Tag: Media

10 things ESPN TV doesn’t need

My list of ten things that ESPN could get rid of and would make me a happier (and more attentive) viewer:

  1. NASCAR
  2. Spelling bees (as much as I enjoy them)
  3. Poker Tournaments
  4. Sports demagogues for analysts/broadcasters (I was going to name names but this about covers it)
  5. Talk shows with the word Damn in them
  6. Diamond-cams and the like
  7. In-game interviews with the managers/coaches/etc
  8. ANY talk show show where decibel level is louder than the street work being done outside.
  9. Dog shows (again, I can enjoy them especially when I watch them with my 9 year old daughter
 just please, not on a premier sport network)
  10. Chris Berman, (I lied in #4.)

What’s on your list?

‘Bored’ Ozzie makes baseball a little more interesting

As a Cub fan, one would expect that I would have a dislike for Ozzie Guillen.  Not necessarily so.  Oh sometimes I can’t stand him.  Other times, he does things that make me stand up and applaud.

Then there are these times when he talks to the press and I just smile:

"I’m always bored," Guillen said. "I’m not playing. You’re sitting around for seven innings. My game starts in the sixth [or] seventh inning. That’s when you see me look around the stands a lot, because you play this game for that many years and coach it and be there for that many years and you’re just managing, it’s a boring game all day for me."

I may not like exactly what Ozzie said but I appreciate the fact that he speaks his mind.  Twenty-nine other managers talk to the press and toe the company line and use pre-approved clichĂ©s.  When the media puts a mike in front of Ozzie, he makes baseball a little more interesting for us.

Oh no doubt you’ll here those in the media respond to this.  They’ll recoil in horror and say, “How could he say such a thing?”. 

Let’s face it
 to some degree, he’s saying what a lot of the other managers are probably thinking. 

2009 All-Star Game: from a fan who remembers when the NL used to be good

Thirteen proved to be an unlucky number for the National League as once again, they need to wait another year.  The American League defeated them 4-3 Tuesday in a tight game decided by good bullpen pitching and clutch hitting. 

Bleacher Report live blogged the whole affair if the want all the details in its sordid glory.

A few of the subplots:

Overall, FOX averaged an estimated 12.32 million viewers to go with a 7.5 rating/13 share. NBC’s 5.7/10 was second, topping the 4.8/8 for CBS. ABC’s 2.7/5 and The CW’s 0.5/1 trailed.

2010 is a new year and a new decade.  I can feel a NL victory
 maybe.

Update:  just to prove that you can use stats to prove any point, while FOX’ ratings WERE better than any in their slot, they did slip a bit from last year.  Down 4% from last year’s game. 

MLB games come to Boxee

Good news for baseball fans who use Boxee. MLB games will be coming to Boxee, the streaming video service.

mlbboxee

From the Boxee blog:

We are excited to announce a partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB.com) to offer MLB.TV Premium to boxee users.

MLB.TV Premium on boxee means you can now watch thousands of baseball games, live and on-demand in HD (where available). on top of that, MLB.TV Premium offers DVR functionality to pause and rewind a live game. MLB.com represents a big step for boxee as we hope this is the first of many different live sports offerings we can bring to you. We hope other sports follow MLB.com’s lead of giving fans a choice of how they enjoy watching their favorite teams
.

I’ve never used Boxee but if anyone does, I’d love to hear how well this works once it gets up and running.

Manny, PEDs and the media

It’s interesting to me, in light of Manny Ramirez’ suspension for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), how certain media elements are handling the story.  While some like ESPN or Sports Illustrated are taking a more hard line approach, MLB.com not surprisingly is towing the company line and taking a more conciliatory approach. 

Compare these two articles that came out the day the suspension was announced, one from Sports Illustrated and the other from MLB.com.

Both are factual and to my knowledge, accurate.   However, the SI makes some clear or at least implied allegations that go beyond Mr Ramirez:

Ramirez is the first major star to be suspended under baseball’s stricter drug-testing rules that went into effect in 2003. Until now, baseball and the players union have portrayed drug use as having been nearly eradicated in the past few years, pointing out that the major drug-related stories — involving Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and the revelations in the Mitchell Report — involved drug use prior to the 2003 tightening of the program.

It’s also interesting to note the tone of the headlines of “Related Articles” from SI.  Manny saga no longer funny, the sarcastic Didn’t see this one coming and Do you buy Ramirez’ excuse?

MLB.com’s initial article, predictably and I guess blamelessly, has a very official and almost apologetic tone to it.  There are quotes from Ramirez about his “doctor’s excuse “ and his statement of apology to the owner of the Dodgers; Joe Torre, his teammates and of course, the fans. 

We also read the requisite statements from other baseball officials on how “saddened” they are. 

Links to other articles on MLB.com point to official documents such as Major League’s official drug policy and the official statements by Ramirez and the player’s union and the MLB. And more articles about how others are sad about this
. but not angry. 

Where am I going with this?  Do I think MLB is evil because they don’t tell the whole story or because they sugar coat the issue?  Not really.  Do I think ESPN, USA Today Sports and others are the bastions of sports freedom because the speak the truth?  HARDLY. 

Just this and maybe it’s painfully obvious, baseball fans need to diversify their sports news input.  Since MLB.com obviously has direct access to the information, it’s a great place to go for the hard facts like stats, boxscores, game wrapups etc.  But for good analysis, I’ll read the columnists on the more independent (but not as independent as I’d like) media outlets. 

But for straight out-and-out opinions, I’ll read the blogs.

Quit messin’ wit’ my box scores

BoxScore7

With the advent of the digital era, we as baseball fans now have a bevy of sports information at our fingertips.  We have baseball data galore, streaming video, analysis all of it coming to our screen even to our mobile devices. 

That was pretty apparent when I was standing next to three Cub fans at the Illinois game last Saturday.  Between pitches, they would refresh their smart phones so they could check on the progress of the Cubs-Cardinals game. 

Unfortunately, with progress in one area, we step back in one or two others.  Do a search on “Where are the box scores?” in your favorite search engine and you’ll find more than a smattering of articles or even letters to the editors complaining about newspapers no longer printing box scores in their sports section. 

An argument can be made which I will not refute that print newspapers have seen better days and are on their decline.  Whether their demise is here and now, is quite debatable.  And not doubt it’s true, a lot of newspapers in smaller markets have legitimate financial reasons to cut back on sports coverage.

Also interesting are those newspaper outlets who still print or post boxscores on their web site and use it as a marketing tool.  Like Freep.com.  No, they’re not like those other papers.  

Even among web-delivered stats and box scores there has been a trade-off.  For years, I’ve enjoyed the USA Today’s section for one simple reason
 in years past, they’ve displayed their box scores in a one-page format.  A year or two ago, they “enhanced” it slightly but it only required one click to expand all box scores. 

But the full box scores page on UST is no longer.  They’ve taken the “Box Scores” link down.  Unless, I’m missing something, they no longer do that forcing us web browsers to click back and forth for each game. 

The reason is simple from USA Today’s (and ESPN’s and MLB.com’s etc) perspective.  It means more click-throughs and more ad views and therefore more ad revenue.  

Maybe I’m being picky.  But my time is valuable and I’d just as soon scroll down a page.  I will give USA Today credit for keeping their Stats by Team in a one-page format for each league.  That is still pretty handy. 

Quit messin’ wit’ the box scores.  Analysis is great but it’s only opinion.  Box scores are the reality of baseball.

MLB signs with IntelSat for International baseball access for ’09

MLB International signed a deal with a major provider of satellite services to provide streaming access to MLB games for next season.  MLBI signed the contract with IntelSat, Ltd. for an undisclosed amount. 

This comes at the heels of a deal between MLB Advanced Media and ESPN which will provide live streaming of games to fans also for next year.  The ESPN deal did not extend to some international realms.  The deal with IntelSat seems to answer that need.

"Major League Baseball enjoys an avid fan base around the world, and we are continually seeking ways to increase the profile of the franchise. As we continue to increase our distribution, we chose Intelsat because it offered us a seamless, one-platform solution for our international broadcasting needs," said Russell Gabay, Vice President and Executive Producer, International Broadcasting. "The Intelsat satellites provide coverage and access to video neighborhoods that help us expand distribution of our programs."

As I’ve said before, time will tell how this all will play out for the average fan.  This won’t be free and given MLB’s actions in the past, it won’t be cheap either.

Media coverage on Illini Johnson

The Rochester Post-Bulletin has a nice writeup on Illini catcher Aaron Johnson who is spending his summer playing for the Rochester Honkers. 

Haha, I love this bit:

“Aaron likes to complain, not in a bad way, but in a loud way,” Honkers manager Jason Plourde said with a grin.

“If the movie’s not right on the bus, for example, he’ll be the one grumbling, ‘God I hate this movie!'”

Reportedly, it’s his defense that is wowing everyone up north.  For a catcher, that’s good news.