Every Blue Moon Odom it shines through all the screen clutter and gabbity-gab: TV’s promise to provide us the best seat in the house.
On Friday, 1-1 in the seventh, bases loaded, Alex Rodriguez, oh-for-three, including a strikeout against Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum, coming up. But Lincecum was pulled for George Kontos. Rodriguez then homered.
On YES, the live scene twice quickly and briefly — Rodriguez, after all, had broken Lou Gehrig’s grand-slam record — cut to the Giants’ dugout. Gin! Lincecum was found in what appeared to be sudden, full-blown disgust, grabbing his mitt and hot-cleating it to the clubhouse.
It was a great “catch” that made great TV. And we’d get lots more if today’s directors and producers were allowed to pay full attention to game circumstances, as opposed to everything else. As famed photographer Ansel Adams (1902-84) explained: “Fortune favors the prepared.”
As for us viewers, well, good things come to those who wait. We were due!
Now, as for Rodriguez breaking Gehrig’s record — or any record established by a clean player that’s broken by a dirty one — this is the sustaining mark of Bud Selig’s tenure, which 20 years ago determined to place added TV and ticket money — driven by drug-swollen sluggers — far above The Game’s integrity and its clean participants.
That Gehrig’s record was broken and the 2013 pennant race is to some unknown but real extent being determined by a player who was ordered suspended, is Selig’s legacy. It’s what Selig brought upon himself and The Game, starting 20, greedy years ago.
And no matter how many millions team owners annually grant Selig, and how often Selig frames himself as the “Savior of The Game,” Rodriguez surpassing one the greatest sportsmen in a sport Selig was expected to protect, is just the latest stain that won’t wash clean.
Fox takes good with bad
Giants-Panthers, Good Fox, Bad Fox: Good get, near the top — footage of pregame punts lost in the sun. Could’ve been in-game applicable. And Brian Billick had strong moments, especially questioning the wisdom of throwing end zone corner “fades” toward a 5-foot-9 receiver Steve Smith.
But Fox chose to fill another telecast with no-upside extra attention on show-boaters, even rewarding chest-pounders with slo-mos. Can we safely surmise, by now, that Fox execs encourage the kids in their lives to excessive public displays of immodesty?
Analysis of the Weekend: Against Rutgers on ESPN, Arkansas ran for no gain, inspiring Rod Gilmore to: “This is what [coach] Brett Bielema wanted to avoid — getting nothing on first down.” Who knew?
On the NHL Network, “Hockey Night In Canada” reporter Andi Petrillo told us that Darnell Nurse — Nurse! — the Oilers’ first-round pick and nephew of Donovan McNabb, is a “young 18-year-old,” adding, he “shows so much maturity” for his age. Got that?
Graphics of the Weekend: Saturday, ESPN’s “Bottom Line” told of the Rays beating the O’s, 5-1, followed by, “1st pitch came 11 hours after teams played 18-inning game, Friday, that ended after 2 a.m.”
But that was a natural oddity. ESPN doesn’t note when teams, after playing ESPN’s Sunday night games that end at midnight or later, then must fly to the West Coast to play the next night.
A Big Ten Network graphic noted Indiana’s 150 points after three games as a school record. Wow! But no mention that 73 of them came in a scheduled home blowout of Indiana St..
Tiger Woods was 17 back and in 29th of 30 places when ESPN posted: “In Progress — Tiger looks to rebound at finale.”
As stories accumulate about colleges becoming unaffordable, there always seems to be a ton of money for colleges — academic institutions — to throw at sports. When Chris Carlin, calling Arkansas-Rutgers on WOR-710, ran down RU’s athletics schedule, he included a women’s volleyball game against Houston.
Houston? No way; the costs would be too great to justify. But there it was on RU women’s volleyball website: Houston at RU – followed by SMU at RU!
Yanks announcer provides another Sterling call
One of John Sterling’s self-afflicted, self-inflicted “home run” calls actually made West Coast news. Tuesday in Toronto he gave a Rodriguez fly ball his one-size-fits-all, self-promotional call, as if it had landed in Saskatoon. He then amended “Gone!” to it bounced over the wall, then amended that to the ball was caught by Rajai Davis.
As Mark Mahoney, Jersey guy living in Seal Beach, Ca., informed us, KABC-TV News, the next day, presented Sterling’s call as a “check this one out!”
Credit FAN’s Jody McDonald for knowing the score, as well as the score. Saturday, after reporting that Ohio State was up 55-0 over Florida A&M (a 76-0 final) and that Kenny Guiton had six TD passes, he sarcastically added that it’s not like Urban Meyer to run up the score.
Yesterday, an “instant” replay rule delay to determine whether the Giants, as first called, recovered a fumble, ran a mere 5:25.
“Let’s Be Honest” Mike Francesa last week ridiculed callers who said the Colts did well by trading for Trent Richardson. On Sunday, on his NFL show, after Phil Simms said the same, Francesa didn’t say a word.
NBC’s “plausibly live” (intentionally deceitful) Saturday coverage of the PGA Tour Championship — played earlier than first scheduled to try to beat the rain — killed it for the channel-hoppers and info-connected. NBC’s “recorded earlier” graphics were too few and far between to protect them. But TV’s worst, counter-productive habits die hard.
In discussing Andy Pettitte’s retirement, Friday on YES, Michael Kay mentioned “the HGH thing.” The HGH thing? What HGH thing? As many times as Pettitte pitched in games called by Kay, the last few years, I can’t recall Kay mentioning any “HGH thing.”
On Sunday, here, I wrote about a Yankee named “Rafael Soriano,” as opposed to Alfonso Soriano. That’s about the 10th time I’ve done so. Can’t explain it or help it. So I’d like to apologize for the next time.
The NCAA, exploring 2017-20 Final Four sites, has one criteria: Venue must hold at least 60,000 fans (ticket-buyers). Seriously. In other words, basketball arenas are out.
Reader Steve Arendash has a good question: How can the NFL claim concern about Super Bowl ticket price-gouging, yet fully back PSLs?
Gee, that Manti Te’o “thing” seems like years ago, no?
With his team losing 7-0 on its way to being blown out, Giant RB David Wilson’s check-me-out end zone flip — on a TD that was called back — was, well …
New Miss America, Nina Davuluri, is so pretty ESPN has issued Brent Musburger a preemptive warning.