It was in February, before the shootout to determine the Olympic game between the United States and Russia, when Doc Emrick, on NBC, recited a pile of stats — the shootout records of both the goalies and the shooters.
When he finished, he reminded us, and likely himself, that the stats he had read would be significant “if the players were robots.” Then he added, as only the good Doctor could, that he had provided those numbers “as a matter of legacy, not prophecy.”
Well, here are some numbers that add to Emrick’s legacy: 1:55.
Early Saturday morning, after the point at which the Stanley Cup was won — deep in the second OT on a rebound ripper by the Kings’ Alec Martinez — one minute and 55 seconds passed before Emrick said another word.
Choosing not to intrude or to try to improve upon the self-evident — and TV’s stand-alone purpose — Emrick allowed a series of pictures to tell the story, speak for all of us.
Numbers? Before Emrick again spoke, NBC cut to 28 shots, significantly and wisely only one that showed the crowd doing what all crowds do when their team suddenly wins it all. NBC swept the ice and the benches in a series of compelling close-ups and broader shots — while Emrick said nothing.
It’s the mark of the man. These moments didn’t belong to Emrick, so he chose not to mess with them, not to attach himself to what wasn’t his, no matter how many times the future could feature him hollering this or that as part of recorded NHL history.
Not that anyone should be surprised.
♦ More Stanley Cup: A final series packed with close games generally means a clean one, as well as an exciting one. Not one fight in Kings-Rangers.
The goal is the game, not the goals
World Cup: Goals, goals, goals! Thus far, it seems to take about two minutes after the soccer-cynical Americans with whom I’ve watched to complain about the paucity of scoring, before a goal is scored! And then another!
Also, thus far, few instances of the great action-killer — balls being played from 25-35 yards, back to the keeper.
But perhaps the biggest improvement is in the audio — the absence of those idiot’s delight vuvuzela horns that made the Cup insufferable four years ago in South Africa.
After Costa Rica’s surprising 3-1 win over Uruguay on Saturday, Mike Tirico, hosting ESPN’s studio, called it “a poor effort from the former champions.” Yes, very poor for the tournament-proven Uruguayans. Tirico left the impression that Uruguay last won more recently than 1950.
Wonderful name, as seen on ABC/ESPN Sunday on the back of a Honduras player’s jersey versus France: “Costly.” Forward Carlo Costly wore No. 13, no less.
Solution for Mets age-old
Baseball: Given that their win over the Padres on Friday was led by Bartolo Colon and Bobby Abreu, you can sense the Mets’ long-range plan is kicking in.
Greed Kills: Father’s Day, gorgeous afternoon, and the Mets’ best seats — especially those just behind the plate — went empty.
What if MLB teams, rather than allowing their parks to empty in extra innings, provided half-off food and non-alcoholic beverages after nine? (I’m talking price, not content.) There would still be plenty of profit in every purchase.
Reader Michael Catarevas wonders why Ichiro Suzuki is often seen at first chatting with the first base coach or the opposing first baseman, yet after 14 years in MLB, he still needs a postgame interpreter. Heck, I know guys married 35 years whose wives still don’t understand them.
Proudly presented live — on tape
U.S. Open: “A game of honor” continues to be dishonored by TV, as countless shots that reasonably could have only appeared on tape are presented as live.
The deception is aided by the occasional mention by commentators that what we’re seeing happened “just moments ago,” adding to the sense and sell that everything else is being shown live.
Saturday, NBC cut to a shot of Kenny Perry, 10-over, just as he hit from the wiry waste area. Hey, he holed it! No word that it was on tape, as if NBC would normally cut to a live shot of a guy 19 strokes back in the third round of a major.
Soon, NBC cut to Webb Simpson, 6-over and not previously seen, just as he was about to hit to the par-3 15th. Golly, he nearly aced it!
Anything less than live ain’t live, just as anything less than honest ain’t honest. Or do networks think we’ll cover our eyes if we know something worth seeing is about to appear on tape?
Those greens! To watch what happened to balls that hit the center — many lofted, and with spin — eventually seemed cruel. To watch such shots creep off the greens then slowly roll into bunkers or ravines became painful, like watching Johnny Manziel waiting to be drafted.
As Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee noted Saturday, with the Pinehurst No. 2 having dried, it’s hard to come back from even a few down if you can’t aim at the pins. And as NBC’s Johnny Miller said Sunday, at Pinehurst “You never hear, ‘Nice bounce.’ ”
♦ NBA Finals: Bravo to ESPN and SportsCenter for not ducking ESPN’s Mark Jackson’s pertinent bashing of ESPN during the Spurs-Heat games, i.e., that a Spurs’ skillful, share-the-ball bucket won’t be shown on SportsCenter because it didn’t end in a slam-dunk.
SportsCenter showed it — and included Jackson’s in-house roundhouse.
So now that ESPN has shown it has a good sense of self-deprecating humor, perhaps it’s time to show it has a better sense of good basketball.
♦ Furthermore: Reader J.R. Roberts: “We now know that it was Hilary Clinton’s family that Latrell Sprewell needed to feed.”
On Wednesday, YES presented “Jimmy Hanlin’s Golf Zone,” an episode on the short game that might have been worthwhile had the ball not been hidden, throughout, behind YES’s info crawl.
Oddly enough, postgame shows in all sports continue to be seen “immediately after the game.”
Reader Bill Monahan noted Friday that there would be a 50 Cent concert after Saturday’s Padres-Mets game, which led him to ask, “Who’s performing?”