One of my earliest truly vivid memories of childhood is watching the 1980 Winter Olympics. I was 8 years old, and the voice of
Jim McKay — so urbane, and yet so emotive — taught me that the world was a much bigger place than I’d ever imagined, but that sport made it smaller all at once.
I remember the U.S. athletes marching into the stadium in their tan cowboy outfits. I remember Eric Heiden coming from behind to win the first of his five medals. I remember begging, unsuccessfully, to be allowed to stay up to watch the U.S. hockey team, and missing the gold-medal game while at Sunday school.
I also remember the near perfection of the Roone Arledge broadcasts. The weight given to every interview, every split time, every wave of a flag.
I’m not sure if sports television has ever been better than ABC’s Olympic broadcasts in the 1980s, but it has certainly come a long way.
It has been a true privilege to chronicle the behind-the-scenes dealings of what I believe to be the greatest entertainment medium ever invented.
As this will be my last column for Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal after an eight-year run (I’ll be leaving journalism to become the vice president, U.S. market, for the mobile sports technology company Kangaroo.TV), I wanted to tip my cap to the great people of this industry, and the great work they do every day.
My pen is sometimes sharp and my questions always tough. But never have I forgotten that you all make magic happen every day. The volume and quality of sports on TV today is a great gift to the modern sports fan, and has brought millions of people closer to the one pursuit that can unite cities and nations.
I applaud you all for the passion and precision with which you exercise your craft.
I applaud the directors in the trucks like Artie Kempner of Fox or Drew Esocoff of Monday and soon to be “Sunday Night Football,” who make literally thousands of decisions per hour, often without a single apparent error. I applaud producers such as Jay Rothman of ESPN or Bob Mansbach of CBS, whose pregame rituals last a week and rival the preparation of any NFL head coach. I applaud the wizardry of technology gurus like Jerry Gepner, who constantly push sports television into the next frontier.
I applaud networks such as OLN for believing that any sport can make great television and form the building blocks of a great sports network. And I applaud ESPN for creating a culture of excellence around sport that sets the bar for would-be rivals so impossibly high, so far out of reach, that it’s hard to imagine there being even a credible No. 2 player in that space.
One of the best aspects of being a business reporter is that you get to peer into great minds and get a little glimpse of how they work.
So I applaud Steve Bornstein for always being one step ahead of the industry’s collective wisdom. I applaud Mark Shapiro for never apologizing for being smart. And George Bodenheimer for never asking his deputies not to shine, and for being confident enough to sometimes be in their shadow. I applaud David Hill and Ed Goren for remembering that it’s all about what’s on the screen. And Bob Thompson for remembering that it’s all about the home team. I applaud Dick Ebersol for turning a passion for the Olympics into a life’s work and a business that doesn’t come with a writedown.
I applaud Sean McManus for, after a lifetime spent in sports, being prepared for a higher calling in the most complex of times.
Equal reverence for some of the lesser-known players who make sports television happen every day, the right way. There’s Jim Wilburn, whose company Winnercomm produces more hours of sports programming in the U.S. than any other, quietly and with integrity. Or Charlie Besser of Intersport, an insider’s insider who takes little ideas and turns them big. Or “industry veteran” Mike Trager, who may know more about the sports television business than anyone alive. Then again, so might Barry Frank.
I applaud Neal Pilson, whose advice guided NASCAR and the IOC into some of the smartest decisions those bodies ever made. Applause to Ross Greenburg, who brings sports narrative to life in every conceivable form. And to Brian Bedol, whose skill in starting and selling companies now borders on legend. To Steve Koonin for taking two networks to new heights while always finding a place for sports in their fabric, and to David Levy and Mark Lazarus for proving that quality sports on cable is not the exclusive domain of the specialists.
Wherever I stop I’ll inevitably offend someone rightfully deserving of my applause. Just know that you have it, and will every time I flip on the tube.
