George Foreman

Feb

A Quick Early Wednesday Sports Media Notebook

by Ken, under Boston Sports Blogapalooza, David Feherty, George Foreman, MLB, Sports Rights Fees, Time Warner Cable

Time to open up the Fang’s Bites Sports Media notebook as we hit midweek. Lets go over some of the stories that are circulating about the sports media. They’re in bullet form.

How much is too much? The sports rights fee ceiling keeps going higher and higher. As fees for sports programming go up, so do your cable and satellite bills. While sports gets more expensive, sports networks, both national and local continue to pay because they’re consistent programming and they’re a hedge against original dramas, sitcoms and reality TV that fail to catch on with viewers. John Ourand in this week’s Sports Business Journal explains why the sports rights fee bubble may not burst for quite some time, if ever. And if the rights continue to go up, who’s going to pay? You, me and viewers who have yet to cut the cord.
On a related note, when the Los Angeles Dodgers finally submit their megabucks contract with Time Warner Cable for MLB approval, it will include plans to show the team’s games in three languages. You’re probably thinking, “What? Three languages? I know Emglish so Vin Scully can continue calling games and then Spanish to serve the large Hispanic community in L.A. What’s the third?”
Well, the third language would be Korean! Bill Shaikin and Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times report that this would mark to the best of anyone’s knowledge that an MLB team would be broadcast in three languages. And if you’re wondering why the Dodgers would plan Korean broadcasts, just harken back to the 1990′s when the team signed Chan-Ho Park and the organization continues to sign Korean players. And there’s a large Korean population in Los Angeles as well.

The Dodgers are definitely thinking outside the box. And when the contract with Time Warnervis finally submitted for MLB approval, it will be worth between $7-8 billion over 25 years.
In Golf Digest, Franz Lidz has an interesting profile of CBS/Golf Channel personality David Feherty. His interview show, aptly titled “Feherty” premiered for its second season this week.
And the 4th incarnation of Boston Sports Blogapalooza has been set for April 6 at The Harp (pronounced “The Haaahhhp!” by Boston natives). My friend, Joe Gill of Boston Sports Then and Now does a great job organizing the event and I look forward to attending the next one.
If you live in the New England area, it’s a great event to attend.

Ok, it’s time to close the notebook. Back soon with another edition.

Videos of the Week – George Foreman

by Ken, under ABC Sports, Boxing, George Foreman, HBO Boxing, Video of the Week

I can’t believe I haven’t put any boxing videos on this site. The old fights from the 1970′s were great stuff especially in the Heavyweight division, Muhammed Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and of course, George Foreman. When he first began, George was an angry fighter and took out his wrath on opponents. Just look at his fight against Joe Frazier in 1973 and you’ll see that he wanted to end his fights quickly, using the knockout and not wanting to waste any time.

“Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier!” – Let’s watch the fight in Kingston, Jamaica on January 22, 1973 and it was called by the legendary Howard Cosell on ABC Sports. All of the six knockdowns by Foreman. Completely devastating.

Early in his comeback, George fought Gerry Cooney on January 15, 1990. Up until this fight, George had for the most part, fought tomato cans, but I remember thinking going into this fight and thinking no way could George beat Cooney, but watch the knockdown and then the knockout and it was mind blowing Back when ABC actually had a sports department, Dan Dierdorf and Alex Wallau called this for Wide World of Sports.

“It happened! It happened!” – The surprising knockout of Michael Moorer on May 11, 1994 to give George the Heavyweight title for the first time since 1974 when he lost it to Muhammed Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire. Trainer Teddy Atlas told Moorer not to get close to Foreman in the last three rounds, but Moorer wouldn’t listen. To me, Jim Lampley’s call of the knockout is one of the best calls in the history of sports television. And listen to HBO analyst Gil Clancy criticize George until the knockout.

You have to have the background on the fight, the excellent HBO boxing documentary, Legendary Nights which goes into The Tale of Foreman-Moorer. This is Part 1.