Last night, Brey Cook, a highly-touted offensive lineman from Springdale, announced his decision to play football for Arkansas beginning in the fall of 2011. Well, kind of. He issued an oral commitment which is completely non-binding. He could change his mind between now and Signing Day in February. He could change his mind a dozen times and orally commit to every Division I school in America.
Yet at least two of the three NWA TV stations decided to carry this momentous occasion live during the 6 p.m. news. But not during sports. Instead, during the first segment known as the "A block" among TV types. The TV producers didn't have the stones to tell a high schooler "No, if you want to do this live our sports segment starts at 6:20. We can do it then."
As I've said before, oral commitments are like engagements, Signing Day is the wedding ceremony. Sure, you might have an engagement party, but the wedding is usually a much more lavish affair. Yes, you get your engagement announcement in the paper, but I don't remember the last time the DG devoted an entire page to a society engagement the way they do society weddings.
I'm beginning to think the wedding analogy is fitting in another way. These high-school athletes are turning into Bridezillas. In fact, as long as they're turning this announcements into ceremonies, they should do it up right.
Perhaps inspired by such foolishness, LeBron James is working out a deal to announce his selection of an NBA team during a live one-hour ESPN special on Thursday night. At least James will actually be signing some paperwork at his media appearance and not just announcing he plays to play for Team X ... but with the understanding he might change his mind between now and the start of the season.
Hopefully James will have various NBA caps on a table in front of him and do the idiotic reach-for-this-cap-stop-reach-for-that-one-stop-grab-the-third-one-and-put-it-on-his-head move.
Oh well, at least Cook gave the in-state talk shows something to discuss. They can take a break from doing a week-by-week prediction of which games CBS will take or whether ESPN GameDay will be in Fayetteville (not Little Rock, Matt) or debating Heisman contenders a full five months before the award is given or discussing whether Hazen will repeat as 2A-6 champions.
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Five Things
1. And now, we reach "The Most Pivotal Game in the Razorbacks' Season!" Again. For the second or third time, depending on who is talking.
We know Fort Smith's coaching wunderkind Gus Malzahn (aka the man done wrong by Broyles and Nutt) has turned the Auburn WarPlainsEagles' offense around in less than a season. Yes, we know Fort Smith's Kodi Burns has become an Auburn legend for his speech about team unity after being moved to WR and Wildcat QB before the season started.
But that takes a backseat to the real news about this game - it's starting at 11 a.m.
Not 11:30 a.m. as SEC fans grew used to thanks to the Jefferson Pilot games with the Three Daves. Thirty minutes earlier than that.
When the SEC's big TV deal with ESPN was announced Hog fans (and other SEC types) celebrated. They dreamed of evening games on ESPN or ESPN2. Nobody realized some weeks the game would kickoff before some restaurants quit serving breakfast.
Even worse than the kickoff time itself might be the slugs assigned by ESPN to work the game. Dave Pasch, Bob Griese and Chris Spielman are so far down the ESPN roster in quality, viewers will be begging for Dave, Dave and Dave to storm the booth.
2. Dez Bryant ruled ineligible? Well, time to break out this old chestnut.
3. Miami plays Florida A&M this week in a game that will be more notable for what happens AFTER the final whistle. The FAMU band will play at halftime and postgame.
“I’ll be watching it,” said Miami head coach Randy Shannon, who helped hatch the idea for the after-game festivities. “It’s very rare that you get an opportunity to play a team like Florida A&M. And then you get a band to perform that everybody knows about. After enjoying a game and coaching in a game like that, you can’t miss out on enjoying that band.”
4. Recurring Items
The SportsJournalists.com Top 25 is here.
AwfulAnnouncing.com provides us with the announcers' schedule here and the Pammy Awards for idiotic TV announcing comments here.
5. M8B Prediction
Will Arkansas (+3) beat Auburn?
(Views expressed by the Magic 8 Ball do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog, the blog owner nor this post's author. Advice from the M8B is for entertainment purposes only and not for actual wagering ... even though the Magic 8 Ball is 4-3 this season.)
We know Fort Smith's coaching wunderkind Gus Malzahn (aka the man done wrong by Broyles and Nutt) has turned the Auburn WarPlainsEagles' offense around in less than a season. Yes, we know Fort Smith's Kodi Burns has become an Auburn legend for his speech about team unity after being moved to WR and Wildcat QB before the season started.
But that takes a backseat to the real news about this game - it's starting at 11 a.m.
Not 11:30 a.m. as SEC fans grew used to thanks to the Jefferson Pilot games with the Three Daves. Thirty minutes earlier than that.
When the SEC's big TV deal with ESPN was announced Hog fans (and other SEC types) celebrated. They dreamed of evening games on ESPN or ESPN2. Nobody realized some weeks the game would kickoff before some restaurants quit serving breakfast.
Even worse than the kickoff time itself might be the slugs assigned by ESPN to work the game. Dave Pasch, Bob Griese and Chris Spielman are so far down the ESPN roster in quality, viewers will be begging for Dave, Dave and Dave to storm the booth.
2. Dez Bryant ruled ineligible? Well, time to break out this old chestnut.
3. Miami plays Florida A&M this week in a game that will be more notable for what happens AFTER the final whistle. The FAMU band will play at halftime and postgame.
“I’ll be watching it,” said Miami head coach Randy Shannon, who helped hatch the idea for the after-game festivities. “It’s very rare that you get an opportunity to play a team like Florida A&M. And then you get a band to perform that everybody knows about. After enjoying a game and coaching in a game like that, you can’t miss out on enjoying that band.”
4. Recurring Items
The SportsJournalists.com Top 25 is here.
AwfulAnnouncing.com provides us with the announcers' schedule here and the Pammy Awards for idiotic TV announcing comments here.
5. M8B Prediction
Will Arkansas (+3) beat Auburn?
(Views expressed by the Magic 8 Ball do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog, the blog owner nor this post's author. Advice from the M8B is for entertainment purposes only and not for actual wagering ... even though the Magic 8 Ball is 4-3 this season.)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Monday, November 17, 2008
Fox out of BCS bidding
Looks like ESPN will get the BCS bowls. I just wonder if the economic mess will wind up biting them on the butt for some of these TV contracts ...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3709030
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3709030
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