN press release:
“I grew up loving The National, Spy Magazine and Inside Sports,” said Simmons, who authored the No. 1 New York Times bestseller, The Book of Basketball, and was a co-creator of ESPN’s Peabody Award winning series 30 for 30. “Those three publications meant an inordinate amount to me, and I’m hoping that people will feel the same about this site.
“As we planned it over the last 18 months, my No. 1 goal was to figure out how to capture the spirit and creativity of 30 for 30 and transfer it to a website. We wanted original voices, and we found a bunch of them already. We’re going to take chances, come up with a few premises and ideas that you haven’t seen before, and be consistently entertaining day after day. You will never know what to expect when you come to the site – in a good way. That’s our ultimate goal.”
I have always been neutral about Simmons’ work, while others have strong opinions. Being and old school journalist I love the name and await the site’s launch.
SMJ Inbox- April 28, 2011
Since I’ve been back from vacation I haven’t had time for a look at what’s in the Sports Media Journal inbox. We’ll do so today. Some of the material may be a day or two old…so be it…
Second Round coverage of the playoffs begins tonight on Versus with Game 1 of the series between the Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks. NBC begins its second round coverage Saturday with Game 1 of the Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers.
Big Ratings Number for the NHL on NBC Sports Group- The NBC Sports Group reports that ratings for the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on its properties were up 22 percent over 2010. Versus saw ratings which were the highest NHL Playoffs on cable in 17 years. NBC numbers were the best for network coverage of the NHL post season first round in seven years.
TNT Seeing Great Ratings Numbers In Early NBA Playoff Coverage- TNT is reporting that it’s average rating thus far in it’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs is 2.7, up 29% over 2010 levels. The average viewer number of 4.3 million is up 33% from 2010. Turner Sports also reports that viewership is also up among all key demographics.
ESPN to Produce Centennial Moments to Commemorate 100th Anniversary of Indianapolis 500- Beginning May 1st, ESPN SportsCenter will air video segments looking back at some of the great moments from the Indianapolis 500, which will celebrate its 100th Anniversary this year. This year’s race will air on ABC on May 29th.
NBC Sports Group Preps for Coverage of the Kentucky Derby- The NBC Sports Group will be providing 14 hours of Kentucky Derby coverage over Versus and NBC. Coverage on Versus begins May 4th. The Kentucky Derby will air on NBC Saturday, May 7th beginning at 4pm ET.
MLB and NASCAR This Saturday on Fox- Fox has unveiled it’s weekend sports line-up, with the Fox Saturday MLB Game of the Week featuring the St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves which will be seen in 52% of the country. Kenny Albert and Mark Grace will have the call. 25% of the country will have Josh Lewin and Eric Karros on the call of the Los Angeles Angels at Tampa Bay Rays while the rest of the country will view the New York Mets at Philadelphia Phillies with Matt Vasgersian, Tim McCarver, and Ken Rosenthal calling the action. Game time is 1pm ET.
At 7:00pm ET Fox will bring live coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from the Richmond Motor Speedway.
ESPN has Roundtable Discussions on Top 20 College Football Teams Heading Into New Season- ESPN’s College Football Live will feature special roundtable discussions on the status of the preseason top 20. The first program will air Monday, May 2nd at 3:30pm ET. The last of the 20 shows will air Friday, May 27th.
ESPN Announces Announcing Team for FIFA Women’s World Cup- Ian Darke and Julie Foudy will serve as the lead commentators for ESPN’s coverage later this summer of the 2011 Women’s FIFA World Cup to be held in Germany. Darke played a lead role in the WWL’s coverage of the 2010 Men’s World Cup in South Africa while Foudy will serve as the lead analyst for her second Women’s World Cup.
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 53- “Scooter” Vertino, NBA Digital
After a week off we are back with the Sports Media Weekly Podcast.
Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and I begin our discussion looking at the contract renewal between the NHL and the NBC Sports Group. The new agreement will keep pro hockey on the NBC properties through the 2020-2021 season.
We also look at the 2011 NFL schedule which was announced last week, with a skeptical eye as to whether there will be a season or not.
We also look at the prospects of which networks are in the running for a potential PAC 12 Network, and the ratings over the first 10 days of the NBA Playoffs.
Our Guest this week is Albert “Scooter” Vertino, vice president of content for NBA Digital at Turner Sports. Vertino discusses his days as a producer of NBA basketball at Turner Sports as well as how he now organizes content for the varied online properties under his supervision.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
NBA Playoffs on ABC See Ratings Boost
ESPN is reporting that the three NBA Playoff telecasts on ABC thus far this season have seen viewer increases of 27% over last year.
The three post season broadcasts have averaged 5.8 million viewers, up from 4.6 million viewers in 2010. The average rating of 3.7 is 23% higher than the 3.0 number from last year.
Meanwhile ESPN3.com has seen the total consumption of NBA playoff minutes online jump 281% over 2010. There is also a 27% increase in daily unique visitors to the site since April 16th.
ESPN Mobile TV’s NBA section is also seeing an 57% increase in daily unique visitors over last year.
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 52- Tim Britton, Providence Journal
Time for another edition of the Sports Media Weekly Podcast.
Ken Fang at Fang’s Bites and I talk about the new ESPN Front Row website which is ESPN’s effort to blog about the behind-the-scenes action at the WWL.
In conjunction with that we also discuss the new ombudsman relationship at ESPN with the Poynter Institute.
We then look at the early stages of the 2011 baseball season with our favotite local and national baseball announcers.
We do have a guest this week. We talk with Tim Britton, Boston Red Sox beat reporter for the Providence Journal.
NOTE: We will not produce a podcast next week. We will return the week of April 25th.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
