Mike Francesa signs long-term deal with WFAN

Forget about any talk about Mike Francesa riding into the sunset. The 59-year old plans to be around for a while after signing what is termed “a long-term” deal with WFAN today.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the contract runs through 2017.

From CBS Sports Radio:

Sports Radio WFAN (660AM/101.9FM) announced today it has signed a long term agreement with Mike Francesa, keeping the venerable personality as host of PM drive (weekdays, 1:00-6:30PM, ET) on the award-winning station for several years to come.  Francesa joined WFAN in 1987, the same year the station launched as the country’s first all-sports station, and boasts more listeners than any other local sports radio host.

As part of the agreement, Francesa will also bring his long running Sunday morning “The NFL Now” show to CBS Sports Radio beginning this fall.  The program is broadcast live on WFAN from 9:00AM-12:00Noon, ET and will be available to more than 250 affiliate radio stations nationwide.

“Mike has earned his place in radio history as a great broadcaster and we’re thrilled to continue our relationship with sports radio’s most celebrated host,” said Dan Mason, President and CEO, CBS RADIO.  “WFAN and Mike Francesa are synonymous with the absolute best in sports programming excellence.  These two powerful brands have endured the test of time, and remain a very relevant force in the industry nearly three decades after they first went on the air.”

Added Mark Chernoff, Vice President, Sports Programming, CBS RADIO and WFAN Program Director, “Mike represents the heart and soul of WFAN, and we’re proud he will continue to make the station his long-term broadcast home.  Like no one else, Mike can take a story to the next level and involve his listeners in thought provoking ways with topical and opinionated conversation.  He has set the standard for what represents an entertaining and informative radio program.”

“I’m very proud of what we have accomplished at WFAN,” says Francesa.  “I am also honored and thankful to CBS RADIO for its continued commitment, and most of all to the listeners for their enduring loyalty.”

Francesa has anchored afternoons on WFAN for more than 25 years.  He has been recognized with two NAB Marconi Radio Awards, and was voted top sports personality by radio industry publications Talkers and Radio Ink. In addition, he was the recipient of the inaugural Cynopsis: Sports Media Award for Best Radio Program in 2012.

 

Most watched NCAA tournament since 1994: CBS-Turner model pays off big

It is hard to think of a partnership that has worked out better than CBS-Turner Sports for the NCAA tournament. Making all the games available, allowing the fans to pick and choose, has proved to be a windfall.

Through Sunday, this year’s tournament is generating its highest ratings since 1994. The telecasts are averaging 9,701,000 total viewers-to-date, up 11% from last year’s 8,717,000 viewers.

And this is occurring despite the lack of a super team or any true superstar players, the supposed prerequisites these days. Yet people are watching.

The ratings speak to the power of saturation coverage.

Making the games available on multiple platforms means you’re never stuck watching a bad game. It sucks in the fans who want to monitor their teams in the various pools. It also doesn’t hurt that the NCAA tournament, once again, delivered the anything-is-possible upsets that has become the signature for this event.

Ultimately, it all leads to fans forming a deeper connection to the tournament and the teams.

“We set a high standard for the ratings, and we’ve outpaced it,” said CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus. “The partnership is working well from every standpoint.”

Will it continue for the Final Four? There will be three high-profile programs in Atlanta (Louisville, Michigan and Syracuse) and one Cinderella (Wichita State). Viewers will tune in to see the on-going saga with Louisville and injured player Kevin Ware. Michigan-Syracuse has plenty of storylines.

Again, it isn’t the sexiest Final Four, and much of the ratings will depend on the quality of games. However, given the momentum, if CBS gets some cliffhangers, the numbers should be good.

 

New Yorker cover spoofs aging, sagging Yankees

Wow. Who would have thought The New Yorker would provide bulletin board material for the Yankees? However, based on the players on their disabled list and what we saw yesterday, the magazine could be right. It could be a bleak summer in the Bronx.

Posted in MLB

Feherty on interviewing Bob Knight: ‘He still scared the living crap out of me’

Bob Knight isn’t one to volunteer for interviews. However, he requested a session with David Feherty. The former coach is featured on tonight’s edition of Feherty (The Golf Channel, 10 p.m. ET).

In the clip below, Knight, an avid golfer, talks about playing a round with his fellow Ohio State Buckeye, Jack Nicklaus.

From the Golf Channel:

“These days the polarizing bear of a coach is a lot more cuddly than he was in his growling, grizzly days on the bench … he’s actually now just one big, lovable teddy bear … usually. But he still scared the living crap out of me.” – Feherty introducing the show

As the college basketball world prepares for the Final Four, legendary coach – and often the game’s most notorious personality – Bobby Knight joins David Feherty for a candid conversation about his life, career and love of golf on the next episode of Feherty,Monday at 10 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

Ohio native Robert Montgomery Knight coached college basketball for 45 years and tallied 902 NCAA Division I wins, the most in history at the time of his retirement in 2008. Those victories now stand third only behind his former player and current Duke head coach, Mike Kryzyewski, and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse. While one of the game’s most innovative coaches and greatest teachers – having graduated most of his student athletes – Knight also was one of its most controversial and abrasive, often known for his combative nature with referees and the media.

Short on basketball acumen, Feherty got up to speed quickly, using his trademark uncanny interview style to engage Knight and bring out answers in the coach both honest and revealing.

“There’s actually a depth and genuine realness to the man though that I suspect many people, even those that know him best don’t often see,” Feherty said during the show’s introduction.

He also got a quick lesson from Knight on the proper technique on how to throw a chair, spoofing Knight’s infamous incident during a 1985 game against Purdue when Knight, frustrated by an official’s call, flung a plastic chair across the court.

Their ensuing conversation covered Knight’s coaching philosophy – which often was compared to a military leader – his days as a player at The Ohio State University with the likes of future NBA superstars John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas, and his regret for never having coached at his alma mater; his fondness for fellow Buckeye Jack Nicklaus; his coaching records; his feelings about the NCAA; and the way he wishes to be remembered.

On coaching style/philosophy:

“I felt my job was to get the most out of you. No matter how difficult it was for me to bring that out of you, that was my job as a teacher.”

“I have a responsibility here to see that these 12 or 14 kids that I’ve got playing basketball go through the experience with a much better opportunity to life than they would had they not had this experience.”

“The dribble has overcome the game, like in golf in a way, the drive has overcome the game.”

On Jack Nicklaus:

“When Jack was playing, I always rooted for him. There was something about him that I felt that very, very few great athletes had, and that was a real humble approach to the sport and a great individual humility in what he accomplished.”

“I think that competitive drive in those two sports really helped him as a golfer. I always felt that he had an advantage over a guy that had never played any sport except golf. Any time I watched him I thought, you know, this isn’t a golfer playing golf, this is an athlete playing golf.”

On regret about never coaching at Ohio State:

“The two days we spent in Columbus, the way they reacted to me during the introduction going into the Hall of Fame at the halftime of the football game, I said, ‘You know, I am really sad that I never went there to coach.’ And I had opportunities to do so over the years. But at this point in my life, I wish that I would have gone there to coach when I had the opportunity to.”

On the NCAA:

“I’m probably number-one on the NCAA hit list.”

“The NCAA has allowed college basketball to become a minor league for the NBA.”

On his legacy:

“He was honest in what he did and he tried to make kids better. And if I could have people that felt that way, then I think I would die happy.”

As a surprise, Feherty uncovered some old video excerpts from a local golf show Knight hosted with longtime Indiana University golf coach Sam Carmichael, which features expletive outtakes of a frustrated Knight trying to hit out of a bunker. The antics live on as popular viral video for Internet surfers. “My hope always was that my mother never saw me in that sand trap,” Knight said.

Knight also complimented Feherty on his Season Two interview with basketball legend Bill Russell sharing his thoughts on Russell, “As long as I’ve been in coaching, Bill Russell was not the best basketball player, but Bill Russell was the most valuable player ever to play a sport. I don’t care what the sport is, Russell’s the most valuable,” said Knight. He expounded on Russell’s NCAA championships during his junior and senior years, his Olympic gold medal and 11 NBA championships with the Celtics. “That’s 15 years and 14 major championships and there’s nobody in the history of sport – King Kong wasn’t that good – nobody in the history of sport that has won like Bill Russell has,” he said.

 

McManus on cutting off injury replays: It was an easy call to make

Nearly 24 hours later, CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said he had no regrets about how his team covered Kevin Ware’s horrific injury Sunday.

During a conference call this afternoon, McManus said, “We’re proud of the decisions we made.”

“In retrospect, it really was an easy call to make because of the gruesome nature of the injury,” McManus said. “It was the right call. (Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg) didn’t say much. They let the pictures tell the story….We handled it as well as you could in a difficult situation.”

CBS initially aired two replays of Ware suffering the injury.

“It almost took the second replay for it to sink in what you were seeing,” McManus said.

The decision then was made: No more replays Sunday. The edict will carry over to CBS’ coverage of the Final Four in Atlanta.

McManus knows some people are questioning the decision. However, he said people can see video of the incident on various sites, if they so choose.

“I didn’t think we had the obligation to be the facilitator,” he said.

McManus said CBS never considered going to a commercial while Ware still was lying on the floor. He also was proud that the network allowed Tracy Wolfson to do a long postgame interview with Rick Pitino despite the late finish cutting into primetime.

For his part, Nantz said he still was dealing Monday with the aftermath of witnessing the injury and the subsequent reaction from the Louisville players.

“I had never seen anything like that before,” Nantz said. “It’s hard to get the image out of your mind. I keep replaying it.”

 

 

 

Gruesome: CBS, ESPN make right call about not running replays of injury

I just happened to walk away from the television for a few minutes Sunday. So I missed seeing Kevin Ware suffer the most gruesome injury in sports since Lawrence Taylor did a number on Joe Theismann’s leg.

Now there’s a high probability that I never will see how the life of the young Louisville basketball player changed in Indianapolis. I have a low tolerance for gruesome.

I suspect many people feel the same way, which is why CBS and ESPN made the right call in not airing repeated replays of the injury.

From the Associated Press:

CBS showed the replay twice in slow motion, although not with a close-up of Ware landing. The network also never showed a close-up of the injury.

CBS then concentrated on reaction shots. Three of Ware’s teammates were on the ground near the basket. Wayne Blackshear cried, Chane Behanan knelt on his hands and knees and Peyton Silva sat, a hand covering his mouth.

The network aired a close-up of medical officials working on Ware, showing the player only from the face up.

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said that because of the graphic nature of the injury, the network decided not to show it after the original replays. People could quickly find replays on YouTube, anyway.

“We did not zoom in on the injury when he was taken off,” McManus said. “We did not try to highlight it. I think we did the right thing.”

Later in the evening, SportsCenter also declined to air replays of the injury. Stuart Scott and Scott Van Pelt didn’t offer an explanation. The reason, though, was fairly obvious.

Some images are just too difficult to watch.

It is interesting to note that the networks showed numerous replays of the puck shattering Sidney Crosby’s jaw. Guess we were able to stomach those pictures.

However, Ware’s injury crossed over the line. We can only digest so much.

I don’t have a problem with various websites showing replays of the injury. It is news and people will want to see what happened.

However, the strong disclaimers force people to make a conscious decision to click on the replay. It isn’t the same on TV. There’s a good chance you’re going to look, even if the anchors says turn your head. At best, it creates an uncomfortable dynamic for the viewer.

In the new media world, it’s all about choices. The replays are there if you want to see them.

I am going to pass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remembering Cooper Rollow: Former Chicago Tribune sports editor was great journalist, great guy

Sad to hear the news about the passing of Cooper Rollow.

Here is the obit in the Chicago Tribune.

Rollow, who was 87, was the Tribune’s sports editor from 1969-76, a period of major change and innovation in the newspaper’s sports section. He turned a couple young reporters loose on their beats: Bob Verdi on the Blackhawks and Don Pierson on the Bears.

It seems hard to believe, but the Tribune didn’t have an African-American sportswriter until Rollow hired Fred Mitchell in 1974. Mitchell did a tribute to Rollow.

The late hulking sportswriter John Husar sauntered over to me in the newsroom during one of my first days at the Tribune, placed his meaty right hand on my shoulder and announced in his booming voice: “The Chicago Tribune has hired a black sportswriter! What has the world come to?”

I smiled uncomfortably at his proclamation, then realized the historic significance of my hire by Rollow, which came 27 years after major league baseball was integrated by Jackie Robinson. While this was never something we discussed, I suppose Rollow had become my Branch Rickey.

Pierson recalled Rollow’s finest hour as a journalist came during his coverage of the Munich Massacre.

His work turned deadly serious on Sept. 5, 1972, when he was covering the Olympic Games in Munich, along with his colleague, longtime Tribune sportswriter Robert Markus.  That day, they unexpectedly found themselves writing not about swimming, marathon runners and gymnastics but about terrorism, as 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team were killed by members of the Palestinian group Black September.

“Cooper was first and foremost a terrific reporter, and he had more fun in sports journalism than anybody I ever saw,” retired Tribune pro football reporter Don Pierson said.  “But he showed what a serious reporter he was at the Olympics in Munich.  I think his legacy as a reporter would start with the way he covered that massacre.”

By the time I arrived at the Tribune, Rollow had stepped aside from being an editor and wrote about pro football, his true love. I was 25 when I got assigned to be Pierson’s No. 2 man on the Bears in 1985. I get the all-time great timing award for that one.

Rollow, 60 at the time, didn’t pull any veteran stuff on me. He couldn’t have been any nicer. He treated me as an equal, going out of his way to show it was done. It was an important lesson that I now try to carry on when I work with younger reporters.

“Coop” was just a great guy. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone say a negative word about him. He was a beloved fixture in the Tribune Tower. The business would be in better shape with a few more journalists like “Coop.”

 

Baseball is back, and so am I

I found spring (actually summer) in Palm Springs last week. However, I lost it again when I returned to Chicago. The temperature is supposed to be 38 degrees for the White Sox opener this afternoon.

Oh well, you can’t have everything. At least, we’ll have real baseball today.

I’m rested and ready to go, confident that warm breezes will be visiting my town at some point before June.

To put everyone in the mood for the start of the new season, here’s one of my all-time favorites: Oscar Gamble and his legendary hair.

 

Posted in MLB