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Silliness continues: Katherine Webb appears on Today Show; says apology wasn’t necessary

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C’mon Matt Lauer. How can you have Katherine Webb on the Today Show and not ask her about Barack Obama’s handling of the fiscal cliff?

OK, OK. Here’s the video of Webb saying ESPN didn’t need to apologize for Brent Musburger’s comments about her Monday. She was flattered, she said.

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And here’s the likely reason why ESPN felt compelled to issue an apology. The New York Times did a story quoting people who were critical of Musburger. It includes this passage:

Almost immediately, Webb’s name began trending on Twitter and her account added nearly 100,000 followers within hours, including athletes like LeBron James. Meanwhile, Musburger’s comments, which some saw as harmless fun, struck other observers as off-putting.

“It’s extraordinarily inappropriate to focus on an individual’s looks,” said Sue Carter, a professor of journalism at Michigan State. “In this instance, the appearance of the quarterback’s girlfriend had no bearing on the outcome of the game. It’s a major personal violation, and it’s so retrograde that it’s embarrassing. I think there’s a generational issue, but it’s incumbent on people practicing in these eras to keep up and this is not a norm.”

It’s official: Even though it is only Jan. 9, this looks to be a solid leader for the most overblown story of the year.

Move on, everybody.

 

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Fun has been sucked out of Hall of Fame day

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Nobody gets into the Hall of Fame today. The formal announcement comes at 2 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Special coverage begins at noon.

I might be wrong. Perhaps Jack Morris slips in, but it seems unlikely that he can get 75 percent of the vote.

Even if Morris or somebody else gets elected, there will be questions about whether they were deserving. Did the voters simply vote for them because they didn’t want to turn in an empty ballot? Were these default votes?

This is a crummy situation. Hall of Fame day used to be a fun occasion for baseball. Not anymore.

Seriously, on a ballot that features normal first-ballot locks like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, and perhaps even Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza, it’ll seem like a letdown if somebody like Morris (3.90 career ERA is a no for me) or Tim Raines (short window of greatness) gains entry to Cooperstown today.

There’s too much angst and confusion over the entire process. And unless somebody defines the standards, it’s going to be that way until all the juiced stars from the steroid era move on down the road, which will be a long time from now.

Writes T.J. Quinn in ESPN.com:

An issue as serious as this deserves answers to those questions. If the BBWAA continues to serve as the Hall’s electoral body, the organization must develop guidelines with the Hall of Fame about how to handle it. Noting that character is a criterion simply isn’t enough, especially for any club that includes Ty Cobb as a member.

Quinn, who hasn’t covered baseball regularly since 2002, said he hasn’t voted during the last two years.

I have come to the conclusion that it isn’t my mess to solve, and I wouldn’t be qualified to solve it even if it were. I’m out.

I agree. Whenever somebody asks who should vote if the writers aren’t going to do it, I have a standard reply: “That shouldn’t be our problem.” I assume baseball has plenty of smart people who can figure that out. A panel of historians, broadcasters, even astute Hall of Famers should be able to get the job done.

Regardless, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza and other steroid users (hello, A-Rod and Manny) aren’t going away. Their names will loom over future Hall of Fame votes, taking some of the attention away from deserving players; 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine are up next year.

Something needs to be done to clear up this situation. To see if the fun can be restored to Hall of Fame day.

 

 

 

Not necessary: ESPN apologizes for Musburger’s comments about girlfriend of Alabama QB

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It must be politically correct day at ESPN.

Following the network’s decision to dump Rob Parker, ESPN decided to apologize for Brent Musburger’s comments about Katherine Webb, the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron.

In a statement, ESPN said: “We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current  Alabama quarterback certainly met that test.  However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.”

In my view, this was totally unnecessary. Yes, Musburger might have gotten a bit carried away with his statements, but it wasn’t grossly over the line. People were more amused than outraged.

An apology only serves to focus more attention on Musburger and his comments. It elevates the story instead of letting it fade away.

ESPN dumps Rob Parker; Interview with Detroit station likely last straw

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On second thought, it probably wasn’t a good idea for Rob Parker to conduct an interview with a local Detroit station Sunday.

As a result, Parker’s 30-day suspension from ESPN now has become permanent. The network disclosed today it is dumping Parker.

“Rob Parker’s contract expired at year end. Evaluating our needs and his work, including his recent RGIII comments, we decided not to renew,” ESPN said in a statement.

ESPN wouldn’t say more, but it seems reasonable to deduce that the network wasn’t pleased with Parker’s interview Sunday. Clearly, Parker reacted like he still had a job at ESPN. He talked up First Take, lauding the show for fearlessly tackling controversial issues such as race.

I assumed Parker cleared the interview with ESPN officials, but perhaps that wasn’t the case. The network likely didn’t approve of what Parker had to say. Namely, where he said First Take producers knew what he was going to say about Robert Griffin III.

“We had a discussion during a pre-production meeting,” Parker said. “Not every single word, but they knew which way we were going. It’s just not off-the-cuff obviously.”

All in all, Parker probably should have laid low while serving his suspension. But then, he isn’t good at keeping his mouth shut.

 

 

 

 

Imagine if a good game: ESPN sees rating increase despite rout

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You know you have a horrible game when all everyone talks about is a 73-year-old man ogling Miss Alabama.

You can be sure ESPN executives were holding their breath whenever Brent Musburger started talking about A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend. Careful now, Brent.

By the way, this video has recorded nearly 500,000 views as of 11 a.m. ET.

As for the rest of the evening, well, not so much. This wasn’t a BCS title game. This was an Alabama-Western Kentucky mismatch in September.

The rout killed any hopes of a record rating for ESPN. It’s a tribute to the drawing power of the two schools that the overnight rating actually was up.

From ESPN:

ESPN’s Discover BCS National Championship  – No. 2 Alabama’s 42-14 victory over No. 1 Notre Dame on Monday evening — delivered a 15.7 overnight rating, a 14 percent increase from the 2012 game between Alabama and LSU (13.8 overnight rating), according to Nielsen. This metered-market rating – the highest for all of cable television in two years, since the January 2011 BCS National Championship on ESPN, helped drive the network’s five-game BCS average to a 9.0 metered market rating.  That represents a 6 percent increase over a year ago (8.5 for the five-game average). Additionally, the game was the highest-rated program on Monday, helping ESPN win the night among all networks.

In terms of local markets, the Discover BCS National Championship was the third highest-rated ESPN bowl game telecast on record in Birmingham with a 55.1 rating. Overall, 17 different markets set local ratings records by delivering the highest rating ever for a bowl game on ESPN (records go back to 2000).  Last night’s top five rated markets were Birmingham, New Orleans, Knoxville, Nashville and Atlanta.  National ratings information, including television and online viewership should be available later today.

As for next year, instead of a traditional title game, perhaps best two out of three for the SEC finalists. Probably would be more interesting.

Former NY Times baseball writer casts final Hall of Fame vote; says writers shouldn’t be involved

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Murray Chass, who started covering baseball in 1960, says he is opting out as a Hall of Fame voter.

The former New York Times baseball writer now writes a blog at murraychass.com. In a post, he says that he cast his 2013 vote for Tiger pitcher Jack Morris. Chass, winner of the 2003 Spink Award, said, “If Morris is not elected this time, I will vote for him next year in his final year of eligibility and then be done.”

Why? Chass writes:

Though I don’t believe there is a more qualified set of electors, certainly not the new-age stats guys who are envious of the writers and believe they should determine Hall of Famers, I don’t think reporters and columnists who cover and comment on baseball news should be making baseball news.

The steroids issue has made it impossible to conduct a rational vote and cast a reasonable ballot. No matter how a writer votes or on what he bases his decision whom to vote for or not to vote for, his reasoning has to be flawed and open to challenge.

Later, Chass writes:

Years ago, I introduced a motion at a national writers’ meeting that we withdraw from voting. Had the motion been voted on at that meeting, I think it would have had a good chance of passing. If it had passed, we wouldn’t be debating the steroids issue now. But a quick-thinking writer moved to table the vote until the entire national membership could vote by mail.

My motion easily lost so here we are today talking about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell among others.

I couldn’t agree more with Chass. As I said in a December post, sportswriters should report the news, not make the news.

With the steroids issue, the stakes now are so much higher for the Hall of Fame voters. This isn’t about batting averages or World Series records anymore. This is about making a verdict about an entire era of baseball. As I wrote earlier, name another situation where an editor allows a reporter to play judge and jury on a story that he/she then covers.

When the vote is announced Wednesday, many baseball writers will be, in effect, reporting on themselves.

Last week, current New York Times baseball writer Tyler Kepner noted his paper has a policy prohibiting him from voting. In a tweet, he said: ” There are so many inherent contradictions in the process, it’s almost a relief I can’t vote.”

Dave O’Brien, who covers baseball for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, responded in a tweet: “For 1st time, I feel same.”

I have a feeling many other writers feel the same way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ad Age story: College football could overtake MLB as nation’s No. 2 sport; CF more popular with younger crowd

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On the eve of the big game, Michael McCarthy writes in Advertising Age that college football is rapidly closing the gap on baseball as the nation’s No. 2 sport behind the NFL.

McCarthy offers several sets of numbers, including this passage:

Other research indicates the Grand Old Game is still No. 2. But the power and pageantry of college football is grabbing younger consumers. Numbers are trending in the direction of college football.

In the latest Harris Poll, 16% of adults cited baseball as their favorite sport, compared to 11% for college football. Baseball’s actually up three points from last year, when the two sports were tied at 13% while college football dropped two points. But since Harris started tracking America’s favorite sports in 1985, college football has gained 1%, while baseball has gone down 7%.

Here’s the kicker in my eyes.

College football was most popular with the 18-to-24-year-old demo and Southerners, according to Harris. Baseball was most popular with 50-to-64-year-olds and Midwesterners. The online poll was conducted from Dec. 12-18, 2012.

I can speak from first-hand experience. My two teenage boys devour college football. They can’t wait to watch tonight’s game. When we came home from our winter vacation, they promptly parked themselves on the couch and watched all the bowl games they recorded on the DVR. It made this father proud.

While they like the Cubs and White Sox, they barely tuned in for baseball’s postseason. Game 3 of the World Series was played on a Saturday night. They could care less. All the boys wanted to watch were games involving Notre Dame and Michigan that night. The same holds true for their friends. Baseball barely registers compared to the NFL and college football.

Clearly, the Harris poll shows that baseball’s popularity skews toward the older crowd. And not to push anyone out the door, let alone myself, but once the older generation moves on, the game is going to suffer if it can’t reach the younger fans like my kids.

Poll numbers only tell part of the story. In my house, and I’m sure in many others, college football already has overtaken baseball.

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Parker speaks: Wasn’t trying to put down RGIII; First Take producers knew of his stance prior to show

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Rob Parker has re-emerged. Not on ESPN, where he still is in the penalty box with a 30-day suspension following his controversial comments about Robert Griffin III.

Rather, Parker did an interview on a local Detroit TV station in which he serves as a contributor. I assume ESPN gave approval for him to do the interview, knowing it quickly would circulate through the blogosphere.

Parker didn’t back away from his First Take comments (video above) about Griffin in which he questioned his “blackness.” Instead, he tried to clarify them.

“It was never to condemn the young man,” Parker said. “RGIII is a great young man. This is a conversation that occurs in the black community when an athlete or famous entertainer pushes away from their people. You saw with O.J. Simpson and some other people where they said ‘Well, I’m not black, I’m O.J.’ So it’s more about that, not about RG3 and what’s going on.

“It’s more about this thing that we’ve battled for years – why people have pushed away from their people. It’s more about that.”

Later Parker said, “I wasn’t saying he wasn’t black enough. When people say that, it’s just not true.”

Parker said the topic came up during a pre-production meeting prior to the show. Reportedly, a producer also was suspended.

“We had a discussion during a pre-production meeting,” Parker said. “Not every single word, but they knew which way we were going. It’s just not off-the-cuff obviously.”

Parker called the reaction to his comments “shocking.” However, he said the firestorm is an example of “how popular First Take is.”

As for the future, Parker said he is not going to shy away from discussing controversial issues.

“You can’t be afraid to talk about race,” Parker said. “That’s what I bring to the table. I don’t want to be a guy who is going to try his back or run away from the issues.”

Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

Q/A with Kirk Herbstreit: On whether Notre Dame can sustain success; title teams people love to hate

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Perhaps tonight’s title game should be renamed the Polar Bowl, because it features two of the most polarizing teams in the country.

If you live outside of SEC country, you’re tired of that conference winning the BCS title every year. And even if you live within its boundaries, you’re probably thinking, anybody but Alabama and Nick Saban.

Meanwhile, rooting for Notre Dame hardly is an appealing option for the legion of Irish haters throughout the country.

All in all, the dynamic should deliver a huge rating for ESPN, assuming the game is close.

During a teleconference, Kirk Herbstreit, working his sixth straight BCS game, addressed the love-hate aspect and talked about whether Notre Dame’s success in 2012 will be more than a one-year fling.

As you travel around the country, what is your sense of how much of the interest a lot of these games actually comes from people rooting against one of the teams even maybe more so than people rooting for some of these teams, and also, how do you think that plays into the interest in this particular game?

Well, I think you’re right.  I think because the SEC has won six straight National Championships, I definitely feel that the SEC, as much as that region claims all 14 teams, when they get to this point, I think every other conference and every other fan base outside of those 14 teams is passionately rooting against Alabama.

And what’s interesting is in this case, Notre Dame is such a polarizing team, where everybody, no matter when you grew up, you either loved Notre Dame or you just couldn’t stand Notre Dame.  So there are a lot of people out there that I think are going to have to make a tough decision on who to pull for, and I really believe that, again, outside of the SEC, most people, even if they aren’t big Notre Dame fans in this case, because of the six straight national titles, I think they’re going to be pulling with all their hearts to see Notre Dame end that streak.

And as far as the interest, any time you put those two letters, ND, in a National Championship game, I think the level of interest obviously is going to go up, and I think the fact that it’s been since 1988 since the last time they won a National Championship, I think it definitely raises the bar of your hype and the buzz of this National Championship compared to any of the other games that I’ve had the good fortune to call.

Have you heard any people on sort of the other end saying, well, I don’t like either team, so I’m not going to watch, or do you think people just say that but they’ll still watch it?

I think anybody that takes the time to make a comment like that, clearly they’ll be watching the game.  They’ll, in fact, watch the four hours of pregame that we have before the game and be blogging and tweeting about how wrong everybody is on those shows.

Without a doubt, people are going to ‑‑ if you’re a college football fan or even if you’re a fringe college football fan, you’re going to watch.  An example for me is Tiger Woods and golf.  I could care less about golf on a weekly basis.  But if Tiger Woods accidentally stumbles into a Sunday, I’m that guy that tunes in and watches golf on Sunday.

And I think if you’re a fringe college football fan and you have Notre Dame and Alabama playing on a Monday night, no matter what you feel about either team, no matter if you despise both these teams, you’re going to be tuned in watching this game.

We’ve seen Notre Dame have these blips before, where previous coaches had a decent run for a year and then quickly fell off.  How is this going to be different?  What’s your sense as far as what Brian Kelly is building there, and will he be able to sustain it beyond this year?

We were around those teams with Bob Davie when he had a team that got in early part of the BCS era when they got into a BCS bowl game, I think it was against Oregon State, and you remember what happened in the Sugar Bowl when they went up against LSU.  This just feels different, not just because they’re undefeated and because they’re in the National Championship, but I’m never one to really pay attention to the recruiting hype of five‑star recruits or why they’re ranked No. 1 or No. 2.  I always like to wait to see players in their first year or two, see how they kind of make that adjustment to the college game and see how they’re maturing and developing.

I just really sense that, as Brent said earlier, with Brian Kelly’s background, I mean, if there’s anybody that’s ever been typecast to be the Notre Dame coach, it’s Brian Kelly, and I think it’s legitimate, his energy and his passion for the school and the way he’s recruiting.  If you look at what they’re trying to do for the future, I think they’re going to use this fifth year as kind of a springboard into the future, and I really believe as long as Brian Kelly is the head coach, with what he has going on right now, if they will hold onto to staff, I think they’ve got something very unique going, and I think this has staying power.  I don’t think this is a, hey, let’s make a run one year and then go away.  I think Notre Dame football has a real opportunity here to be around and compete at a very high level for a long time.

What is the most compelling aspect of this match‑up from your point of view?

I think an interesting aspect of the game is just the hype of dealing with the long layoff, the hype about Alabama trying to win three of the last four National Championships with Nick Saban, the fact that they’re going up against Notre Dame, one of the most storied programs in college football with a new coach who’s reaching out to other coaches who have had to deal with a 44‑day layoff, about how to peak your team at the right time, the fact that it’s uncharted waters for Notre Dame’s program to have to deal with this, and then when they take the field just to see how they both handle themselves.

We witnessed a game last night, if you don’t show up mentally and physically prepared and in the right frame of mind, you can get embarrassed.  And just because that was a Sugar Bowl not in the National Championship limelight doesn’t mean that that couldn’t potentially happen at a National Championship.  I’m sure both those coaches watched that game last night and they both panicked a little bit just to make sure, hey, am I doing the right thing, because you just don’t know until your team goes out and starts to play.

So I think the anticipation of the hype of this particular match‑up and how these teams play early, especially in the game, I think is going to be an interesting aspect of how the game eventually plays out.