Un-four-gettable: Favre/Rodgers Comparisons Dominate "MNF"
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Rodgers Unable To Shake Favre Comparisons
On Packers' "MNF" Opener Against Vikings |
ESPN's "MNF" season debut featured Vikings-Packers in QB Aaron Rodgers' first start since the Packers traded QB Brett Favre to the Jets, but on a night that was supposed to "usher in the Rodgers Era, we had to hear seemingly endless comparisons between the two quarterbacks" by "MNF" analyst Tony Kornheiser, according to Chris Mottram of SPORTINGNEWS.com. Kornheiser constantly compared the two during the first half, and Mottram wrote, "Sometime during the half, I think Kornheiser got the memo to pipe down with the Favre nonsense, because at some point, he stopped comparing every move Rodgers made to No. 4" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 9/8). After Rodgers threw a touchdown pass in the second quarter while under heavy pressure, Kornheiser said, “Let me state the obvious before anyone else does. You saw Rodgers on that play almost get hit, make one move, basically falling down, make that kind of play.” ESPN’s Ron Jaworski: “I know what you’re going to say!” Kornheiser: “Well does it? Does it remind you of him at all?” Jaworski: "That was Favre-like, okay. Are you happy now?” Prior to the second half kickoff, ESPN's Mike Tirico said to Kornheiser, "I’m going to put a Favre moratorium on the second half. You’re limited to five mentions” ("MNF," ESPN, 9/8). FANIQ.com writes, "The extent to which Kornheiser played his game of compare and contrast was almost nauseating" (FANIQ.com, 9/9). THE BIG LEAD writes if Kornheiser "didn't take himself so seriously, he would show up to PTI wearing a Favre jersey today" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 9/9).
TUESDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK: In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley lists some of his "hits and misses" from ESPN's "MNF" regular-season debut broadcast. Wolfley notes ESPN's "super slow-motion replays of key plays" and writes, "What a terrific gadget, which lets us watch football's real speed in another dimension." Another positive was that "no one dropped into the booth for a stupid celebrity interview." However, ESPN's Emmitt Smith "still seems overmatched in his role as a studio analyst," as there are "too many hitches, double-clutches, feints, hesitations" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 9/9). THE BIG LEAD asks, "Why doesn't ESPN show viewers the down and distance at all times?" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 9/9).
BEAR-LY BREATHING: NBC's “Sunday Night Football” coveage of Bears-Colts earned an 11.2/18 national Nielsen rating, down 3.4% from a 11.6/19 for the Giants-Cowboys "SNF" Week One game last season. However, viewership saw a slight increase, as 18.4 million viewers watched Bears-Colts, up 1.1% from 18.2 million viewers last year (THE DAILY).
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Strahan Earns Mixed Reviews
In Debut On "Fox NFL Sunday" |
ST-ST-STUDIO : In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes instead of beginning with a football story, CBS decided during the beginning of its "The NFL Today" pregame show Sunday it was "more important to pay tribute -- and gush over -- host James Brown because he won some award." Raissman: "What a waste of time. What an exercise in self-indulgence. ... CBS Sports suits would not indulge in gratuitous, self-serving hype, would they?" Raissman also notes during CBS' halftime feature on the CBS Scene restaurant at Gillette Stadium, Brown said, "Who knows how far the synergy between CBS and the Patriots will go?" Raissman: "Maybe CBS' NFL voices will go deeper in the tank for the Pats." Raissman also writes of Fox' Michael Strahan's "Fox NFL Sunday" debut, "If the shtick Strahan recited ... was written for him, he better hire new writers" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/9). But on Long Island, Neil Best writes of the CBS Scene feature, "Everyone understands the NFL and its TV friends are business partners, so fretting over journalistic purity is a little silly." He adds Strahan "fit right in at Fox's studio frat party." For the other nets, it is "too soon to tell whether the Dan Patrick-Keith Olbermann reunion on NBC will make a dent in the crowded studio," but it is "not too soon to say Cris Carter is an upgrade over Emmitt Smith on ESPN" (NEWSDAY, 9/9).
BAD TIMING: The GLOBE & MAIL's William Houston notes the CFL scheduled its first Sunday doubleheader of the season up against the NFL's opening Sunday, and TSN drew only 189,000 viewers for its 1:00pm ET Argonauts-Alouettes broadcast, down 52% from its CFL season average of 394,000. TSN "did far better for its second game," a 4:00pm ET Roughriders-Blue Bombers broadcast that drew 454,000 viewers. But the "loser in that case might have been [Rogers] Sportsnet," which aired the 4:15pm ET Panthers-Chargers game, which was viewed by 282,000 viewers, up 10% from Sportsnet's audience for its NFL opener last season. Still, viewership "might have been larger without competition from the CFL" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/9).
WORK IN PROGRESS: In Chicago, Eric Benderoff reviews Pro Football Live (PFL), an iPhone application that fans can use to "keep (mostly) current with all the games around the [NFL] as they are happening." There was a 10-15 minute lag "behind the real action" Sunday, but it was "tolerable because [PFL] provides summary information just on the scoring plays, if you prefer." PFL also "provides news that fantasy owners want, such as headlines on when a star like [Patriots QB] Tom Brady goes down." Benderoff: "It was clearly designed with fantasy in mind." Still, PFL developer Plusmo "needs to make some improvements" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/9).
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Goren Feels Online Streaming Of Games
Could Cannibalize TV Audiences In Future |
FIELD VS. STREAM: BROADCASTING & CABLE's Benn Grossman reported with the NFL beginning this season streaming its "Sunday Night Football" games on NBCSports.com and NFL.com, and the NBA and MLB looking at live local streaming, there is "some concern that doing anything to potentially subtract [TV] viewers ... may not be without drawbacks." Fox Sports President Ed Goren is among those who are "cautious about the sudden explosion of online streaming and what it could mean to the golden goose -- television ratings." Goren said, "The big dog is definitely viewership on network television and the ad revenue that generates. Even if you look at the tremendous success of the Olympics across multiple platforms, if it doesn't perform on NBC, no matter what the rest brought in, you couldn't run a business right now. So I think we can't lose track of the power of the mass audience and revenues that network television brings." When asked if that means he thinks online streaming of sporting events currently "cannibalizes audiences," Goren said, "At this point I think that's debatable. Down the road it certainly could be a factor" (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 9/7).
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