A couple of sports media thoughts on this early Thursday morning in bullet form.
- The Sports Emmy Award nominations are out and while most honor the Best in Sports Broadcasting, they always have a few mind-boggling nods and this year is no exception. While I can overlook a nomination for hockey charlatan Pierre McGuire in the Sports Reporter category, I cannot ignore the nod to demagogue Skippy Bayless who somehow was nominated for Outstanding Sports Personality — Studio Analyst.
Besides yelling and inexplicably latching onto Tim Tebow, what does Skippy is bloviate and make a spectacle of himself. He makes himself the story instead of covering it. The Academy got this nomination wrong. I just hope Skippy isn’t labeled “Emmy Award-winning” this year or any other year.
- As we approach the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA Tournament, let me hand out a couple of accolades and a couple of darts.
My first accolade is to the freedom of choice viewers have. With four networks airing games now, we can switch to whatever game we choose. And thanks to the scoreboard on top of the screen, we’re kept up to date on the other games. Social media is also a help especially when someone tweets that there’s an upset brewing, we can switch channels. CBS/Turner is doing a good job there.
Second accolade goes to Brian Anderson who did well in his CBS/Turner debut. He’s had a nice coming out party for Turner, being TBS’ main announcer for last year’s MLB postseason and now for Turner on the NCAA Tournament. Very nice job.
A dart goes to analyst Bob Wenzel for his extremely pedestrian announcing. He really doesn’t too much to the broadcasts unless you like incessant yelling or trying too hard to be witty going into break. The end of the Bob Wenzel experience cannot come quickly enough.
The last dart goes to Reggie Miller. He has added very little to the team of Kevin Harlan and Len Elmore.
- Happened to find one of my 1980’s crushes, Kathleen Sullivan on Twitter. Kathleen was a double pioneer in the 1980’s, being one of the very first anchors when CNN began and she was the first woman to host an Olympic broadcast on American television, working the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles the same year for ABC. Hard to believe that women had hardly been on the air during the Olympics prior to 1984, but Kathleen certainly opened a door. In fact, she was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award for her work on the Olympics, she was that good.
I was a big fan when she was on CNN, ABC and CBS. And Kathleen remains a big sports fan. Glad to have found her on Twitter.
That will end the thoughts.
