The media learning curve: Looking to men's outdoor hoops, women's soccer boots and boys being boys
Even more stuff we could have stuffed into the newspaper column (linked here) or a previous blog but wanted to save it and let it simmer in its own juices:
==TNT will dispatch Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller and Marv Albert to Indian Wells this weekend to call the Phoenix-Denver exhibition NBA game. Did we mention it was outside? The first outdoor NBA contest at the Indian Wells tennis center (Saturday, 7 p.m.) brings the three broadcasters together for the first time to do a game. David Aldridge and Cheryl Miller will also do sideline reporting and fetch cool beverages for the boys.
==ESPN2's coverage of the Miami-New Jersey NBA exhibition game in Paris yesterday was the first of four contests the network will do from Europe and China. Matt Winer calls the games with Tim Legler. The other games: Milwaukee vs. Golden State from Guangzhou, China (Wednesday, 5 a.m., ESPN Classic; reairs at 6 p.m. on ESPN2); Washington vs. New Orleans from Barcelona, Spain (Friday, Oct. 17, 12:30 p.m., ESPN Classic; reairs at 6 p.m. on ESPN2) and Milwaukee vs. Golden State from Beijing, China (Friday, Oct. 17, 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2).
==Fox Soccer Channel has found some room between AYSO and replays of "Pele: What a Kicker" to air the Women's Professional Soccer starting with its first season this April.
There'll be a Sunday night game of the week, 20 games a regular-season and an All-Star game on Fox Soccer, with FSN doing the playoffs leading to the WPS title Aug. 22.
It's all there in a three-year contract (with an option for a fourth), which seems rather optimistic that there'll even be a WPS past Year 1 (sorry, just looking at recent history and the world's financial situation).
"Fox Soccer Channel has become the go-to place for global soccer coverage in the United States and is a tremendous broadcast platform for our league," said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci. "Between the FSC flagship, the Fox Sports Net regional networks and FoxSoccer.com, FSC is the right partner to bring WPS, the world's best women's soccer league, to sports fans and soccer fanatics alike."
==Online coverage of the Ironman Triathlon from Hawaii can be watched live at the official site (www.ironman.com) starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. NBC will package it in a telecast in mid-December.
==JP Dellacamera and John Harkes call the U.S. men's national team's FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Cuba at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. (Saturday, 4 p.m., ESPN Classic).
==ESPN reached a new five-year deal with the Big West Conference, which will include a minimum of 12 annual national telecasts of men's basketball and other events, primarily on ESPNU and ESPN2. It means that ESPNU will do the Big West men's conference basketball semifinals and ESPN2 will have the final each year through 2013-14.
==NBC dispatches Dan Hicks, Gary Koch, Roger Maltbie, Bob Murphy and Dottie Pepper for the Saturday and Sunday (1 to 3 p.m.) coverage of the Senior Players Championship in Baltimore. There must be some karma in the fact that the Baltimore Country Club, hosting the event, is one of America's oldest golf clubs, having been founded in 1898.
==Sunday's "Outside the Lines" (6 a.m. on ESPN, 9 a.m. on ESPNEWS) will chronicle the mental anguish that Larene Booth has been going through since she was swimming next to 66-year old triathlete Dave Martin and could do nothing when he was fatally attacked by a 16-foot Great White Shark last April in Solana Beach. Booth has been consumed by guilt and subject to crying spells, until she was inspired to get back in the water by Jeff Martin, Dave's son. Tom Friend does the story.
==And save the date: ESPN says its X Games 15 at Staples Center and Home Depot Center will take place July 30-Aug. 2, 2009. The event has been held in Los Angeles for six years, and will remain in the city through at least '09 -- right about the time a new ESPN broadcast facility is completed across the street from Staples Center.
AND FINALLY:
==TBS announced this week it has renewed its original sitcom "My Boys" (linked here) for a third season -- that's nine new episodes expected to premiere in the first quarter of 2009.
You may have stumbled onto this -- a female sportswriter in Chicago (starring girl-next-store hottie Jordana Spiro) hangs out with a bunch of loser guy friends and deals with it.
I'm not sure what to compare it to -- "Felicity" meets "About Last Night" but looks closer to "Bosom Buddies" or "Friends" without the gender balance -- but it had 1.5 million viewers last season, up 14 percent over the first year.
"It's that truly rare television combination of a talented cast with great chemistry, extremely smart and funny writing and outstanding production," said Michael Wright, senior vice president in charge of the Content Creation Group for TBS, TNT and Turner Movie Classic. "'My Boys' is a quality show with a quality audience that continues to make the case that Turner is a true broadcast substitute."
What's rare is that TBS isn't promoting the heck out of this on its MLB playoff broadcasts instead of "Frank TV."
Look at the talent. Then decide what'll attract more male viewers.
About this blog
Leave a comment