Reinsdorf on Harrelson’s style: If up to me, there wouldn’t be homers in booth

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I covered the White Sox for three years in the late 80s. I spent a lot of time around Jerry Reinsdorf. I always found him interesting and extremely candid.

Nothing has changed on both fronts more than 25 years later.

I was driving in the car Saturday morning and heard the Sox owner on Talkin’ Baseball with Bruce Levine and Fred Huebner on WMVP-AM 1000.

The subject of Ken Harrelson’s broadcast style came up. Friday, he nearly fell out of the booth calling Jordan Danks’ walk-off homer.

As usual, Reinsdorf spoke with complete candor.

In fact, Reinsdorf said if it was up to him, Harrelson probably would have a much different approach to the Sox broadcasts.

From Reinsdorf:

(Harrelson is) a homer. There are a lot of people who don’t like that style of broadcasting. When I grew up in New York, there were no homers. We had Mel Allen and Red Barber. They played it straight down the middle.

I came to Chicago in 1957. I heard Jack Quinlan and Jack Brickhouse rooting for their teams. I thought that was awful, absolutely awful. There were a lot of people in Chicago who didn’t root for the local teams.

I remember saying to myself, ‘If I had the opportunity (to own a team), I would not have a homer in the booth.’

Reinsdorf did buy the Sox in 1981 and was subjected to one of the game’s great homers, Harry Caray, for a season. He eventually let Caray go to the Cubs after the season, a decision that’s still a matter of great debate in Chicago.

Reinsdorf continues:

We hired Don Drysdale and Ken Harrelson in 1982. We said, ‘We don’t want homerism. We want you to play this right down the middle, a network-quality broadcast.’

Our fans absolutely hated that. Chicago fans want their announcers to root for their teams.

I unleashed them. I said, ‘Go ahead and root.’

If it were up to me, there wouldn’t be homerism. It’s not up to me. It’s up to the fans and they get what they want.

Reinsdorf, though, somewhat compromises his argument when he brings up watching games on MLB’s Extra Innings package.

Reinsdorf said:

Most of those broadcasts are boring. They don’t have any exciting personalities at all.

Boring? Again appreciate the candor, Jerry.

I have to agree with him. There are a lot of dull telecasts out there.

But Jerry, doesn’t Hawk’s unique style make him more interesting? Would he be as compelling if he played it straight? I don’t think so.

You can say plenty about Harrelson, but nobody will ever call him dull.

 

 

 

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What’s wrong with you? 5.4 million people watch horrid NFL preseason game on ESPN

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I know it felt weird last night with the Olympics being over. Suddenly, we all had 3-4 hours of actually having to make a decision as to what to watch on TV. No, reading a book was not an option.

Even Luke Donald found the situation perplexing, noting in this tweet:

@LukeDonald  Missing my usual couple of hours of evening Olympic coverage. Not quite the same watching keeping up with the Kardashians!!!

Apparently, other people felt withdrawal. For some, it got so bad they actually tuned into the Dallas-Oakland preseason game on ESPN.

Incredibly, the telecast did a 3.8 overnight rating, which was higher than the total points scored in the 3-0 game. That translates into 5.4 million people who had nothing better to do than watch something that vaguely resembled football.

From Mr. Twitter:

@darrenrovell  Last night’s Cowboys-Raiders game drew 5.4 million viewers, beating Game 6 of this year’s Stanley Cup Finals (4.9 million)

Really, what’s wrong with you, people? Just because they trot out players wearing NFL uniforms doesn’t mean they are actually NFL players. You’ll never get those three hours back.

As for me, I watched American Triumvirate, the Golf Channel’s fine documentary on Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan.

Hey, Luke, forget about the Kardashians. You should be watching Hogan, Snead and Nelson.

 

Update: HBO Hard Knocks will have footage of Philbin releasing Johnson

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Update: Just got this email from HBO:

There will be footage of Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin meeting in his office with Chad Johnson and releasing him from the team.

Should be some big ratings tonight.

********

I can’t say that I was a big fan of the Chad Johnson segments during the first episode of Hard Knocks. As usual, he went out of his way to draw attention to himself. I didn’t get a kick out of it considering I think he’s washed up. If you can’t catch more than 15 passes with Tom Brady as your QB, you’re done.

Well, Johnson found a way to spice up what figures to be his last appearance on this year’s Hard Knocks (HBO, Tuesday, 10 p.m.). The Dolphins dumped him following an alleged domestic violence incident with his wife.

According to HBO, the Johnson saga will be included in Tuesday’s episode. However, it isn’t featured in this preview.

I’d look for it more towards the end of the show since it happened late last week. Should be interesting.

Time to get real time: NBC needs to solve live issue for next Olympics

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A couple of Olympics observations before we go back to real sports:

******

During a teleconference, I was struck by a comment from NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus. He called critics of the network’s coverage “a vocal minority” compared to the “silent majority” who made up the bulk of the high primetime ratings.

Now I’m not so sure on Lazarus’ breakdown when it comes to minority and majority. And he shouldn’t construe silence for total approval.

Regardless, Lazarus has to know that the “vocal minority” likely make up a large part of the bread-and-butter viewers of NBC Sports. With the non-traditional sports viewers (women, kids) departing until the next Olympics, many in the “vocal minority” will remain to watch Sunday Night Football, Notre Dame football, golf, hockey, and other sports on the network.

The “vocal minority” clearly want to watch their sports live. NBCOlympics.com does not fill the void for people who prefer their big screen TV. In this day and age, the core sports viewers demand to see events in real time, especially during the weekend. It’s a reasonable request. Really, do we have to wait six hours to watch Usain Bolt on tape delay in the 100 meters?

The whole dynamic makes NBC Sports’ core viewers frustrated and ultimately angry. Perception is highly important, and Lazarus should want the bread-and-butter feeling good about the network’s sports division.

Frankly, the fire over the live issue only is going to get worse for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It’s already starting. Last night, I got followed on Twitter by @Boycott NBC. Its one post read:

NBC has monopolistic Olympic coverage through 2020. Boycott @NBC and let a competent network cover the Games!

I don’t think it is in NBC Sports’ best interests to take another round of getting hammered over tape-delay coverage in primetime. Too much of the narrative about NBC in London was about the live issue, obscuring many of the good things it did.

Lazarus talked about the need to be “innovative” going forward with its Olympics franchise. I’m not sure what the solution is, but NBC must find a way to deliver live coverage on its many networks along with preserving the primetime shows. Have its cake and eat it too.

It’s time for Lazarus and company to innovate. Time for them to make everyone happy, including the “vocal minority,” which as I said may not be a minority.

*******

One thing I definitely won’t miss is the traditional bashing of NBC’s Olympics coverage. Aside from the live issue, some of the other stuff goes a bit over the top.

Lazarus addressed the criticism in an interview with Richard Deitsch at SI.com. He said:

As far as being defensive, I would say I am protective of the enterprise and  the people who have put so much into this and take pride in what they are  doing…I wish that [some of the criticism] was more comprehensive with research  or with the understanding of what we are doing and how we are doing it. I got an  email the other day from someone who said we had only shown five sports in the  Olympics. We have shown 30 sports on television and everything else is available  online. Frankly, some of the criticism was very personal and targeted and  attacked people by name. That’s reality but as someone leading this group, any defensiveness I feel is trying to protect people who are so dedicated.

Indeed, this is a massive undertaking involving 2,800 people who worked in London. NBC had to mobilize an army to pull off the 5,000-plus hours of coverage. It is an amazing feat that viewers tend to take for granted.

Was everything perfect, no? But it was pretty damn good.

Safe travels home from London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s official: Summer Olympics most-watched TV event of all time

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My question: Who are the people who didn’t watch the Olympics?

From NBC:

LONDON – August 13, 2012 – 219.4 million Americans watched the London Olympics on the networks of NBCUniversal, setting the record as the most-watched event in U.S. television history, surpassing the 2008 Beijing Olympics (215 million), according to data available today from The Nielsen Company.

NBCUniversal, presented its 13th Olympics, the most by any U.S. media company, with an unprecedented 5,535 hours of the 2012 London Olympics coverage across NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com, two specialty channels, and the first-ever 3D platform, an unprecedented level that surpasses the coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by nearly 2,000 hours.

 

  • 31.0 million average viewership for Closing Ceremony is most-watched for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics in 36 Years – topped Beijing by 12% and Athens by 58%;
  • NBC averaged 31.1 million viewers over 17 nights in primetime, the most-watched non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1976 Montreal Olympics – topped Beijing by 12% and Athens by 26%;
  • The 17.5/30 national household rating over 17 nights in primetime ties the 1988 Seoul Olympics as the highest-rated non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the 1976 Montreal Olympics;
  • NBC Olympics Digital set multiple records with video streams, engagement time and page views – nearly 2 billion page views and 159 million video streams;
  • NBC Sports Network had its most-watched event ever and its six most-watched days ever;
  • Halo effect led to record ratings and significant growth for NBC News’ TODAY and “Nightly News with Brian Williams”;
  • London Olympics lifts ratings and viewership for NBC’s affiliated stations and NBC Owned Television Stations;
  • Telemundo more than doubled its viewership from the 2008 Beijing Olympics;
  • Salt Lake City is top Olympic metered market for 7th straight Olympics;
  • Mountain Time Zone leads the way, followed by Pacific, Central and Eastern.

 

STEVE BURKE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NBCUNIVERSAL:

“The London Olympics was a wonderful 17 days for NBCUniversal, exceeding all our expectations in viewership, digital consumption and revenue. Every part of our company contributed to our success, once again showing how effective we can be when we all get together to support a large project. This was the first Olympic Games for Comcast and the new NBCUniversal, and the first in history in which every minute of every event was available live. We are proud to have been part of the last two weeks, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to our long run of Olympic Games through 2020.”

MARK LAZARUS: CHAIRMAN, NBC SPORTS GROUP:

“For 17 days, NBCUniversal has surrounded the American viewer with the London Olympics, which have now become the most-watched event in U.S. television history. There are thousands of dedicated and talented people in London and New York who take great pride in being part of these historic Games and this television milestone.”

 

All born in 1912: Golf Channel documentary on Hogan, Nelson, Snead

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You could make the argument that 1912 was the most significant year in golf history. That’s the year Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead were all born.

Now on the 100th anniversary of their birthdays, Golf Channel celebrates three men who changed the game with American Triumvirate (Monday at 9 p.m. ET).

Here is the trailer with the release below:

From the Golf Channel:

One-hundred years ago, three of the most impactful, game-changing and important names in golf were born three months apart: Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. Golf Channel will commemorate this centennial next Monday, Aug. 13, the exact 100th birthday of Ben Hogan, at 9 p.m. ET with the worldwide premiere of American Triumvirate, a captivating, hour-long special offering an in-depth look at the careers and lives of each man and who they were beyond the record books.

Narrated by acclaimed actor Kurt Russell, known for his hard-edged, tough guy roles in such movies as “Backdraft” (1991) and “Tombstone” (1993), American Triumvirate, presented by Zurich with limited commercial interruption, will show how this triumvirate of men helped save the sport in America and shape a modern, new era of golf. The film is motivated by American Triumvirate: San Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and the Modern Age of Golf written by author and golf historian James Dodson.

Between these three men the numbers are staggering: 198 combined PGA TOUR wins, and 21 combined major titles. Snead captured more victories than any other man in Tour – perhaps world – history. Nelson won more events consecutively and in one season than anyone else ever has or ever will. And Hogan authored the greatest career comeback – and arguably the greatest swing – golf has ever known. As the documentary transports viewers back to the early days of professional golf, it also highlights the myriad accomplishments of Nelson, Snead and Hogan that shattered the record books – their 198 combined titles are 39 more than Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player won as The Big Three.

Their accomplishments in golf are well documented, but through archival footage and interviews with family members, historians and contemporaries, American Triumvirate also paints a different picture about these men. Stories told will shed light on what really defined them, which was so much more than what they accomplished on the golf course.

“Because they were from anonymous places, they had authenticity … these guys did it without any help, they did it by themselves. They were models of absolute self-determination.” – James Dodson, golf historian and author of “American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf”

“You can always argue who was the greatest player, but Byron was the finest gentleman the game has ever known.” – Ken Venturi

The documentary begins with a look back at the 1912 birthplaces of each man, from the high plains and small towns of Texas (Nelson and Hogan) to the Blue Ridge hills of Virginia (Snead). Captured through past interviews with Nelson and Snead – and through the remembrances of Hogan’s widow, Valerie – viewers will discover how the hardscrabble circumstances of their youth and coming of age during the backdrop of the Great Depression formed for each man a blueprint for future greatness – but greatness achieved in uniquely different ways. The year, 1912, also saw the Titanic christened and sank, the first transcontinental flight, and famed Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium opened.

Their personal lives also are remembered through countless interviews that were recorded for the documentary. The final list includes: golf legends Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Ken Venturi; Nelson widow Peggy Nelson; noted swing coach Butch Harmon; Hogan widow Valerie Hogan; Snead nephew and former Tour player J.C. Snead; Snead’s son Jack Snead; Hogan protégé Kris Tschetter; Hogan friend Eldridge Miles; former USGA president Bill Campbell; former players Lanny Wadkins, Curtis Strange and David Feherty; Hogan biographer Curt Sampson, USGA historian Rand Jerris, golf historian Martin Davis and golf historian and author James Dodson. Historical interviews with Sam Snead and Byron Nelson also are included.

American Triumvirate will air on the heels of the 2012 PGA Championship. Golf Channel will host a special, pre-screening for family and friends of Hogan, Snead and Nelson, and for golf industry professionals tomorrow evening on Kiawah Island, S.C., site of this year’s final major championship tournament. American Triumvirate was produced by Golf Channel in conjunction with Mickey Holden Productions.

Quotes from the documentary:

“Sam Snead’s tempo was fantastic. I thought it was the best tempo I’ve ever seen.” – Jack Nicklaus

“You can always argue who was the greatest player, but Byron was the finest gentleman the game has ever known.” – Ken Venturi

“Anybody that says 11 straight is no big deal, for any reason, whether it was war time or there was nobody playing or whatever … look at the scores that he shot, the courses that he played. Eleven straight is astonishing.” – David Feherty on Byron Nelson’s record of 11 consecutive victories on Tour in the late ‘40s.

“If Tiger didn’t do it in 2000, I don’t see how anybody’s going to do it. Eighteen wins in one year will never be broken. Eleven straight … you can’t say anything is impossible, but that’s as close to impossible as I think it will ever be.” – Butch Harmon on Byron Nelson’s two victory records.

“I remember screaming … I said ‘Ben, it’s going to hit us,” and I didn’t even realize at the moment that he had jumped in front of me.” – Valerie Hogan recounting the collision with a bus in 1949 that seriously injured Ben Hogan and was thought to have permanently ended his golf career.

“Ben Hogan was a very, very good player before the accident. I think he was better after the accident. I think that speaks to how strong his mind, not only his will to survive, will to succeed, and his will to prove everybody wrong that said he couldn’t do something.” – Butch Harmon commenting on Hogan’s inspirational playoff win at the 1950 U.S. Open following his 1949 car accident.

“The golf tournament with his name on it meant so much to him – not because it had his name on it, but because it helped people.” – Peggy Nelson commenting on the Byron Nelson Championship as the working model for charity fundraising on the PGA TOUR.

“He did a lot of things for people in our county that nobody knows about, even the people he did it for didn’t know it was him doing it. He bought people homes, cars … there was people that got groceries from him for months and months and months that didn’t know where it was coming from.” – Jack Snead on his father’s charitable giving.

“They were out there to make a living, and it was difficult to make a living. Hogan went broke twice, before he ever won a tournament.” – Rand Jerris, United States Golf Association museum director.

“They were all born in 1912, yet they all dominated at different times.” – Martin Davis, golf historian.

Golf Channel strikes gold by landing Phelps for next Haney Project

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Hank Haney appeared on my golf talk radio show (The Scorecard, WSCR-AM 670 in Chicago) a few weeks ago. Towards the end of the interview, we asked him what celebrity was coming up for the next edition of the Haney Project on the Golf Channel.

“We’ve got a good one,” Haney said. “It’ll be announced soon.”

We pressed Haney, but he wouldn’t reveal the identity.

“People will be talking about it,” he said.

Turns out Haney wasn’t exaggerating. The Golf Channel announced that Michael Phelps is leaving the swimming pool for the course to work with Haney.

From the release.

The Haney Project will chronicle Phelps’ attempts to improve his game from tee-to-green with the guidance of Tiger Woods’ former swing coach when the hit original series returns for a fifth season on Golf Channel – television’s fastest-growing network among those servicing more than 80 million homes – in February 2013. The announcement was made today by Phelps and Mike McCarley, President, Golf Channel.

“I have traveled the world through swimming, but really haven’t had an opportunity to experience the world through my travels,” said Phelps. “As I enter this next chapter of my life, I think I will be able to shift my competitiveness to anything I put my mind to and golf is one of the things I want to focus on. If I have a goal of dropping a certain amount of shots, or working on my short game or putting, those things are going to keep me motivated and fire me up and keep me excited. I want to play all the world’s great golf courses, but I’d like to play them well. I’m excited about this project with Golf Channel and I’m looking forward to working with Hank and see what we can do together on the golf course.”

Phelps figures to be the show’s best subject since the weird golf swing of Charles Barkley was dissected in season 1.

Phelps still will be on an Olympic high, and people will want to see him any way they can. They might even enjoy seeing him get humbled by the ultimate humbling sport.

Said Golf Channel president Mike McCarley:

“We look forward to chronicling Michael’s transition from the most-decorated Olympian in history to a frustrated golfer trying to enjoy playing the world’s greatest golf courses,” McCarley said. “Golfers everywhere will be able to relate to his quest to improve his game.”

 

 

NBC wins big in London, but challenges loom for future Olympics

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That’s it. You can have your life back. As the ad says, “You’re now free to move around the country.

Now the postmortem begins. Here’s my piece that ran in today’s Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

*******

With the Olympic flame going out Sunday, it won’t be long before NBC turns its attention to the 2014 Winter Games.

There’s no such thing as an extended break when you have $4.38 billion invested for the rights to the next four Olympics.

NBC will prepare for its trek to Sochi, Russia in 2014 buoyed by ratings and financial success that far exceeded expectations for London. The 17-day extravaganza shows its Olympics franchise is stronger than ever.

Challenges loom: Yet it wasn’t a completely smooth run for the network. Going forward, NBC will have to address tough questions.

The issue of tape delay figures to be a heated topic again, as Sochi is eight hours ahead of New York; nine hours ahead of Chicago; 11 for Los Angeles. Can NBC endure another Olympics ignoring demands for live coverage of marquee events?

The network also has to solve glitches that hampered live streaming of events at NBCOlympics.com. Too often, the picture froze at crucial times on various digital devices.

Ultimately, NBC still needs to overcome the perception issues. Despite the high ratings, there was significant criticism over how NBC packages its telecasts of the Olympics. #NBCFail developed a strong following on Twitter.

Lazarus responds: Mark Lazarus, working his first Olympics as NBC Sports chairman, acknowledged the network has heard the reaction that lit up social media throughout the Games.

“Some of it is fair and we are listening,” Lazarus said.

Yet Lazarus believes the critics were “a vocal minority” compared to “a silent majority” of viewers who enjoyed NBC’s coverage. The claim would seem to be supported by a poll conducted last week by the Pew Research Center for the People and Press. It said 76 percent of the 1,005 respondents described the coverage as either excellent or good.

Validated: For NBC and Lazarus, though, the ultimate validation came in the ratings. NBC expected viewership for 2012 to be down by as much as 20 percent from the 2008 Games in Beijing, which had  marquee events live in primetime. Yet despite only taped coverage in primetime this year, NBC averaged 31.5 million viewers per night through Saturday, up 12 percent from Beijing.

NBC also did strong ratings during the day and on its other platforms, including the NBC Sports Network. All told, an estimated 210 million American tuned into its coverage.

“The ratings have been very gratifying,” Lazarus said. “We exceeded everyone’s expectations, including our own.”

Instead of a projected $200 million loss, the network believes it will break even on this year’s Games. With the rights for the next four Olympics relatively flat, NBC has reason to feel good about its big investment.

“The NBC brand is strengthened by the Olympics, and the Olympics are strengthened by NBC,” Lazarus said.

Live issue: Yet NBC came up short in some people’s eyes, especially over the live issue. The network drew considerable ire for not airing high-profile races featuring Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt live during consecutive Sunday afternoon telecasts. Instead, NBC waited nearly six hours to show those events during primetime.

Lazarus is quick to point out that NBC aired more than 30 hours of live coverage daily on its platforms and that every sport was available live on NBCOlympics.com. However, he did acknowledge the network will reexamine its stance for 2014.

“We evaluate our business models all the time, and seek the best ways to satisfy the majority of viewers, as well as advertisers, and our affiliate stations,” Lazarus said. “We have to wait for the data from these Games to come in, and then we’ll make our plans accordingly.”

Lazarus also will evaluate the performance of NBCOlympics.com. It generated more than 1 billion page views. However, the network took heat for technical problems that arose due to the unprecedented amount of live coverage.

“You can’t simulate the Olympic Games,” Lazarus said. “After the first weekend, in relative terms, we had very few issues. The evidence is in the length and amount of live streaming as the Games went on—the numbers are staggering.”

On to Sochi: Indeed, these Olympics marked a transition of sorts. The impact of the digital component, from social media giving a wider voice for critics to watching a 100-meter race on your cell phone, was significant. Lazarus expects the evolution of new technologies to ramp up even more going into 2014 and beyond.

“We’re going to continue to innovate,” Lazarus said. “What we’re doing today is leaps and bounds ahead of  the way the Olympics were handled in Beijing. We’ve got the Olympic games through 2020, and the one thing we know for sure is that the media  landscape is going to change.”