Remarkable place, ESPN. The same NFL pregame regulars who swapped belly laughs during the remorseless, colossally ill-advised “He Got Jacked Up!” feature, now soberly address the concussion epidemic.
You would have thought that “He Got Jacked Up!” never happened, or that it happened with other guys on a different network.
Despite the too-late removal of “He Got Jacked Up!” ESPN’s young fool-targeting, sophomoric approach to football continues.
This past Monday, during Giants-Cowboys, ESPN’s lead production crew proved that it has no greater regard for football as a team sport than it would for one-man schoolyard vandalism.
In the second quarter, after Dez Bryant’s 88-yard punt return, the only thing ESPN chose to show in a slow-motion close-up was Bryant slowing to preen, showboating his way into the end zone. Nothing else about that play — not even a key block, and there were three to choose from — was deemed by ESPN to be more worthy of our full attention.
Also in the second quarter, after Steve Smith caught a touchdown pass from Eli Manning, the only thing ESPN chose to show in a slow-mo close-up was Smith’s post-TD “it’s all about me” dance. Nothing else about that play was deemed worthy of such attention.
In the third quarter, Brandon Jacobs scored on a 30-yard run. Late in the game, long after that Jacobs’ TD, ESPN cut to a commercial with a slow-mo close-up of Jacobs doing an end-zone me-dance, an ESPN-essential view of football that ESPN hadn’t yet gotten around to showcase.
That, ladies and gentlemen and kids of all ages, is what ESPN’s top production crew thinks of football, and, no doubt, how you should regard the sport, as well.
Will’s McMahon endorsement big flip-flop
SYNDICATED conservative columnist, TV commentator, family values advocate and sports fan George Will last week wrote a column endorsing Linda McMahon, co-owner and operator of the WWE, for U.S. Senator from Connecticut.
In 2001, obviously before Will knew that McMahon would in 2010 run for the U.S. Senate, let alone as a Republican — the WWF/WWE has donated to candidates from both major political parties although she was a chronic non-voter — Will wrote a column about the McMahon family business. He focused on its latest “sports” venture, the XFL:
“An ‘extreme’ football league, it debuts Saturday night on NBC . . . The XFL, brainchild of Vince McMahon, who runs the World Wrestling Federation [now WWE], will attempt something difficult — the further coarsening of America. . . .
“Few people believe, as McMahon does, that the NFL is for sissies. To correct this imperfection, as he sees it, the XFL will allow no fair catches on punts, so fans can at least hope for an ambulance siren after every punt. . . .
“But the XFL’s product is not really football, anymore than the WWF’s is real wrestling. Rather, the XFL will offer puerile vulgarity, vicarious danger and derivative manliness for couch potatoes, particularly those in the coveted (by advertisers) category of 12- to 24-year-old males. . . .
“Previewing the XFL, the magazine Business 2.0 notes that McMahon’s WWF extravaganzas have featured faux wrestlers pretending to wallop each other with flaming two-by-fours wrapped in barbed wire, mock crucifixions, nun wrestling and simulated drug use and masturbation.
“Now, you 12-to-24 males, are you ready for some football? How about — this is reportedly planned — cameras in the cheerleaders’ locker room? [It became fact] The XFL will encourage players to date cheerleaders. . . .
“McMahon explains, ‘When the QB fumbles or the wideout drops a pass — and we know who he’s dating — I want our reporters right back in her face on the sidelines demanding to know if they did the wild thing last night.’ ”
But in his “vote for McMahon” column last week, Will mocked and dismissed those who are sickened by what sickened him — what the McMahons for years have done for a living. He rationalized the WWE merely as “not conducive to refined sensibilities.” And he wrote not a word about all those drug-dead pro wrestlers.
But he did note the WWE lately has “toned down” its content.
Why does Will suppose that was done? Because Mr. and Mrs. McMahon have developed, far too late, a conscience? Because they’re tired of making millions by doing dirt to kids? Or because she’s running for the U.S. Senate?
McCarver’s ‘strong’ point very weak
IN GAME 2, Wednesday, after Tim McCarver said that the Giants’ Juan Uribe is very strong, Uribe struck out when he went too far on a checked swing.
“That’s one of the downsides of strength,” said McCarver, “when you start you can’t hold up.”
But doesn’t that work both ways? For years TV analysts have told us that Tiger Woods is able to stop his swing on its way down “only because he’s so strong.” And Uribe did stop, but went too far by maybe an inch.
Anyway, it seems as if every few innings of a Fox telecast what we see as a “maybe” or a “perhaps,” Joe Buck and McCarver see as an “absolutely.”
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This being the 50th anniversary month of Bill Mazeroski‘s 1960 World Series-ending home run — just another “walk-off” if you’re with the ESPN Tour group — it’s worth knowing that the Giants’ 2-0 lead over the Rangers, 20-7 in total runs before last night, is worth nothing greater than a 2-0 lead, two runs to one.
In the ’60 Series, the Yankees won 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. The four games the Pirates won were by a total of seven runs.
Incidentally, Monday, during Giants-Cowboys, ESPN’s Mike Tirico reminded all that the new Dallas stadium opener last year ended on Giant Lawrence Tynes’ “walk-off field goal.”
Apparently “ended on a field goal” would have left some confused.
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Finally! WFAN this week will announce that Ray Teller of the magic team of Penn and Teller will replace Chris Russo as Mike Francesa’s on-air partner.
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We’re now hearing from former Jets ticket subscribers who claim that they’re being annoyed/harrassed by new-deal team PSL peddlers, phone calls two, three times a week.
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Reader Michael Hemmenway: “Wouldn’t it be great if the media thought it important to report on Cliff Lee‘s wife having to endure taunting, cursing and spitting [in Yankee Stadium] because it’s simply deplorable behavior, and not because it might hurt the Yankees’ chances of signing Lee as a free agent?”
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Will a college football announcer please explain exactly what’s meant by “a fifth-year senior.” That’s a long time to be a senior, no?