Monthly Archives: April 2013

ESPN spends 10 days in China reporting story on 14-year-old Masters amateur

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That’s quite a commitment from ESPN for a story that airs on SportsCenter at the Masters today at 4 p.m. ET. I’m sure it must have been an interesting eating adventure for my good friend, Gene Wojciechowski.

From Wojciechowski:

“Whatever you think you know about China, you don’t. Ten days in three different cities doesn’t make me an expert, but I can tell you from a golf perspective that if the government there ever puts its full support behind the sport, you’ll eventually see a Chinese player slipping on a green jacket.

“I wish I had the building crane concession in China. And the breathing mask concession. And until I went, I had no idea Guangzhou was the third-largest city in China, or that Tianlang Guan, so celebrated in our country this week, is hardly noticed in his own country.

“It was a cool, bizarre, surreal experience. I’ll never forget the hospitality of the Guans. Or Christmas carols in March.”

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Kim Jarvis writes about the trip on ESPN Front Row:

ESPN.com national columnist Gene Wojciechowski and a crew from the network recently spent 10 days in China getting to know Tianlang Guan, who at 14 is the youngest golfer to ever qualify for the Masters.

Wojciechowski and ESPN camera crews following the teen phenom from China to Augusta National in Georgia. Front Row spoke with feature producer Sharon Matthews — who helped supply the photo gallery above — about making the video feature, which is scheduled to air Wednesday during SportsCenter at the Masters (ESPN, 5 p.m. ET), which follows the network’s Par 3 Contest coverage (3 p.m.). ESPN will televise the first and second rounds of the Masters on Thursday and Friday (3 p.m. each day).

Tell us about the trip.

It took us more than 40 combined hours to get to Guangzhou, China. We had to adjust to the 13-14 hour time difference after we arrived. With the additional help of two translators, we were able to film in different locations from Guan’s school classroom to Augusta. We wanted to take viewers behind the scenes of his life as a humble teenager on the verge of making golf history.

This was an opportunity of a lifetime. We looked forward to not only interviewing Guan, but to embrace the culture, try the different foods and see the atmosphere.

Most viewed tournament in 19 years; Will Turner, Marv Albert, do Final Four next year?

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Updated:

Well, did that game work for you? Looks like it did.

The ratings were impressive. From CBS:

The 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV is the most-watched NCAA Tournament in 19 years, according to Nielsen.  The 2013 NCAA Tournament averaged 10.7 million total viewers, up 11% from last year’s 9.6 million viewers, and is the highest average for the NCAA Tournament in 19 years (11.2 million; 1994). 

The National Championship game, which saw Louisville defeat Michigan on CBS on Monday, April 8, earned an average fast national household rating/share of 14.0/22, up 14% from last year’s 12.3/19 (Kentucky-Kansas).  The National Championship game averaged 23.4 million viewers, up 12% from last year’s 20.9 million. 

 The Championship game coverage peaked in HH rating/share with a 16.1/27 and average viewers with 27.1 million, from 11:00-11:30 PM, ET.

 Coverage for the entire 2013 NCAA Tournament across Turner Sports and CBS Sports averaged a HH rating/share of 6.7/14, up 10% from last year’s 6.1/13, and is the highest average NCAA Tournament rating in eight years (6.9/15; 2005). 

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As I wrote previously, the tournament was a huge success thanks in part to the CBS-Turner partnership. Making all the games available really pulled viewers in for the long haul.

Now the big question: Which network will do the Final Four next year?

CBS and Turner were supposed to begin alternating the Final Four in 2016. However, apparently there is a provision in the contract that allows Turner to telecast next year’s Big Dance in Dallas.

Both networks said in joint statement, “There is no timetable for a decision.”

However, without knowing the monetary aspect, it would seem to be a no-brainer for Turner to grab next year’s Final Four. Why wait two years when the tournament is surging?

If Turner does get the Final Four, would it bump Jim Nantz and use its signature voice, Marv Albert, for the play-by-play? You would assume that would be the case.

Ernie Johnson definitely would be the main studio host, reuniting with Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley. And does that send Doug Gottlieb to the sidelines?

All questions that will be answered soon.

 

 

 

Q/A with Jim Nantz on the Masters: A tradition ‘unlike’ any other; not as genteel as it looks on TV

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Part 2 of 3:

Jim Nantz has been saying the phrase so long he felt the need to correct Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner.

During a conference call Monday, Williams recited the famous line as, “It’s the Masters tradition like no other.”

Nantz jumped in to set the record straight.

“It’s a tradition unlike any other,” Nantz said. “I think I’ve said that a time or two in the last quarter century.”

Indeed, while Nantz is seen by more than 100 million viewers when he calls the Super Bowl, and by a huge primetime audience for the NCAA Final Four, the Masters is his signature event.

This will be Nantz’s 28th Masters. He did his first in 1986 when Jack Nicklaus roared to his epic victory. Ken Venturi told the young kid: “Jimmy, you might do 50 of these, but you’ll never see another one like this.”

While Venturi was right, Nantz has called a few Masters that have packed plenty of memorable stuff. If all goes as planned, Nantz plans to retire when he does his 50th Masters at the age of 75.

Nantz, though, isn’t thinking about 2035. His focus is on Thursday.

Here’s my Q/A with Nantz:

What is it about you and Masters?

It’s the one event which people relate with me the most. I might be talking to a football coach in August, and they’ll ask me, “What about Augusta?” Fans at games ask me, ‘Who’s going to win the Masters this year?’

It’s the one event I think about all year long. The Masters is in my heart.

For me, I trace my wanting to be a voice to watching the Masters during my adolescence.  I was captivated by the Masters and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It was a like a young Nick Faldo in ’71, ’72. He was training to be a cyclist. He watched the Masters, turned to his parents and said, ‘I want to take up golf.’ He was inspired by watching Jack Nicklaus.

I obsessed over it. I wanted to get good enough to get there. That’s what the Masters did for me.

How difficult is it for you to shift gears? You’re going from the commotion of the NCAA tournament to the more genteel environment of Augusta National.

It’s never an issue. They each have a different rhythm and pacing. But stylistically, you don’t worry about how you’re going to approach the game. That’s organic. When you’re sitting in a place absorbing the scene around, you adapt to the energy level.

I get asked a lot: “How in the world do you go from the Final Four on Monday with all that excitement and the next weekend, your voice drops to a whisper?” Most people don’t think about it. If you go to a basketball game one night and a golf tournament the next, would you still be shouting at the person next to you? It’s not that complicated.

What’s your routine when you get to Augusta?

When I get there on Tuesday, I’m not going to observe the birds. I’m not checking out the flora. I want to find every top player and have a face-to-face with them. I’m trying to get some fresh information. The problem is they all want to talk to me about the NCAA tournament.

It looks genteel and that’s the way it should look on TV with the sweet Augusta music that molds you as a viewer. “Oh, they must have just rolled out bed to do this. It looks so peaceful.” No, the reality is much different. It’s not genteel for us.

Do you cover this tournament differently?

Nobody’s telling me to do anything differently. We have more broadcast positions than we do for any other tournament. So it’s different in that sense.

Through the years, I have so many stories and information stored in my head. Someone will hit a shot and it’ll strike a comparison to a shot someone hit in the ’70s.

There’s so much history there. I love the fact that you can feel the presence of the fathers of the sport. I think of Furman Bisher (the late long-time columnist from Atlanta who was a fixture at Augusta). Sarazen. Nelson.  I do. I can’t explain it.

I just happened to be there the last time Byron Nelson walked the course. He was escorting his wife Peggy down to Amen Corner. I ran up in a golf cart and said, ‘Can I take you down there?’ It was a special moment.

Every year, you reflect back on a famous Masters prior to the final round Sunday (Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET). What is this year’s selection?

Ben Crenshaw winning in 1995. It was the week he lost his coach Harvey Penick. We flew in Carl Jackson (his long-time caddie at Augusta National) to do a side-by-side interview. It’s going to be an unbelievable show. I’m not trying to sell you anything here, but it’s probably the best of all these shows we’ve done. It’s a very, very touching story.

Wednesday: Jim Nantz, winemaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CBS’s Dodd opts out of Heisman voting: Objects to attempt to keep votes secret

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Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com just told the Heisman Trophy folks to stuff it. My words, not him.

In an open letter to William Dockery, president of the Heisman Trust, Dodds writes:

I respectfully resign my Heisman vote effective immediately.

This is my way of getting out on my own terms before the Heisman Trustees can throw me out. Monday is the deadline in your organization’s ham-handed attempt (in my opinion) to make secret a process that has been a joyful, celebrated American sports tradition for decades.

As you know, in August voters were notified if they didn’t agree to hide their Heisman ballots, voting privileges would be up for review. A heretofore unenforced “non-disclosure requirement” was mentioned.

Last month about 50 of the 928 voters from 2012 were admonished for revealing their ballots. I was one of them. Your letter arrived with the names “Johnny Manziel,” “Manti Teo” and “Collin Klein” highlighted from my column with a yellow marker like I had cheated in class.

By today, voters had to promise “in writing” that they won’t reveal their selections prior to the Heisman announcement. Much like the Oscars, the Heisman folks wants to keep viewers in suspense.

However, there’s a difference. These aren’t actors voting here. There are journalists, some of whom actually watch college football during the season (more than you’d think don’t).

Dodds writes:

It’s called transparency, Bill, and there is precious little of it these days in college athletics. I am resigning my vote because I cannot in good conscience participate in a process where there is more secrecy, not less. You may have noticed, there’s a huge need to keep things on the up and up in college athletics these days. The world has become a very skeptical place because of the implied words from the NCAA: “Trust us.”

There’s something wrong with O.J. Simpson still having a vote (as a former winner) and a bunch of slappy sportswriters in danger of losing theirs. A Heisman vote is not a right. I get that. But someone must still explain to me why, after 70-plus years of not invoking the non-disclosure clause, the Heisman Trust is using it as some sort of threat against loyal voters.

And then:

Hiding things will never change the fact that voters can still anonymously divulge their ballots. I suggest you check out stiffarmtrophy.com which has predicted the Heisman winner for 11 consecutive years. There was even a way for me to keep my vote. I simply could have agreed to hide it, and write after the deadline, “I have filed my ballot and agreed to keep it secret. But if I were to divulge it, I’d be strongly leaning toward …”

Not worth it for me. Either everything is out in the open or nothing is. Lack of transparency is what has NCAA critics howling. But forget about me. Any Heisman process that doesn’t have CBSSports.com’s Tony Barnhart as a part of it, isn’t worth participating in. Mr. CFB has given up his vote too.

 

Basketball writers president: Many wondering whether they will return to Final Four

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Last Friday, I did a post on the NCAA trimming floor seats for the media from 200 to 72.

As you’d expect, the move didn’t go over well. I received an update from John Akers of Basketball Times and president of the United States Basketball Writers Association.

From Akers:

“Well, yeah, there were definitely complaints. There were four seats in each of the corners near courtside, just above the handicapped areas, where many reporters could not see because fans were standing. So that’s 16 of the courtside seats, and most of them turn out to be bad ones. And there were many longtime writers who wound up in the auxiliary box and felt disrespected. Combine that with a $295 hotel rate, and there are many writers who are wondering whether they will come back.”

I followed up with Akers, asking if in reality there were only 54 floor seats?

Akers replied, “Apparently not all of those 16 seats were bad, but there were fewer than 72 good seats.”

The hotel issue hardly is trivial. Shelling more than $300 per night (including taxes) for four-five nights hardly is feasible for many media outlets in this economic climate. It is incumbent on the NCAA to negotiate a better rate.

And for the people who say the media should stop whining…: “At least, they are in the stadium.”

Well, there are a couple of things at play here. It is about respect. Many of these media members have been covering the Final Four for decades, long before it became a huge event. Their coverage did play a role in what the tournament is today. To be shuttled to the “Uecker Seats” is a major slap in the face.

And it is difficult to cover a game when the players look like dots running around on the floor. Many reporters feel as if they would be better off watching on TV in the press room. And if you’re going to do that, you might as well tune in from the comforts of your couch.

Does the NCAA care? Probably not. Judging by this administration, caring about the media isn’t high on the priority list.

Q/A with Jim Nantz: His big week; On calling Final Four despite doing limited regular season games

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First of three parts:

This is the week Jim Nantz always has circled on his calendar. It is perhaps the best Daily Double in sports broadcasting: The Final Four with the championship game on Monday followed by the Masters.

Throw in the fact that Nantz did the Super Bowl in February, and it becomes a Trifecta.

Yes, it is good to be Jim Nantz.

Yet there are some who wonder if Nantz should have a monopoly on the big events, especially in college basketball. After calling CBS’ opening telecast in December, Nantz didn’t do another game until March. Should he call an entire season if he’s going to do the Final Four?

The guys at Awful Announcing recently addressed the issue.

Said Ken Fang:

How does Nantz get the Final Four when he only calls one regular season game a year? What’s up with that?

Said Matt Yoder:

It’s like Joe Buck just dropping in for a game or two in late September and then calling the World Series or Mike Breen showing up in April just before the NBA Playoffs.  Jim Nantz isn’t someone you associate with college basketball… until the Final Four when he says “Hello, Friends” and then “Goodbye, Friends” just as quickly.  Jim Nantz isn’t bad at all, in fact I think he’s stepped up his game a bit the last couple years, but does he need to announce every single major sporting event CBS televises till the end of time?

CBS apparently thinks so, as they want their signature voice on the tournament.

I addressed that issue and more in a two-part interview with Nantz:

This is the third time you’ve done the Super Bowl, Final Four, and Masters in the same year. What is that like for you?

It’s the ultimate sports ticket. I don’t take it for granted. I’m very fortunate. I’ve done this before so I know how to pace myself. I get the proper rest, eat right and exercise. I find the nooks and crannies of time management where you can squeeze everything in you can.

I embrace it. I feel a certain freedom with this. I’m having more fun with this.

You don’t do a full college basketball schedule. What do you say to people who contend someone else should be calling the biggest college games of the year?

People say all these guys have been doing college games all season. That’s not true. Maybe they’ve been doing NBA games, but that’s not the same.

I always do our season opener. I did Baylor at Kentucky on Dec. 1. Then I immediately flew out to do Pittsburgh-Baltimore the next day. When I show up at an NFL game less than 24 hours prior to kickoff, I’m twitching. But I want to do our first college game.

If you look at it in full context, I’m doing a ton of games in March: 15 in 24 days. Would doing four or five weeks more of college basketball make a difference? I don’t think so. Suffice to say, I’ll be prepared.

How difficult is it to be prepared when you see limited regular season games in college basketball?

First of all, I’m never far away from any of my sports (NFL, college basketball, golf). I follow college basketball all year round. I am always up with what’s going on. Golf, you know how much I follow that. And I’m constantly studying the NFL.

I don’t spend much time watching the other sports. I don’t concern myself with the NBA. I watch baseball as a fan, but I don’t pour over box scores.

(Regardless of the event), preparation is my biggest concern. I’m fanatical about it. I’m always looking to round up fresh stories. It’s more than calling a game. The voices of my youth were great storytellers. They told me things I didn’t know. For me, it’s not stat driven. It’s more about telling people about the people they’re watching.

This is the 30th anniversary of North Carolina State stunning your school, Houston, in the title game. What are your memories?

I sat at the other basket as I watched Lorenzo Charles dunk our national championship hopes away. I was trying to forget about it. Now that you brought it back up again I’m sure I’ll be feeling the weight of that anniversary.

Tuesday: Nantz talks his signature event: The Masters.

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday books: Author Q/A on remarkable relationship: Ben Crenshaw and caddie Carl Jackson

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Can you hear the music?

It’s Masters week, which means that numbing theme will be rattling in your head. So be it.

The great thing about the Masters is that it always produces great stories. One of the best is chronicled in an excellent new book: Two Roads to Augusta.

Written by Ben Crenshaw and Carl Jackson, with assistance from Melanie Hauser, it details perhaps the most unique relationship in golf.

In 1976, players had to use Augusta National caddies during the Masters. A young Crenshaw hooked up with Jackson, who started looping at the club in 1958.

They formed a tight bond. Even when the Masters allowed players to use their own caddies, Crenshaw stuck with Jackson. Jackson was on the bag when Crenshaw won in 1984 and then again in 1995. His second Green Jacket was straight out of Hollywood, occurring the week his coach and mentor, Harvey Penick, died.

In a Q/A, Hauser reflects on that unique relationship and recalls that memorable Masters:

How did this book come about?

It was always intriguing how two men from such different backgrounds had such a feel and a passion — and incredible knowledge — for Augusta National. They learned it apart and together when, on a hunch, Augusta National members Jack Stephens and John Griffith decided they would make a good team. Now, 42 years, 2 Masters wins and a half dozen close calls later, it was time to tell their stories. Ben and I both went to UT and have known each other our entire professional careers and I have known Carl since 1984 and covered all their Masters. In addition,  I had collaborated with Ben on his autobiography — A Feel For The Game: To Brookline and Back — in 2000 and it was a natural.

For those with short memories, why was that tournament so memorable?

Oh my. It was an amazing magical week that was book-ended by two emotional tear-jerking moments. Frail as he was, Harvey Penick had given Ben a putting lesson the week before New Orleans. Harvey was failing and everyone always left wondering if it would be the last time they saw him. A week later, Ben and Julie were having dinner at Augusta National when Christy Kite, Tom’s wife, got a message to them the Harvey had died. Ben and Tom both flew to Austin and back the Wednesday of Masters week to attend the funeral and everyone wondered how Harvey’s death would affect them. Ben had come to Augusta, as he had so often, struggling with his game, but Carl saw something Monday afternoon and told him Tuesday on the range. That changed everything.

Ben had a different look in his eye after that, one his father and brother saw at Harvey’s funeral. The rest of the week? It was filled with Harvey bounces, incredible putts and an incredible focus. It was the best Ben ever struck the ball and he didn’t three-putt once on his way to a second green jacket. He collapsed, sobbing when the final putt fell and Carl steadied him. It’s become one of iconic photos from the majors. Ben felt Harvey guiding him all week and . . . well, you’ve have to read   the book to find out everything else.

What struck you about the relationship between Crenshaw and Jackson? What makes Jackson so unique?

The best way to put it is they are soul mates at Augusta. They both know that course better than just about anyone this side of Bobby Jones and it’s almost like it’s a part of them. It sounds strange, but when there is such passion when they talk about the course. There’s an amazing love there too. One day when we were working, I talked to each one separately and they both cried when they talked about what they meant to each other and what they had accomplished together. That says it all.

And Carl? He grew up in abject poverty, dropped out of school and always said he was going to get his diploma at Augusta National. When he started caddying full time there at 13, he already knew and sensed more than a lot of the older caddies. So many caddies just did the job to earn money they frittered away. Carl listened and learned from the legendary Pappy Stokes and really does know that course — every inch of it. He made it a career and put five children through college. He really does have a PhD in Augusta National.

During the process of doing the book, did Crenshaw and Jackson discover/learn things they didn’t know before?

They did. Both of them surprised each other. Heck, Ben surprised his manager Scotty Sayers and I on a couple of things. But if I told you . . . .

Will we ever see this kind of player/caddie dynamic play out again at Augusta?

I can’t imagine we ever will. Carl grew up on that course and you can’t compare that the knowledge of to a caddie who spends one week a year at Augusta. That’s not to say there aren’t some incredibly great caddies and partnerships out there — Tiger and Joe LaCava come to mind. What’s amazing is Tiger is still learning the course.  Joey won with Freddie Couples, but I think even he would say Carl knows that course better than anyone else in the caddie house. There just aren’t players and caddies who stay together for thirtysomething years anymore. And, honestly, I think Ben and Carl stayed a team because they were only together one week a year. But they were incredible weeks.

Anything else?

I just hope everyone enjoys reading behind the scenes of an incredible relationship and two special people. My first Masters was Ben’s first win and having seen them all . . . well, I feel blessed. I just hope I did their stories justice.

 

 

Harrison Ford on playing Branch Rickey: No value to have Harrison Ford in a recognizable way

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It is the most anticipated sports movie in a long, long time. Next Friday, 42, the modern version of the Jackie Robinson story hits the theaters.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes about a Q/A session Harrison Ford recently had with writers Dodger Stadium. Ford plays Branch Rickey in the film.

Ford looks nothing like himself in the film, which he says is essential.

Q: When you’re getting into character to play the role, you probably studied Branch Rickey’s voice and mannerisms. Was that important for you to imitate and reproduce on the screen?

A: When we talked about his faith, the style of his speech wasn’t based on just where he came from – rural Ohio – but his manner and his bit of  dramatic ways come from his experience of listening to country preachers. The quality of his language and the his voice were one of the things I felt were important. I walk down the street and people as often as not recognize my voice as compared to my face. I thought it would not be of any value to the audience, or to the film, to have Harrison Ford in it in a recognizable way. I wanted to characterize his voice. There was more audio tape available of him and it was revealing to me his sense of drama and his courtliness.

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Ford also talked about the potential impact of the movie.

Q: Robinson, as one of the great social figures of the 20th century, is still honored every April 15, and it may be surprising that there are a lot of kids who are not that aware of this man. How important is it to get this story out again reaching another generation?

A: There’s the textbook version, which is useful and I’m sure every representation of black history mentions Jackie Robinson and breaking the color barrier in baseball. But there’s nothing like the visceral experience that an audience can have. When they can see, when they can feel, participate in the experience that Jackie Robinson had, that’s what’s most important about this version of it. There’s a thing in film that I’m always railing against, and that’s when the characters ‘talk’ about the story. I call it ‘talk speak.’ What I want in the writing and the film – if I have an influence over it – is to allow behavior to express the character’s feelings, rather than the character talking about how they feel about something. I want the audience to not be told what’s coming, but to have the opportunity through emotional continuity with the people on the screen to what it felt like to be there. And this film does that in a really important way.