Chicago news: Spiegel says McNeil on ‘personal leave of absence’; hopes to return

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Matt Spiegel addressed Dan McNeil’s situation Monday morning on WSCR-AM 670.

Here is what he said:

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Dan is on a personal leave of absence. He appreciates all the people who have reached out to him. He hopes to be back soon.

For me personally, I love that complicated and troubled man. If you heard the show, and the way we’ve talked about mental illness and depression, you know our level of sympathy and empathy is sometimes different than others. I know Mac’s openness about his issue has been inspiring to many. I trust he will let all of you in as he sees fit in whatever venue he decides.

It’s not my place or anyone else’s to share more. I would personally ask that you think of him with kindness.

 

Candid MikeTirico: ‘Not a lot of good football being played right now’; weary MNF hoping for upgrade with Bears-Packers

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Give credit to Mike Tirico for being blunt.

“”There’s just not a lot of good football being played right now,” he said.

Tirico and Jon Gruden hope they get a significant upgrade tonight with Chicago at Green Bay on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers should be solid, but it’s no sure thing for the Bears with journeyman Josh McCown making his first start of the season at quarterback.

Anything, though, should be better than the last couple of weeks for MNF crew. Last week, you almost could feel Russell Wilson’s pain through Gruden, as the quarterback barely got out of St. Louis in one piece. The week before, Minnesota-New York Giants went to new levels of ineptitude.

During the third quarter, Tirico flat out said the play was “terrible.” Howard Cosell would have been proud.

“I don’t want to try to deceive the fans,”Tirico said. “If the game is bad, it’s bad. I’m not trying to embarrass people, but you have to say it.”

Why has the play been so ragged, especially on Monday night? Part of it has to do with the match-ups, Tirico said.

“In NFL, scheduling is more challenging than ever,” Tirico said. “You can’t forecast from year to year. Look at the Giants and Steelers. They’re scheduled for prime time a bunch. St. Louis was 7-8-1 last year. They have Jeff Fisher, who has coached in a Super Bowl. They looked like they were building. The reality is they lost their QB and they only have one running back and receiver who has been in the league more than two years.

“Meanwhile, you have Kansas City (at 9-0); they were 2-14 last year. I don’t think NBC was counting on Houston being 2-5 for Sunday’s game.”

Next week, Tirico and MNF face another huge keep-’em-interested challenge with Miami at 0-9 Tampa Bay.

“Yeah, you thought Greg Schiano had Tampa on the right track,” Tirico said. “It’s hard to forecast more and more. You take what you’ve got and try to be honest with the viewers.”

So what are some of the factors involved with all this inconsistent play?

“Football is feeling the effects of the new CBA,” Tirico said. “There’s less padded practice, less time for work during the off-season. Teams are tinkering with the read-option offense. And then you have injuries on top of that. Seattle was missing their two offensive tackles. When you go up against a good pass rushing team like St. Louis, you’re going to be exposed.

“One of the things I look at when I do a game is the number of first-year players. More often than not, you’ve got 16-18, even 20 players. There’s a very transient nature of the NFL. You multiply that by the complexity of the game and what defenses are doing, and it results in seeing not as much cohesive football.”

The scheduling flex option isn’t in place for MNF, so they are stuck with they’ve got. Fortunately for them, it does improve after Miami-Tampa Bay.

Nov. 18: New England at Carolina now looks like a strong match-up thanks to the resurgent Panthers.

Nov. 25: San Francisco at Washington.  RGIII might be finally hitting his stride.

Dec. 2: New Orleans at Seattle. Big game with home field advantage riding in playoffs.

Dec. 9: Dallas at Chicago. Match-up with possible playoff implications.

Dec. 16: Baltimore at Detroit: A chance to showcase Megatron.

Dec. 23: Atlanta at San Franciso: Looked like a solid game at beginning of season. Not anymore.

Regardless of the match-up and the quality of the game, Tirico, Gruden and the rest of the MNF crew will be there. Usually, most of the viewers remain on board, even if the ride is bad.

“Whether it’s fantasy football or the gambling nature of the game that appeals to people, the popularity of football is strong,” Tirico said. “People still like to watch the game. We only can control what we can control. We do our best to cover it and it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”

 

 

Michele Tafoya shows why networks need sideline reporters: News happens

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A few weeks ago, Richard Deitsch at SI.com did an interview with Michele Tafoya. For the millionth time, she was asked to defend the role of the sideline reporter.

She said:

“It’s a role people don’t realize is quite difficult,” Tafoya said. “You don’t know when you will get on — sometimes it is very little and sometimes you are very active. Every year I have found more and more ways to be better prepared for every game and it continues to a position where I can grow. Industry-wide, and I have to be very careful how I say this, I have seen some networks take the sideline reporter off of their broadcasts. I’ll never understand that.

They have found themselves in positions where they are missing a lot of information, lacking insight, and [losing] immediacy to their reporters because they do not have someone down there field-wise to access this stuff for them. That is mind-boggling to me.


The next time Tafoya is asked about the value of sideline reporters question, instead of launching into a long answer, she should just pull out the tape of last night’s game.

Can you imagine how difficult the Gary Kubiak story would have been to cover if NBC didn’t have a sideline reporter on the scene? And not just any sideline reporter, but one of the best in the business in Tafoya.

She was able to provide concise and accurate updates on the situation. In fact, for much of the early news cycle on this story, the various media outlets were quoting Tafoya’s reports.

You can bet NBC and producer Fred Gaudelli  were glad to have Tafoya on the scene Sunday night.

 

 

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Nick Saban on 60 Minutes: Armen Keteyian gets inside access to Alabama coach

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Nick Saban and Alabama get the treatment from 60 Minutes tonight. Here’s a preview.

The rundown from CBS:

The best investment the University of Alabama ever made was the hiring of a football coach who delivered a team that has won three of the last four national championships.  So says Dr. Robert Witt, chancellor of the University of Alabama about Nick Saban, who created a football dynasty in Tuscaloosa, Ala. in just a handful of years under a contract that pays him more than $5.5 million a year.  Armen Keteyian gets to see up close how Saban managed this feat, as he profiles the famous Crimson Tide coach and takes cameras into his practices and coaches meetings.  Saban’s profile will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday, Nov. 3(7:30PM, ET/7:00PM PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Keteyian speaks to Dr. Witt as part of his profile of Saban. The question posed to the academic head of the Alabama University system was simple. As the highest paid coach in collegiate sports, was Saban worth it?  Dr. Witt responds without hesitation, “Nick Saban is the best financial investment this university has ever made. We have made an investment that’s been returned many fold,” he tells Keteyian.

Some believe Saban has gotten the team to its lofty heights by being tough on his players. But it’s not entirely accurate, says the coach of the undefeated Crimson Tide.  “Well, I don’t know if it’s fair [to say] I am really tough on people,” says Saban.  “We create a standard for how we want to do things and everybody’s got to buy into that standard or you really can’t have any team chemistry.”

If he seems to be tough on players, he’s just trying to weed out mediocrity – something there is no room for on the number-one ranked team.  “Mediocre people don’t like high-achievers and high-achievers don’t like mediocre people,” says Saban.

In a twist on the old “winning is everything” strategy, Saban pushes his players not to think of winning, but to concentrate on executing each down — a method he uses to make his team play their hearts out every play.   “The approach was to challenge the players to play every play in the game like it had a history and a life of its own…it really is the simple way to do it and it’s the best way to [win],” says the Alabama coach, whose success has earned him a statue on the university’s campus.

Keteyian and producers spent months on the story, bringing cameras to numerous practice sessions and to a youth football camp Saban runs. Keteyian also interviews Terry Saban, his wife of 42 years.

A good read: Grantland has an oral history of 1989 Earthquake World Series

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Grantland has done a terrific job of using oral histories, where one quote flows into another and another, tell stories. The latest, by Bryan Curtis and Patricia Lee, is a detailed account on the 1989 Earthquake World Series. They talk to everyone from players, managers, broadcasters, fans. Well everyone.

Here is ABC’s memorable open when the earthquake hit and some excerpts from the piece.

Timothy Busfield, actor: We were in a plexiglass booth at the top of the stadium with all the announcers and everybody. I rode up in the elevator with Johnny Bench and Willie McCovey. They were having a conversation about Willie Mays. From what Bench said and what McCovey said, Mays didn’t want to come that day. He was spooked by the weather, by the stillness and the heat. He didn’t like the air.

Tim McCarver, analyst, ABC: I remember getting sick at Candlestick at around three, after our managers’ meetings. I felt just awful. I don’t know that I had any sense of impending doom at 5:04 that October 17, but I’ve often thought about that.

The Earthquake hits:

Noah Graham, fan, lower deck: I remember seeing the right-field foul pole and it’s bouncing back and forth, like a needle on a metronome.

Busch: I was absolutely convinced we were going to die.

Maldonado: It felt like if you’re surfing, like you’re in a wave, and I felt myself elevating.

Roger Craig, Giants manager: I was in my office when the walls started shaking. I heard Don Robinson hollering, “Earthquake! Earthquake!” I told everybody to run out to the parking lot. It was asphalt and it was just rolling.

Scott Garrelts, Giants starting pitcher: I saw cars kind of bumping each other.

Reporting the story:

Ley: We make our way downstairs. At that point, people are still being led into the stadium. The cops haven’t stopped it. Nobody knows what’s going on.

Gallagher: We had no emergency power. We had no way to talk to people. The emergency preparedness, if you will, was really sorely lacking.

Letendre: Everything was down except for one land line in the press box of Candlestick Park.

Bob Cohn, reporter, Arizona Republic: I go to the press room. I have one phone call. Rather than call my wife — my then-wife — I call the copy desk. Of course.

Murray Chass, reporter, New York Times: I felt I had to do my job. The lights were out in the press box, but there was light outside. So I went out of the press box to read some notes, and then went back to the phone to dictate. I did this several times until I dictated everything I had.

Ley: Baseball gave us a disadvantageous location for our set and our trucks, way out in center field by the parking lot. Because of that, we had to be on generator power. So what had been a marvelous pain in the ass was suddenly a blessing. Also, we had two functioning telephone lines. We gave the police one and kept the other to communicate with Connecticut.

And there’s more. A good read.

Baseball card: Ted Williams; No ring, but still No. 1 in Boston

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It doesn’t seem fair that Ted Williams only got to play in one World Series. And he hardly made the most of it, hitting only .200 with 1 RBI in the 7-game loss to St. Louis in 1946.

With Boston winning its third title since 2004, I still wanted to honor the all-time Red Sox hero, whose feats transcended the game.

The numbers are staggering. A .344 career batting average with a .482 OBP. Wow.

 

 

Weekend wrap: ESPN almost bought NFL Network; Ratings for PTI; Best calls in October

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Spanning the world to bring you the constant variety of sports media….

NFL Network: James Miller and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times write about the 10-year anniversary of the network, and how it almost was bought by ESPN.

Different as they are, ESPN and the NFL Network nearly became partners. In 2009, the league courted ESPN in a series of exhaustive negotiations that the league hoped would conclude with ESPN acquiring 50 percent of the NFL Network for $2 billion, according to league and network executives.

To help entice ESPN, the N.F.L. offered to reduce the price of “Monday Night Football.” The new “Monday Night” contract, which starts next season, will have ESPN paying an average of $1.9 billion a season, plus $100 million annually for a wild-card playoff game. The executives involved in the talks said the N.F.L. offered to cut the fee to $1.5 billion a year, with the playoff game tossed in as a signing bonus.

ESPN ratings: John Ourand and Austin Karp in Sports Business Daily have an interesting story about the drop in ratings for PTI and Around the Horn. There’s more to it.

ESPN executives acknowledge the drop from 2010, when both shows set viewership records. But they say the focus solely on TV viewership misses a bigger picture. They say more people than ever are watching these shows on DVR or WatchESPN — and roll out the numbers to back up their point. “PTI” has logged 1.3 million minutes viewed on WatchESPN, up 270 percent; “ATH” has logged 1.2 million minutes, up 335 percent. Overall, WatchESPN streams are up 77 percent over last year.

DVR usage is up on both shows. “PTI’s” 18 percent DVR rate (live plus seven days) is one of ESPN’s highest time-shifting rates. “ATH’s” time-shifting rate is 12 percent. And the “PTI” podcast is the top download in ESPN’s Podcenter so far this year; “ATH” is in the top 10.

It’s impossible to quantify that usage and its impact on overall viewership, but ESPN officials clearly believe both shows are drawing an all-time high audience.

“More people are watching than ever before,” Rydholm said. “They just aren’t watching in the same way as they did before.”

Calls of the month: Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing compiles his favorites for October.

Ohio State pulled off one of the most dramatic, unconventional covers in college football thanks to a wonky last second touchdown.  Only Brent Musburger could truly understand the gravity of the situation and just how much money was changing hands.

John Wooden: Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reports more books are being written about John Wooden.

Goodness gracious, sakes alive: Another book we’ve just got to read about John Wooden has landed on the shelves. With one more looming in the near future. And a third just aching for some outside forces to stop breaking bad.

Any more? Any reason why not?

 

Keith Olbermann: Michael Hainey of GQ has an interview on his return to ESPN and other subjects. Great headline on story: “The 4,567th and Final Comeback of Keith Olbermann.”

GQ: Do you believe in redemption?
Keith Olbermann: Yeah. I wound up working for ESPN again because I believe in it and because I was pursuing it. I’ve made no secret of this, and I believe it sincerely. As I said several times, if there’s anybody who bothers to write an obit for me, it will include something in the first paragraph about contentious exits. And I’d like to change that. So yeah, I kind of believe in redemption. This is my third tour at ESPN. I’ve had two at NBC, an eight-year run. We retire our presidents at eight years; I think we should retire our political commentators at something less than that. So I believe in it, and it’s not necessarily a permanent thing, but in this case I want to try to make it as permanent as circumstances will allow.

Michele Tafoya: Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks to Tafoya about the value of the sideline reporter.

“I can tell you that (Gaudelli) makes the most of the role,” Tafoya said during a telephone interview. “He sees the big picture. He never tries to jam something in that isn’t important. He doesn’t feel beholden to me. He and I work very hard together during the week. He and I have a conference call in the middle of the week. We have our own separate meeting alone, away from the crew, on the weekend heading into the game. It’s a completely different experience than I have had at any other place.”

Sage Steele: Richard Deitsch of SI.com talks to Steele about her new role as a host on ESPN’s NBA Countdown.

“Countdown had not had a host for a long time and they seemed pretty set on keeping it that way,” Steele said in a phone interview last week. “I had asked about the role in the past and I had always had interest in it but I was surprised. I’ve been in the business for 18 years and I have loved every moment but I’ve never been able to focus on one sport and really own one. It eventually was a no-brainer for me.”

Adrian Wojnarowski: Jason McIntyre of Big Lead has a podcast with the NBA writer for Yahoo! Sports.

Wojnarowski, along with a couple other writers, has been at the forefront of the modern sports column: Less navel-gazing pontificating – I think this, I think that – and more reporting/informed opinion. I worked with Wojnarowski a little over a decade ago at the Bergen Record, back when he was a general sports columnist, and twitter/sports blogs barely existed.

ESPN Ombudsman: In his latest column, Robert Lipsyte weighs in about David Pollack’s comments about Condoleezza Rice serving on the new BCS panel.

The ESPN female audience has risen to about 45 percent, according to last year’s figures, and the network has been making an effort to showcase female talent. The promotion of Doris Burke this month to studio analyst on “NBA Countdown” was a dramatic example.

But ESPN also has to do a better job of identifying those “good ol’ boy” comments and turning them into teachable moments for the guys who haven’t quite gotten their heads out of their lockers.

 

Podcast: Talking World Series ratings and more on Sports Media Weekly

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Thanks to Keith and Ken for having me on their podcast this week. While the two Red Sox fans were basking in the glory of another title, I waved my White Sox cap with memories of Chicago’s victory in the 2005 World Series. Yes, I enjoy living in the past.

The rundown:

We spend a good portion of our segment looking at Fox’ coverage of the World Series.  Fox has been promoting improved ratings over last year.  But the ratings had no where to go than up after last year’s Fall Classic registered the lowest ratings in history.

We delve into the length of games and how those on the east coast have a difficult time staying up to watch games that end near midnight.

We also look back at how Fox’ practice of focusing on crowd shots between pitches cost them during Game Four when they missed the pick-off play at first in the bottom of the ninth inning which ended the ball game.

We wrap up the news segment looking at the tenth anniversary of the NFL Network and the report from the New York Times on how the NFL was looking to sell a stake in the network to ESPN.

Our second guest this week is long time ABC Sports producer Doug Wilson who has a new book out entitled The World was Our Stage: Spanning the Globe with ABC Sports. Ken talks with Doug about his many decades with ABC, including his recollection of his relationships with the likes of Jim McKay and Roone Arledge as well as his time working ten Olympic Games for the network.

Real story about 2013 World Series ratings: Think Mendoza Line for historical lows

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Please fellow colleagues,  stop writing that the World Series was a huge success for Fox and Major League Baseball.

The reports talked about how ratings were up 17 percent from 2012 for the Boston-St. Louis series. Fox called it, “A Grand Slam” in a press release, and others ran with it, as if to say all is well with the game.

Well, here is the real story.

Yes, the final rating of 8.9 was up 17 percent from the 7.6 in San Francisco’s sweep over Detroit in 2012. But that series was an all-time low.

The ratings had nowhere to go but up. Not to pick on my old White Sox pal Adam Dunn, but proclaiming a 17-percent ratings increase is much like boasting about him raising his average 45 points from 2011 to 2012. Of course, he went from a horrific .159 to a bit less horrific .204.

Indeed, the recent ratings suggests, like Dunn, baseball is treading along the Mendoza Line.

Baseball now has failed to break double-digit ratings in three of the last four World Series, and it barely got there with a 10 for St. Louis’ victory in seven games over Texas in 2011.

If you’re looking for a recent comparison, go to the Yankees’ six-game triumph over Philadelphia in 2009. That series did an 11.9 rating. The 2013 Series was down 26 percent compared to that number.

And don’t give me that it was the Yankees. The Red Sox also have a massive national appeal. Heck, when they swept Colorado in 2007, the series still did a 10.6 rating; it was a huge 15.8 for their curse-breaking victory over St. Louis in 2004.

Now that 15.8, if not 10.6, seems like a pipe dream. Consider that a compelling six-gamer in 2013 featuring two of baseball’s most storied franchises failed to even pull a 9 rating. It was the fourth-lowest rating of all time.

Privately, I bet Fox and MLB executives had to be disappointed that this series didn’t do at least a 10 rating. Back in the mid-2000s, the number probably would have been closer to 15.

As I wrote earlier in the week, the erosion in the World Series ratings is a recent trend that really began in the mid-2000s. Viewers began to tune out the Fall Classic, and many of them haven’t come back.

How bad has it gotten? Take a look at this passage from Sports Media Watch:

For the fifth time in six years, the World Series was outdrawn by the NBA Finals. The Heat/Spurs series averaged a 9.7 rating and 16.2 million viewers through six games, and a 10.5 and 17.7 million for the full seven. The NBA Finals also averaged a 7.1 rating among adults 18-49.

Keep in mind, the NBA Finals are in June, when fewer people are watching TV. Long gone are the days when the NBA Finals barely registered compared to the World Series. Now it is somewhat of a benchmark.

Indeed, the bar has been lowered significantly when people are celebrating an 8.9 rating for a compelling World Series. That’s the real story here, colleagues.

 

 

 

 

Views on Dino Costa’s ouster at SiriusXM: ‘Cancel my subscription’; ‘Must accept accountability’

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News that Dino Costa is out at SiriusXM filled my comment box this week. I thought I would share some of the viewers from readers.

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Joe: Firing Dino was a big mistake. My subscription is up in February. I will not be renewing.

Ji Mancha: Dino Costa is the most intriguing sports talk radio host I have ever come across! Not only are his views and opinions on the world of sports unique he also has a way of elaborating on issues outside of the sports world that can be just as compelling!

I have been listening to Dino Ever since he started with channel 86! I couldn’t believe they let him go and even worse the new station he was aired on did nothing whatsoever to promote the best radio talent we have heard in decades! What a disgrace! Its a shame that a talent like Dino’s can’t get a break! I am praying for you Dino and I hope you will find someone that will recognize your talents and abilities as much as we your fans do!!!

Tom: Really? Dumb move! He was the best sports talk guy you had. You guys blew this one big time. All these other bozos only tell you everything you already know, not Dino. That’s why he was great to hear. Wake up before it’s to late, and put the great one back on or you can kiss my subscription good bye when it runs out. He’s like money in the bank and you’re too dumb to know it.

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And there’s more. Little question, Costa had plenty of followers at SiriusXM. However, I thought the following comments are on target on why he finally was shown the door.

Bcoring: Plenty of blame to go around here. First off, I agree with everything written about this unfortunate situation, especially the part about Howard (Stern). SXM is missing a big opportunity here.

However, Dino must accept some accountability for this. By his third show on SportsZone he already was complaining about the hours, the station, the other shows on the station. He could blow away an entire hour being the Victim. Instead of getting down to the business of making SportsZone the channel that SHOULD be built around him and working with what he had, he immediately began complaining about what he didn’t have. Whining, complaining to the point where it just became boring. Like a child who doesn’t get what he wants.

In real life, very few people get what they want by harshly criticizing and insulting their employer. He should stop complaining about his raw deal and go out, in a constructive manner, get a better one. Dino is an amazing talent, he is a marvelous interviewer his monologues are compelling, his topics are timely. He’s the best I’ve ever heard in 50+ years of listening to radio. I will sorely miss him. What I won’t miss is the Victim, the anger and constant negativity.

Tom: There is no question that Dino is a talented talkshow host, but listening to Dino was like watching a train wreck which is about to happen. You just can’t turn away, and, sure enough, Dino wrecked once again. He will always blow things up, because that’s how he rolls. Once MDR hired Adam Schein, the writing was on the wall for Dino. He knew it and this switch to 92 was not going to work either, principally because he had to get up at 3:30 every morning in order to start by 5 am.

Dino, who used Stern and Rush as his role models, thinks he’s a star and he is…in a very small galaxy. Good luck in the podcast world, Dino. I never agreed with your politics, but you are interesting. Like a train wreck.

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Indeed, while there were times I enjoyed Costa’s style, I got turned off by his rants about SiriusXM, especially Chris Russo. It was Russo who gave him a shot on Mad Dog Radio. It was Russo who continued to defend Costa even in light of all the rip jobs on him.

Ultimately, Russo took the high road; Costa didn’t. It got old for me, and I tuned out.

If Costa says he is as talented and cutting edge as he thinks, I’m sure suitors are lined up at his door with bushels of money.