Gerald Riggs fumbled a bit past 4:15 EDT Sunday. Through the magic of television, he fumbled again on CBS at 4:17, twice at 4:18 and at 4:19. Later that evening, he kept fumbling, nearly two dozen times on Channels 4, 5, 7 and 9. He fumbled on all of the Baltimore news stations, …
What does it take to join the new NBC Sports? Its NFL coverage now includes O.J. Simpson (the running back of the ‘70s), Bobby Beathard (the executive of the ‘80s) and Bill Walsh (the coach of the ‘80s). Not exactly broadcast journalists by trade, but Executive Producer Terry O’Neil figures they’re the fresh …
NBC Practices ABCs: Analysis and Banal Commentary Read More »
Baseball’s storied “Game of the Week” is dead after Saturday. It will not be missed. Baseball’s “Game of the Night” begins in 1990 on ESPN. It will be a can’t-miss hit. For the past 33 years, the “Game of the Week” has been a Saturday afternoon fixture on network …
In the National Football League, the TV apple cart is about to be turned over. Whoever picks up the apples—and they are quite expensive—could determine how viewers get the NFL for years to come. In an increasingly complex and dizzying sports television universe, the NFL has been an oasis of stability …
Thanks to Cable, Window of Opportunity Is Open Wide for the NF Read More »
But in defeat, the Giants might have won a couple of postgame battles: they made sure that some TV and radio sports directors and newspaper sports editors will at least think twice before sending women into their locker room again and that one local radio reporter knew where he stood the next time …
Equal Access Merely Means Unequal Abuse to the Giants Read More »
He reported that running back Joe Cribbs would return to the Buffalo Bills. Cribbs denied it. He reported that the FBI was investigating the major league umpires union’s handling of its money. The umpires denied it. He reported that the Sullivan family was interested in selling the New England …
King Just Reports What He Hears, And Then Ducks as Denials Pour In Read More »
If Bud Greenspan worked for ABC Sports, which is about as likely as Sylvester Stallone making English-language films, the network of the Olympics might actually cover them as well as they promote them. “I could never make it at the network,” said Greenspan, who describes commercial sports television as “an industry …
For the past generation, Cosell has shadowed, sometimes overshadowed, the American sports scene for ABC. As a broadcast journalist, he has had no equal in sports. While most easily linked to Muhammad Ali, boxing and “Monday Night Football,” Cosell’s indelible mark on the sports landscape has been established by his singular pursuit of …
Howard Cosell: He Still Is the One Telling It Like It Is Read More »
Out on the court, the principals would be Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin. And over in the WTTG-TV-5 broadcasting both, Rich Chvotkin and Bernie Smilovitz. Rich Chvotkin and Bernie Smilovitz? Certainly one of the broadcasting’s most bizarre combos, if in name only. (Better they be broadcasters than partners in a law …
Thompson finally blows his whistle and calls out, “Freddie, get over here!” He rests his hands on the player’s shoulders as he berates him gently, consoles him and then, with a gentle pat on the rear, sends the player back onto the court. Is it John Thompson the coach, or is …
