Schaap E:60 story on paralyzed football player helps prompt legislation in Illinois

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This is an example of how sports journalism can have an impact.

Last October, Jeremy Schaap told the tragic story of an Illinois high school player for E:60.

ESPN E:60 | “Busted Coverage” ~ Jeremy Schaap from Bluefoot Entertainment on Vimeo.

In 2000, Rocky Clark, 16, suffered two broken vertebrae and a devastating spinal cord injury in an Eisenhower High School football game. He was paralyzed from the neck down. His family was told by school officials Rocky’s medical costs would be covered by Eisenhower’s insurance. Full-time nursing, medication, supplies, and his own determination allowed Rocky to surpass life expectancy for most quadriplegics.

Then at age 26, ten years later, the insurance company sent a letter saying Rocky’s lifetime maximum of $5 million had been reached and coverage for his care was ended. Medicaid and limited state resources helped a little, but the quality of his care declined and, in January of 2012, Rocky died.

How was this allowed to happen? Thankfully, the story struck a chord with people who can make a difference.

Illinois State Senator Napoleon B. Harris III wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again. From the Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus staff:

“Rocky’s attitude was always inspiring, and his experience inspired his mother, his family, supporters and me to do something to prevent uninsured catastrophic injury costs,” said State Senator Napoleon B. Harris, III. “I’m sponsoring Senate Bill 2178 to require catastrophic insurance be in place so in a worst case scenario, our student athletes and their families aren’t left on their own.”

Harris’ measure would require public high school districts and private high schools to provide catastrophic accident insurance for all student athletes in IHSA programs, and to set benefit limits of $7.5 million or 15 years, in excess of other insurance provided by the school district. It would require IHSA to provide a group policy to ensure coverage is affordable for school district. The bill does not dictate a funding source, but the cost of $5-10 per student could be an extracurricular activity fee, raised by a parent-booster group, or through other fundraising. Iowa passed a similar law, and the Iowa Farm Bureau stepped up to cover the cost.

National media coverage, including ESPN, helped shed light on Rocky’s story. Representative Will Davis sponsored a bill in the House in 2012 similar to SB2178, and is doing the same this year. Davis and Harris are working together for passage of this measure in 2013. SB 2178 passed in the Senate Insurance Committee Wednesday, and House Bill 127 is currently in the House Education Committee.

 

 

No pay for college players: Scholarship more than enough for playing a game

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All hail the start of the NCAA tournament. Given that it is 16 degrees in Chicago on the first day of spring, that seems reason enough to stay inside and watch basketball all day.

News flash: The weather sucks in Chicago.

The start of the tournament will launch the inevitable cries that the players should be paid. I can hear the chorus now: The NCAA and colleges make big money off the three-week basketball feast and the poor players get nothing.

Pay the players!

Well, as a public service announcement, I’m here to say it can’t happen and it shouldn’t happen.

The argument is based on a myth: College athletic programs are rolling in cash.

Just the opposite is true. Most athletic programs lose money, and have to be subsidized by their university. These are hugely expensive endeavors, considering the costs of scholarships, facilities, coaches, etc. People see the 100,000-plus in Michigan Stadium for a football game and believe that’s the case everywhere. It isn’t.

Also, the cost of success in college athletics keeps going up exponentially. It’s an arms race of ridiculous proportions. There’s a never-ending need to spend millions on lavish facilities to keep up with the school down the road. As a result, whatever money comes in goes out just as quickly.

For the vast majority of schools, the funds aren’t there to pay the athletes. Not without a dramatic cutback on sports and scholarships.

Also, just who would get paid? Only football and basketball players? They bring in the big money, right?

Again, another myth. Plenty of those sports lose money at schools not named Ohio State (football) or Kentucky (basketball). Meanwhile, there are women’s basketball and hockey programs that make a profit for their schools. Why shouldn’t those athletes get paid?

In fact, I can’t see any model that doesn’t include paying every scholarship athlete. It is the only equitable way to determine who gets a paycheck. If you’re going to pay the starting quarterback, you also have to pay the woman cross country runner.

If you include all the scholarship athletes, then you’re talking millions to cover the costs. Again, the money isn’t there. I can assure you schools will respond by cutting scholarships and programs.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany got criticized this week for a hardline view about paying players. Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples had the report about the commissioner’s remarks in Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit against the NCAA.

Staples wrote:

In a declaration filed last week in federal court in support of the NCAA’s motion against class certification, Delany threatened that any outcome that results in athletes getting a piece of the schools’ television revenue could force the schools of the Big Ten to de-emphasize athletics as the Ivy League’s schools did decades ago.

“…it has been my longstanding belief that The Big Ten’s schools would forgo the revenues in those circumstances and instead take steps to downsize the scope, breadth and activity of their athletic programs,” Delany wrote. “Several alternatives to a ‘pay for play’ model exist, such as the Division III model, which does not offer any athletics-based grants-in-aid, and, among others, a need-based financial model. These alternatives would, in my view, be more consistent with The Big Ten’s philosophy that the educational and lifetime economic benefits associated with a university education are the appropriate quid pro quo for its student athletes.”

Many people viewed Delany’s comments as extreme. They can’t conceive that the Big Ten would forgo billions of dollars in athletic revenue.

Maybe not, but Delany knows paying players would create nothing but chaos. Such as: Why should the star point guard get paid the same amount as the 14th player at the end of the bench? Here come more lawsuits.

It isn’t a stretch for Delany to say the Big Ten presidents wouldn’t want any part of that.

Besides, the athletes already get paid. As a parent with a junior in high school, I am getting a harsh education about the cost of higher education. If my son wants to go Indiana, it will cost in excess of $40,000 per year for out-of-state tuition.

Yet thanks to their scholarships, the top Hoosier athletes get all expenses paid. That’s nearly $200,000 over four years.

Somebody please tell me how that’s not getting paid. I love my son, but I would love him even more if he could throw a football 60 yards.

So as you watch the NCAA tournament, just know that the players aren’t going home empty-handed. Those scholarships are a nice haul for being able to shoot a basketball.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maxed out: You won’t see much more of Heat’s winning streak

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If it seems like the Miami Heat have been featured in virtually every NBA telecast, it is because they have. Unfortunately, LeBron’s national show is about to end, just as the Heat make their run at the Los Angeles Lakers’ 33-game winning streak.

According to Austin Karp of Street and Smith’s Business Daily, the Heat are nearly at their league maximums for national TV during the regular season.

Karp writes:

ESPN is only scheduled to have one more Heat game this season — next Wednesday’s matchup against the Bulls (potential win No. 27) — while ABC will air the April 14 Bulls-Heat game. ESPN and ABC will then be maxed out on appearances by the Heat, as the nets will have shown the team 10 and five times, respectively. TNT also only has one scheduled Heat game left before it hits its max of 10 broadcasts, the April 2 matchup against the Knicks (win No. 31).

This isn’t good. Just as the Heat streak really is getting hot, there’s only two national games on the schedule between now and the possible record-breaker? Definitely a letdown, there.

And what happens if the streak still is alive, and Heat are going for No. 34 against Milwaukee on April 9? Karp writes:

An ESPN spokesperson said the net would be able to show live cut-ins of the game on its “NBA Coast To Coast” whip-around show. However, it could not air the entire game. NBA TV could be the beneficiary of ESPN and TNT’s misfortune, as the April 9 game likely will be among those up for selection in the net’s weekly Fan Night pick.

If it breaks down that way, plenty of viewers will be searching to find the exact channel for NBA TV on their cable outlets.

Indeed, NBA TV definitely stands to be the big winner. Wonder what kind of rating the network received for airing the end of last night’s game?

 

 

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Sports Emmy nominations are in: Did Skip Bayless get another nod?

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There won’t be any wildfires this year. Skip Bayless, whose nomination in the outstanding studio analyst category in 2012 almost took down Twitter, did not get nominated this year.

However, plenty of other people did as the Sports Emmy nominations just came in. The big night is set for May 7 in New York.

Here’s the rundown of nominations by network groups:

NBC Sports Group: 58

ESPN (which includes ABC): 43

Turner Sports: 27

Fox Sports Media Group: 17

HBO: 17

NFL Network: 16

CBS (includes Showtime): 15

MLB Network: 9

Not surprisingly, NBC’s coverage of the London Olympics received the most nominations with 14. The NBA on TNT and Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel were next with six.

And the biggies:

Outstanding Sports Personality: Play-by-Play

Mike Breen ABC
Mike Emrick NBC / NBC Sports Network
Al Michaels NBC
Jim Nantz CBS

Note: Where’s Joe Buck? Dan Shulman should have gotten a nod.

Outstanding Sports Personality: Sports Event Analyst

Ato Boldon, NBC
Cris Collinsworth, NBC
Jon Gruden, ESPN
Jim Kaat, MLB Network
Mike Mayock, NFL Network / NBC

Note: Jeff Van Gundy is a big omission. So is Ed Olczyk.

Outstanding Sports Personality: Studio Host

James Brown, CBS / Showtime
Bob Costas, NBC / NBC Sports Network
Rich Eisen, NFL Network
Ernie Johnson, TNT / NBA TV
Dan Patrick, NBC / NBC Sports Network /DirecTV

Note: Thrilled to see Eisen get recognized. Chris Fowler needs to be on this list.

Outstanding Sports Personality: Studio Analyst

Charles Barkley TNT / NBA TV
Tony Dungy, NBC
Boomer Esiason, CBS
Harold Reynolds, MLB Network
Bill Ripken, MLB Network
Kurt Warner, NFL Network

Note: Wow, quite a step in class for Cal’s little brother. A lot of big names missing here.

Outstanding Sports Personality: Sports Reporter

Andrea Joyce, NBC / NBC Sports Network
Pierre McGuire, NBC / NBC Sports Network
Lisa Salters, ESPN
Michele Tafoya, NBC
Tom Verducci, MLB Network / TBS

Note: Doris Burke is stellar on NBA. Should be included.

Outstanding Studio Show (Weekly)

College Gameday, ESPN
Football Night in America, NBC
Inside the NBA, TNT
Inside the NFL, Showtime

Note: All three NFL Sunday daytime pregame shows (CBS, Fox, ESPN) fail to get a nomination.

Outstanding Live Sports Series

ESPN Monday Night Football, ESPN
NASCAR on FOX, FOX / SPEED
NBA on TNT, TNT
NFL on FOX, FOX
Sunday Night Football, NBC

Note: CBS’ football coverage gets shut out.

Outstanding Live Sports Special

The 96th Indianapolis 500, ABC
The 108th World Series, FOX
The Army-Navy Game, CBS
The Masters, CBS
Super Bowl XLVI, NBC

Note: Interesting that the Army-Navy game made it into this category.

Outstanding Sports Documentary

26 Years: The Dewey Bozella Story, ESPN2
Dream Team, NBA TV
Klitschko, HBO
Namath, HBO
The Announcement, ESPN

Note: All good, and plenty of others deserving.

 

 

 

 

Fox Sports 1 to televise more than 100 games with new Big East deal

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From my perspective, that’s the big takeaway from today’s official announcement of Fox Sports 1’s deal with the new Big East, aka, the Catholic 7.

It’s all about content. The deal provides the new network with more than 100 games. That’s a nice thing to have during the winter months.

I wouldn’t expect Fox Sports 1 to stop here. It will be active players for more college basketball rights as they become available.

*******

Here’s the official release:

he Big East Conference, boasting ten institutions with tradition-rich athletics programs and FOX Sports have entered into a landmark 12-year multi-platform media rights agreement beginning with the 2013-14 academic year. The announcement was made today during a press conference held in New York City attended by the presidents of the Big East’s member institutions, along with FOX Sports Co-President and COO Randy Freer and FOX Sports Executive Vice President, Larry Jones. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The reconstituted Big East Conference now features Butler University, Creighton University, DePaul University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence College, St. John’s University, Seton Hall University, Villanova University and Xavier University beginning with the 2013-14 academic year. Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s and Seton Hall are all founding members of the Big East, which began conference play in 1979. Villanova was added in 1980, while DePaul and Marquette joined in 2005. The official addition of Butler, Creighton and Xavier universities was also announced during the press conference today.

The agreement grants FOX Sports rights to all conference-controlled men’s basketball games, select rights to women’s basketball, all Olympic sports and extensive rights for highlights and to produce ancillary programming.

FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports’ newly minted national multi-sport channel which launches this summer, is slated to televise over 100 men’s regular-season basketball games next season. The network is also scheduled to carry the entire Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament each season, live from Madison Square Garden in New York City, the tournament’s home since 1983, and the longest-running conference tournament played at one venue.

“We applaud all the Big East schools for taking responsibility for their own destiny and forming what is clearly one of the top college basketball leagues in the country,” said Freer. “The quality of the competition is obvious. Five teams who will play in the renewed Big East next season are playing in this year’s NCAA tournament, and seven qualified for postseason play overall. We’re extremely proud and fortunate to offer college basketball of this caliber on FS1 next season and for many seasons to come.”

Added Father Dennis Holtschneider, President of DePaul University: “The New Big East is fortunate to have found a partner such as FOX Sports, which shares our intense passion for college basketball, and is committed to celebrating the student-athletes and the natural rivalries that make college athletics so unique and appealing for fans across the nation.”

 

 

 

Colin Cowherd: Working on new TV project; Book comes out in November

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Get ready for more Colin Cowherd coming to a TV and bookstore near you.

While chatting with him Tuesday about his radio show being picked up in Chicago on ESPN 1000, Cowherd said he is at work on a new TV project at ESPN. He also has a book coming out in November.

Regarding television, Cowherd said, “It’s under wraps. I don’t think they are comfortable with blabbing about it.”

Cowherd, though, isn’t good at the not-talking thing. While he didn’t divulge everything, he did provide some hints. The plan doesn’t appear to be a daily TV show, as he did with SportsNation. It sounds more like Cowherd will have special segments on various ESPN platforms, including SportsCenter.

“Doing a three-hour radio show followed by a 30-minute to hour TV can be exhausting,” Cowherd said. “Anytime you do that I always worry that the quality suffers on TV. I don’t know if that is my future. Perhaps doing features and really thoughtful pieces would be more my future.

“I’m not one who thinks getting your face constantly on TV is good. To add a TV component, I’d like to make sure it’s smart, thoughtful, well funded. As I get older–maybe I’m losing my energy–I don’t want to just be on the air. I want to do interesting stuff.”

As for his book, Herd Mentality: Things About Sports and Life I Think but Probably Shouldn’t Say will hit the stores in the fall.

“It is stuff from a kid who came through divorces and from rural America, and I always have had a different way of seeing the world,” Cowherd said. “I wanted to put it in book form. It’s been hard, but I don’t know if I ever had more fun.”

 

 

Chicago radio shuffle: Cowherd show to air in morning on ESPN 1000; Waddle-Silvy to afternoons

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Colin Cowherd is coming to Chicago.

As expected, the lineup has been shuffled at ESPN 1000.

Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman are moving from mid-morning to the 2-6 p.m. afternoon slot. Carmen DeFalco and John Jurkovic will shift to the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. slot.

The new addition will be an hour of Cowherd’s national ESPN show. It will air from 9-10 a.m. Gone, at least in Chicago, will be Scott Van Pelt and Ryan Russillo, whose show currently airs from 1-2 p.m. on the station.

The changes are effective April 1.

ESPN appears to be making a push to extend Cowherd’s reach into more markets. It remains to be seen whether Chicago will embrace Cowherd.

Cowherd did some early romancing Tuesday, saying how he and his wife, a Michigan native, consider Chicago “their favorite city.”

“I never thought I’d get on in Chicago,” Cowherd said. “I’ve been on in New York and Los Angeles, so it’ll be great to be on there. Chicago has a pedigree as having a great radio market. There are talented people there (in sports talk radio). I know it won’t be easy. If you don’t bring your ‘A’ game, you’ll vanish in that market.”

Asked how he would describe himself to Chicago listeners who never have heard him, Cowherd said, “It won’t take long for people to know I drink a lot of coffee.”

“I take each segment very seriously,” Cowherd said. “I’m not saying I’m always right, but I’m going to come out with a ton of energy.”

The shake-up was expected after ESPN 1000 cut ties with Harry Teinowitz from the afternoon show a few weeks ago. The station is trailing its sports talk rival, WSCR-AM 670, in the ratings race.

ESPN 1000 knows it has to improve its numbers in the afternoon. In the January ratings of men 25-54 (the key demographic for sports talk radio) from 1-6 p.m., ESPN 1000′s afternoon show placed 17th with a 2.6 audience share.  Meanwhile, its main competition, Dan Bernstein and Terry Boers at WSCR-AM 670, was No. 1 with a 6.5 share.

ESPN 1000 is counting on the appeal of Waddle, a popular former Bear, and the chemistry he’s built with “Silvy,” to cut into that deficit.

As for the morning, there’s an interesting sidelight. Jurkovic now will be competing against his former ESPN 1000 partner and close friend, Dan McNeil, who teams with Matt Spiegel from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on WSCR.

Stay tuned for more.

 

 

Dodgers come to aid of Simers while suffering from stroke; ‘I hope I don’t have to call them Choking Dogs’

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T.J. Simers had a scary episode that fortunately wasn’t much worse.

The Los Angeles Times columnist suffered from a  small stroke while covering the Dodgers in spring training. He wrote about how the Dodgers staff came to his rescue.

I alerted Times beat reporter Dylan Hernandez that I couldn’t cover the Dodgers. He told the Dodgers because he thinks delivering good news makes him more popular.

Dodgers PR guy Steve Brener called to confirm, a little too giddy for my taste.

I mentioned banging into the furniture and suddenly he’s got me talking to Dodgers trainer Sue Falsone. She wanted me to look in the mirror and smile. I never thought of that before. I never see anyone smiling when I arrive, so this was my chance to see what it would look like.

The rest is a blue blur with the Dodgers saving me. I wonder if this means their motto for 2013 will be: Win It for Page 2.

I hope I don’t have to wind up calling them the Choking Dogs.

And Simers wrote:

They had me stay overnight so the nurses could practice taking blood in the dark. Brener and Tom Lasorda stopped by. Lasorda used the bathroom so I would know he was there with me the whole way.

The Times’ obit writer emailed to wish me well.

Hernandez stopped by to see if it was time to apply for the Page 2 column. Ned Colletti was a visitor. There were no Angels, and I was pretty happy about that because the last place you want to see angels is in a hospital.

They tell me I’ll be fine. I’m supposed to interview Floyd Mayweather on Tuesday, so we’ll see.

To be completely honest, I wrote this to see if I could still do it. (I await the messages to the contrary.)

 

 

LeBron rules: Heats-Celtics thriller pulls huge rating for ESPN

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This is why ESPN loves teams that have a 23-game winning streak, and games that go down to the last minute.

Last night’s Miami-Boston game did a 3.1 rating on ESPN, the third-highest ever for a regular-season game on the network.

In case you missed it, here is LeBron James’ latest addition to his highlight reel. Said Hubie Brown: “That’s sending it down with some power.”

One more chance to experience the weirdness that is Bill Walton; On NIT game tonight

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Yes, folks, ESPN is giving him an encore.

Thanks to the NIT, Bill Walton will be on the call for the Stephen F. Austin-Stanford game Tuesday. Tipoff is 11 p.m. ET, but it might be worth staying up late to watch his show. When it comes to goofiness, Conan, Dave, Jay and Jimmy combined won’t match the big redhead. It could be the first NIT game that is must-see TV.

Walton went over the top several times during his analysis of the Pac 12 tournament. In the video above, he conjures up the image of Ray Lewis in a limo. Apparently, he forgot two people died in that incident. Not exactly something you joke about.

Walton also brought up Bill Simmons’ suspension at one point during a game.

Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites compiled an impressive list of Walton’s best/worst lines.

A sample:

“The vision of what could possibly be for the nation’s greatest conference! The conference that has all the records! The conference that has all the perfect demographics, all the cool spots! This event this week has been one of the greatest things I’ve ever participated in my whole life! It went over the top today, because at the MGM Grand, they had a pool party this afternoon. Oh my gosh! The bands were there! The bikinis were out in full force! It was absolutely remarkable!

“And then on the way to the game tonight through the lobby and the Golden Lion and the bands were all around that, the cheerleaders were dancing! And at the bottom of the elevator below my room, there was Wolfgang Puck’s open until 6 a.m. in the morning! Come on! This is just fantastic! Thank you, Larry Scott!”

Kudos to Dave Pasch for attempting to make sense out of all the nonsense.

My 17-year-old heard Walton’s act for the first time. He asked, “Who is that guy?”

I replied, “Oh, maybe the best player in college basketball history. If not the best, then top 3.”

My son said, “Really? He’s weird.”

Yes, Bill Walton is an acquired taste.