Phil Mushnick

Phil Mushnick

Sports

ABC found way to botch another close Indy 500 finish

How ya fixed for pity? I could use some. I now regularly have to work through the astonishment, write that what logically can’t possibly be true is, in fact, true.

Exhibit A: Live coverage of the two closest, thus most exciting finishes in the history of the Indianapolis 500 were botched — as in wrecked — by the TV network that owned its exclusive rights. What a junior high school audio-visual-squad rookie wouldn’t do as a matter of common sense is what the TV pros did — and do.

In 1992, Al Unser Jr. won the closest Indy 500 in history, beating Scott Goodyear by .043 of a second, a blink of an eye. ABC televised the entire race — except the finish. As the cars hit the finish line, ABC cut to a live shot of the fellow waving the checkered flag.

At least it might’ve been live; for what it was worth at that moment it could’ve been file footage or a photograph. It was a moment of impossible madness. The closest finish in history, lost to a stunning blend of fancy and stupid.

Sunday, ESPN on ABC seized the Indy 500 to commit lunacide. In the race’s final, up-for-grabs laps, ESPN decided this was the perfect time to halve the live view in order to show us, via split-screen close-ups, the contenders’ friends, wives or girlfriends, ID graphics included.

Oddly enough, every one shown during those last five laps was doing what ESPN’s viewers would have preferred to be doing — watching the end of an incredibly close race!

And given that no viewer can watch two things at once, not to mention read graphics while watching two things at once, those who chose to watch the end of the race were forced to peek into a boxed-in screen roughly two-fifths the size of the view previously provided. ESPN waited until it most counted to minimize both the view and our attention!

There was genuine and warranted anxiety as to whether we would be allowed to clearly see the finish — American Ryan Hunter-Reay besting Helio Castroneves by 0.06 seconds. But ESPN was able to return to Mrs. Hunter-Reay the moment her husband’s car won by a fraction of a second.

ESPN has a pile of other networks. One of them, during the race, could have been devoted to live coverage of drivers’ loved ones watching the race.

What’s that? That wouldn’t make much sense? Who would watch such a ridiculous thing? Yeah, you would have to be nuts to watch that instead of the actual race.

The two closest finishes in the 98-year history of Indy, and both times hands-on sports TV experts charged with showing us the race — but always eager to reinvent the flat tire — chose to show something else.

Exhibit B: Monday against the Cardinals in St. Louis, Yankees reliever Preston Claiborne was called in. It was the bottom of the sixth, bases loaded, none out, Yanks up, 3-1.

The first batter Claiborne faced grounded weakly to short. The Yanks got the force at second. The slow grounder prevented them from turning the double play, a run scored. The next batter flew to right. The runner on third tagged and scored, score tied. The next grounded weakly to short, inning over.

Claiborne threw nine pitches, retired all three batters he faced and none hit the ball hard.

And because having to write what can’t possibly be true because it is true, Claiborne was hit with a blown save. Yep, he was a failure. And it’s on his permanent record.

50 Cent poses with Mets catcher Anthony Recker after throwing out the first pitch.Paul J. Bereswill

Exhibit C: Rap-sheeted rapper 50 Cent, among the lowest of the low within the genre — and with a corresponding criminal record — threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Tuesday’s Pirates-Mets game.

During the game he was dutifully and sweetly interviewed/promoted by SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt, who pandered to Fitty as a very special man who will perform after a Saturday late afternoon game in June.

Reader Dan B. suggests Burkhardt might have read Fitty — Curtis Jackson — the Mets’ Guest Code of Conduct to learn if Cent planned to comply:

“Guests will enjoy the baseball experience free from foul/abusive language or obscene gestures. … Guests will refrain from conduct not appropriate in a public, family setting.”

Seems Fitty, if he’s not arrested between now and then, will have to come up with some radically different material. World gone nuts.

Incidentally, the Mets chose to salute 50 because he’s from Queens, as are the Mets. The Mets could have done better with a blind draw from the Queens phone book.

Oh my, Darling lamenting times

Ron Darling on SNY on Tuesday nearly nailed it, but stopped short of using the words, “TV [or ESPN] money,” “MLB greed” or “Bud Selig.” After Gary Cohen, during Pirates-Mets, said, “How about the Dodgers — 16 straight no-hit innings,” Darling:

“I put this on the Major League Baseball Players’ Association. … They’ve got to do something about — the Cincinnati Reds had an 8 o’clock [Sunday for ESPN] game [in Cincy], the night before, then got to Los Angeles at 6 in the morning to play a 6 o’clock game. That is ‘Cry foul!’ Please, something has got to change. … You’re risking injury and you’re not putting your best product on the field when you get to your hotel at 7 in the morning.”

But the MLBPA gets its cut of TV money. Why would it choose professionalism and quality-of-play over money? Still, Darling got much closer to the truth than most. Most just ignore such things.
*
Mets fire batting coach Dave Hudgens. Q: Did the 1927 or 1961 Yankees have a batting coach? A: If they did, we’d know their names.
*
David Diehl, a good interview during his 11 years as a Giants’ offensive lineman, has signed with FOX as an in-game NFL analyst.
*
Reader Craig McCarthy, Amityville: “When I walk down the street and see people in Mets jerseys, I cross the street. What does that make me?”
*
How can texting while driving be illegal but driving while listening to John Sterling is permissible?
*
Reader Dick Stevens asks why MLB and its teams again decided to spend a fortune for nearly 1,000 camouflage caps and uniforms on Memorial Day, rather than choose a less-costly public display then donate the savings to veterans’ charities? Sorry, Mr. Stevens, but MLB now has a zero-tolerance policy on common sense.