This just in from the Big Ten Network:
BTN will have a live special report from State College at 11 AM ET today on the removal of the statue of Joe Paterno from outside Beaver Stadium. Dave Revsine and Gerry DiNardo are in studio, and Rick Pizzo is in State College.
Jim Bell doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who takes himself too seriously.
When I asked how it will feel to sit in The Chair–the “Ebersol chair” if you will–during the Olympics, he went into a mock panic.
“I’m going to be very nervous,” Bell said. “I didn’t think this would actually happen.”
Seriously, Bell knows he has a big seat to fill as NBC’s executive producer for the Olympics in London. Previously, that role was played by former NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who personally called the shots for every Olympics televised by the network since 1988.
Now with Ebersol stepping aside and only serving as a consultant in London, it will be Bell, 44, who will be making the big decisions during NBC’s massive coverage of the Games.
He hardly is a rookie. He is executive producer of Today and has worked under Ebersol for several Olympics.
A former All-Ivy defensive lineman at Harvard, Bell talks about the challenge that lies ahead of him in London.
What did you learn from Ebersol?
Oh, let’s see. Only everything. He’s an amazing guy.
He taught me that pace is very important to the telecast. His philosophy was to keep it moving.
Also, he taught the importance of having a plan. Planning out everything to the minute, but also knowing when you have to change off that plan.
Will it be different not seeing him in the big chair?
It’ll be different, sure. I’ll consult with him every day.
Will you will bring a certain style to the telecasts?
We’ll have to see. I expect what’s worked will in the past will work well again. At its core is storytelling.
Dick used to say if you don’t make the athletes empathetic, you won’t get the women to watch. What do you think in that regard?
I think there’s something to that. I might choose the word humanity. You’re talking about sports most viewers don’t follow. So it is important to personalize the athletes.
What has it been like to prepare for the Games?
One of the more interesting aspects is that you get two years to prepare for two weeks. You could make a decision 18 months out and not be bound by it. Something will happen you didn’t plan for during the Olympics.
Seriously, how do think you’ll feel when it all begins with the Opening Ceremonies?
We’ve done this for 20-plus years. Who was the guy? Gladwell? (Malcom Gladwell) talked about the 10,000-hour rule (the amount of time to master something). Well, I will tell you there are people here who have 10,000 hours working the Olympics.
We’ve got people who know what they’re doing. It’s not about one person. It’s about the entire team.
The book was published in 1974. Yet chances are if you go to a book store, you still will be able to find Robert Creamer’s Babe: The Legend Comes to Life.
Talk about setting the standard. Creamer’s biography was the Babe Ruth of sports books.
In tribute to Creamer, who died Thursday at the age of 90, I thought it would be fitting to recall his most famous work.
The book touched on all facets of Ruth’s incredible life, including his huge appetite for sex. It was well-known to most insiders, but Creamer brought it out in the open.
Creamer writes:
There is a story, probably apocryphal, about a time he and (Bob Meusel) were barnstorming together. They shared a hotel suite. Meusel was half asleep when Ruth came in with a girl, went into his room and made love to her in his usual noisy fashion. Afterwards, he came out to the living room of the suite, lit a cigar and sat in a chair by the window, smoking contemplatively…
In the morning, Meusel asked, “How many times did you lay that girl last night?” Ruth glanced at the ashtray and so did Meusel. There were seven butts in the tray.
“Count the cigars,” said Ruth.
Obviously, though, it was baseball that made Ruth a legend. Here’s Creamer on Ruth’s famous “Called Shot” homer at Wrigley Field:
Now. What about the legend ? What about the story, often affirmed, often denied, that Babe pointed to a spot in center field and then hit the ball precisely to that spot ? It is an argument over nothing, and the fact that Ruth did not point to center field before his home run does not diminish in the least what he did. He did challenge the Cubs before 50,000 people, did indicate he was going to hit a home run and did hit a home run. What more could you ask?
Later he writes:
Ford Frick, who was not at the game, tried to pin Ruth down on the subject when the two were talking about the Series some time later.
“Did you really point to the bleachers?” Frick asked.
Ruth, always honest, shrugged. “It’s in the papers, isn’t it?” he said.
“Yeah,” Frick said. “It’s in the papers. But did you really point to the stands ?”
“Why don’t you read the papers? It’s all right there in the papers.”
Which, Frick said, means he never said he did and he never said he didn’t.
Earlier this year, Robert Creamer, showing he still was on top of his game, responded via email to a series of questions from Graham Womack at Baseballpastandpresent.com.
Creamer, who died Thursday at the age of 90, weighs in on a series of topics as only he could. This is a real treat from the legendary Sports Illustrated writer and editor and the man who was the definitive biography of Babe Ruth.
Here are some excerpts:
What still excites you about baseball?
That’s easy– the wonder of ‘What happens next?’
When I’m watching a game between teams I’m interested in, sometimes that wonder — and the fullfilment of it, as in the sixth game of the 2011 World Series — can be excruciatingly exciting, and its fullfilment as you watch and wait can be almost literally incredible.
Is baseball still America’s pastime?
No. It’s our spectator sport and I think possibly still our biggest spectator sport, and we love to read about it and talk about it and watch it on TV but nobody PLAYS baseball anymore. Softball, yes,but today everybody plays basketball or touch football whereas a century ago EVERYBODY played baseball. If you can find an old newspaper file from around 1912, ten years before I was born, look at the coverage of games on Saturdays and particularly Sundays – dozens of games, club teams, neighborhood teams, small town teams, political clubs, social clubs. It’s astonishing.
Who was the greatest player you covered?
Willie Mays. Period.
I saw a lot of Willie Mays, and that certainly gave me a strong bias towards him. But I saw a lot of Mantle too and was deeply impressed by what he could do. Yet Willie stayed above Mickey in my mind, then and forever. I saw the famous catch Willie made against Vic Wertz in the Polo Grounds in the 1954 World Series but later on I saw him make a catch in Cincinnati’s old ball field, Crosley Field. My memory says Crosley had a steep warning bank against the left-field fence. A Cincinnati runner was on first base when the batter sent a tremendous fly ball to deep left center. Willie went up the bank, leaped, made a spectacular catch, turned and as he was falling threw the ball on a line to first base where he just missed doubling off the base runner. Simply an amazing play, and he kept doing things like that.
Has there been a philosophy or ethos you’ve tried to follow through your writing career?
You ask about “my writing career” and whether I had a philosophy or ethos about it. When I was young I thought I was the best writer in the world, or at least that I was as good as anyone else. Over the years as I found and marveled at writers of great skill and accomplishment I began to understand that I was okay but that there were a lot of writers, male and female, who were better than I, and who could do things I couldn’t do.
Part of that sobering up process came from an appreciation of something Red Smith said (or wrote — probably both) when he was at the height of his admirable career. I may have the precise quote wrong but essentially Red, a newspaperman through and through, said, “It’s important to remember that today’s poetry gets wrapped around tomorrow’s fish.”
Amen.
I found vintage footage of Ron Santo doing a commercial for Snickers in 1969. Santo concealed the fact that he suffered from diabetes until late in his playing career.
If his condition had been known at the time, he probably doesn’t do an ad for candy bar full of sugar. Hopefully, Santo didn’t have to eat too many Snickers during shooting.
And here’s a video set to music that has highlights of Santo’s career.
It’s a bittersweet weekend in Chicago.
In a cruel twist of fate, Ron Santo didn’t live long enough to witness his induction into the Hall of Fame Sunday. But as a good friend of mine and Santo’s says: “His grandchildren deserve to see his plaque in Cooperstown.”
An updated version of This Old Cub will air Saturday at 1 p.m. (ET) on the MLB Network. The documentary, originally done by his son Jeff, will include Santo’s statue dedication at Wrigley Field in August 2011; his Hall of Fame election on December 5, 2011; and excerpts from an interview with Santo and his son, recorded two weeks before Santo’s passing on December 3, 2010.
Here’s the trailer for the original version. It really captures his heart as a player; his drive to overcome two leg amputations; and ultimately why he meant so much to Chicago.
Last week, I sent Robert Creamer an email.
I am working on a project on Babe Ruth. Nobody knew more about Ruth than Creamer. One of the original founders of Sports Illustrated, he wrote the definitive biography on the legend: Babe: The Legend Comes to Life. The 1974 book is generally acclaimed to be the best sports biography of all time.
I got Creamer’s address and asked if I could drop him some questions. I was told by somebody close to him that Creamer “still had his fastball.”
Among other things, I really wanted to know what it was like to be 12-years-old and get a chance to see the great Bambino stride to the plate in Yankee Stadium. Imagine that.
Sadly, I’ll never get my answer from Creamer. He died yesterday at the age of 90.
From the New York Times obituary:
Mr. Creamer’s book on Ruth, “Babe: The Legend Comes to Life” — which came out in 1974, the year Hank Aaron broke Ruth’s career home run record — was infused with details, including Ruth’s pregame meal: three hot dogs. Roger Angell, writing in The New Yorker, said Ruth had “at last found the biographer he deserves in Robert Creamer,” describing his writing as “swift and clear and stamped with a confirming intelligence.”
In 1984, Mr. Creamer (pronounced kreemer) followed up with “Stengel: His Life and Times,” a comprehensive look at the baseball legend who played for or managed all four major league teams from New York City. Mr. Creamer presented Stengel, who was often portrayed as an idiot savant, as a nuanced personality of wit and intelligence. But he did not neglect the “old perfessor’s” knack for squeezing new possibilities out of the English language in a personalized dialect called Stengelese. One gem Mr. Creamer chose: “There comes a time in every man’s life at least once, and I’ve had plenty of them.”
Jonathan Yardley, writing in The Washington Post Book World, said the Stengel book was the second-best American sports biography. The best, he said, was the Ruth book.
Walter Bingham of Sports Illustrated notes Creamer’s name has been on SI’s masthead for every issue since its debut in 1954. He writes:
As an editor, he was not unlike an avuncular college professor. He would show you his edited version of your story and patiently point out why he had made every change. For a young writer, it was an advanced course in journalism. Remarkably, on points of dispute, he would not hesitate to yield if he felt that perhaps he had been hasty.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
Jack McCallum, one of those writers who worked with Creamer, recalled the impact he had on him. He writes:
Robert Creamer was one of those gentle giants in the world of journalism, not because of his size (though he was tall) but because he made a difference without ever calling attention to himself. Without Bob, chances are I would’ve remained toiling in obscurity, never getting the chance to work at one of the great magazines of the world. I’m not suggesting that would’ve been a loss for journalism, but it sure as hell would’ve been a loss for me.
What took so long?
I know Tim McCarver has his share of critics. Some of it is inevitable when you’ve been around as long as he has.
But considering his unprecedented run as baseball’s lead analyst for more than two decades, why it will take until Saturday for him to finally be recognized by the Hall of Fame?
Both McCarver’s partner and Fox Sports vice-chairman Ed Goren had the same reaction: “It’s long overdue.”
Well, better late than never. McCarver’s big day comes Saturday in Cooperstown when he will receive the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in baseball broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
During a conference call, I asked McCarver’s colleagues how they feel about the honor.
Joe Buck: I’m kind of conflicted. I feel almost more excited for Tim going in than I did for my dad when he went in in 1987. When you consider the length of time he caught in the big leagues, the pitchers he caught and the excellence on the mound that he received in Gibson, Carlton and many, many others, – the winning, the championships and then jumping right into the booth and broadcasting all these World Series and all these All-Star Games, it’s well received.
His overall contribution to the game is unmatched by anybody in that Hall of Fame. It’s different to when my dad went in. I mean, my dad went in because he was a great voice of the game. Tim has done it all, and I think it is overdue. It is so deserved and I am proud of him. I’m proud because of the work he puts in every week and I can tell you, as his partner, when I started in 1996 as a 27-year-old doing the World Series, I was scared to death.
When I had him sitting to my right and I had him seconding an opinion of mine, it gave me instant credibility. I owe him a lot and I’ll be there, the proudest one there not at the podium when he goes in on Saturday.”
Ed Goren: This honor is way overdue and in talking to others who have worked with Tim, three people stand out applauding this honor: Al Michaels, Bob Costas, and Tony Kubek. It’s long overdue, and we are thrilled.
Thanks to Daniel Dorfman, who helps me immensely with this site, for spotting this article.
I’ve always admired the power of a newspaper cartoon. Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer uses every bit of it in revising his look at Joe Paterno.
In the first cartoon immediately after Joe Paterno’s death in January, he has Paul “Bear” Bryant welcoming the coach to heaven.
Tornoe then did an update after the Freeh Commission report.
Wow. That’s pretty strong stuff.
Did he go too far?
Tornoe explains in a piece at Cagle Post. He writes:
The (first) cartoon was enormously popular, and spread across Facebook like a wildfire. My inbox was stuffed with thank you notes and warm wishes from Penn State alums across the country. Someone even printed it out and put it on display next to Paterno’s statue as a tribute. And you know something – I was wrong.
With the release of the Freeh report, it’s clear to anyone but his kids that Paterno, along with other top Penn State officials, covered up the child sex abuse allegations against assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky out of fear of bad publicity.
Covered up child rape. For more than a decade. So it wouldn’t harm the football team. I’m not a religious person, but this man doesn’t belong in heaven.
So I have the opportunity not too many cartoonists are afforded – to redress my mistake, to call myself out for taking part in a pity party for someone who decided that a child’s well being was only valuable if they were wearing his team’s football uniform.
Good to see the Poynter Review Project, which serves as ESPN’s ombudsman, finally weigh in on a timely topic. Timely hasn’t been a strength of the current set-up.
Jason Fry and Kelly McBride reviewed ESPN’s coverage of the Freeh Commission and the fallout at Penn State last week. Like everyone else, they knocked ESPN for electing to have Matt Millen, one of Joe Paterno’s former players, have such a prominent role on SportsCenter.
They wrote: “His difficulty coming to grips with the implications of the Freeh report for Paterno’s legacy and Penn State’s culture was painful to watch.”
They correctly put the ultimate blame on the ESPN producers, not Millen.
Media critics and viewers have pilloried Millen, but we think ESPN’s producers should bear a substantial part of the blame for what went wrong. For openers, Millen is too close to the subject to offer clear-eyed analysis. The Freeh report helped show us that Penn State’s culture of reverence for its football program and for Paterno himself were gross distortions of a star system that ultimately allowed the rape of children to continue. Insider analysis that can help us understand how that happened would be helpful, but too often Millen gave us more examples of the perils of such devotion.
Besides Millen, they gave glowing praise for ESPN’s coverage among its many platforms. However, they missed one: ESPN Radio.
As I wrote last week, ESPN Radio broke for a commercial 15 minutes into the Louis Freeh press conference, and then came back to discussion about basketball. I thought that was inexcusable.