Media Notes
USA TODAY’s Michael McCarthy writes under the header, “ESPN Gets A Clunker For Cup Opener.” Following ESPN’s telecast yesterday of the caution-marred NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Allstate 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ESPN Senior Motor Sports Producer Neil Goldberg “didn’t second-guess any on-air comments.” Goldberg: “You have to tell it like it is. Everybody saw what happened.” McCarthy writes the highlight of ESPN’s coverage was an audio clip of Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon’s crew chief, “giving his driver a pep talk.” McCarthy: “That’s the kind of inside stuff NASCAR is known for. And other sports should use more of.” However, McCarthy writes the lowlight was a tie between a “guy shouting a profanity during the prerace moment of silence for deceased NASCAR official Steve Peterson” and a clip of a “way-too-slow bird being obliterated by a speeding car” (USA TODAY, 7/28).
SLICE & DICE: In Miami, Barry Jackson reported CBS “has decided to include” Kimbo Slice in its third EliteXC MMA telecast, which will air in primetime on CBS on October 4 from BankAtlantic Center (MIAMI HERALD, 7/26). Meanwhile, a crowd of 6,500 attended Saturday’s EliteXC event at Stockton Arena in California, the promotion's second card that aired on the net. YAHOO SPORTS’ Dave Meltzer wrote the show “was filled with high-action entertaining fights." Meltzer: "While it isn’t expected the card will do the same television rating as the first show, in many ways Saturday’s action was more of a success, with better matches and all four winners looking strong” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/27).
 |
CBS' Coverage Of PGA Tour Canadian
Open Did Not Include Full Third Round |
MISSED SHOT: In Winnipeg, Tim Campbell wrote under the header, “Viewers Demand Mulligan On CBS." The net's broadcast of the PGA Tour RBC Canadian Open Saturday, which was simulcast on Global TV in Canada, “went off the air in the middle of the third round” after weather delays pushed back play. While it “seems an outrage that Canadian golf viewers couldn’t see full coverage of their own national championship on TV Saturday, it’s a fact of life when you’re part of the PGA Tour.” RBC Canadian Open Tournament Dir Bill Paul: “When you’re part of the PGA Tour, you give up that right. It’s not really giving it up, they just own it, all the media rights. … The TV time is 3-6[pm] and any time over is up to the network, and more importantly, the affiliates” (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 7/27).
NOTES: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes it was tough for ESPN/ABC to "pretend that its coverage of the Senior British Open [yesterday] was live when the large clocks at the back of the tee boxes showed a two-hour, 23-minute time difference between here and Scotland.” Also, in the edited-for-time playoff, ABC “didn’t even show the tee shots” on the lone playoff hole (N.Y. POST, 7/28)....In Charlotte, David Poole wrote if ESPN "hired a team of 500 consultants and gave them $500[M] for the project, they could not come up with commercials more annoying than those promoting the network's blasted X Games" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/27).
|
