MORNING READ's John Hawkins wrote three weeks into its '20 PGA Tour coverage, CBS Sports is "notably deficient of authoritative voices or the requisite pizazz, due in large part to the termination of longtime broadcasters Gary McCord and Peter Kostis last fall." Three tournaments "might amount to a small sample size," but it is "more than enough to rue the personnel absences and the void they have left on a once-peerless product." However, on-course reporter Dottie Pepper is "excellent," and swing analyst/reporter Mark Immelman has a "high ceiling and is fast becoming a source of pertinence and polish" (MORNINGREAD.com, 2/9). In San Diego, Nick Canepa wrote, "I miss the hell out of Peter Kostis" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/9).
MAKING HIS DEBUT: THE ATHLETIC's Fred Katz noted Wizards G John Wall was "originally scheduled to join the Wizards' broadcast for six minutes or so Friday night." He "contributed to the prototypical 'Keys To The Game' and broke down Bradley Beal's hot streak during a beginning segment." But during a first-quarter commercial break, Wall said to play-by-play voice Justin Kutcher and analyst Drew Gooden, "I'll stay the whole quarter if you're cool with it." Kutcher and Gooden then "went all out to treat Wall ... not as a guest interview but as a real color commentator." Wall "broke down X's and O's throughout the broadcast, giving little tidbits on strategy" (THEATHLETIC.com, 2/8).
NO PLACE FOR THAT: The SEC Network and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey "condemned a basketball analyst's comments about women's gymnastics, which he made" during the Arkansas-Missouri men's basketball broadcast Saturday night. After a "promotion for upcoming gymnastics meets," Barry Booker "described gymnasts as 'scantily clad girls.'" Sankey said Booker's comments were "inappropriate and do not meet the expectations we have for the SEC Network." Booker later in the broadcast "reportedly apologized" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/10).
