TV color analysts are becoming far more honest about the teams and leagues that they cover.
This past week we have seen plenty of examples of honesty on display throughout the sports media. Here are a few of the best examples:
» NBC golf analyst (and my former high school golf rival) Gary Koch who made the comment Saturday after Tiger Woods played himself into contention for a chance at winning the U.S. Open: “Once Tiger put himself in the final pairing for Sunday, it was game on. Now it is not Tiger against the field, no, this is clearly Tiger vs. Oakmont and that is a battle that should be epic.”
» MASN Orioles analyst Dave Johnson who was filling in for Buck Martinez and Jim Palmer on the O’s-Diamondbacks telecast. He, along with his partner Jim Hunter, witnessed the meltdown of the O’s bullpen after a stellar performance by Erik Bedard — a storyline that is at the heart of the Orioles’ eight-game losing streak. Here is what Johnson had to say during the eighth and ninth innings of Friday night’s telecast about the O’s bullpen: “I know these guys are trying. They all want to win — but when you push, you tend to make mistakes and when you make mistakes, you lose. Those losses put pressure on everyone on the team from the manager, to the front office, to every player on the team. If it [the losing] continues, changes from the top to the bottomwill take place — that is just how the game baseball is played.”
» Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports Major League Baseball insider, on the future of Miguel Tejada: “The Dodgers and the Angels need a power hitting third baseman and if the Orioles were willing to part with Miguel Tejada, they might be able to create a bidding war that could yield them some top prospects and even a player they could use right now.”
» ABC/ESPN’s Dan Patrick, who hosted the NBA pregame, and basketball insider Michael Wilbon both had some interesting ideas on how the league might boost their poor playoffs ratings. Here is Wilbon’s take: “The NBA needs to reseed, there has been plenty of talk about it. It makes sense that way the best teams will be in the finals no matter what the conference. Seeding this season would have had the Suns playing Cleveland and the Spurs would have played the Pistons.”
Patrick on having the worst two teams in NBA play each other for the right to the first round pick in the draft being played on an off day during the Finals. “Have the game, this year it would have been played by Memphis and Boston You could have Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and the entire Florida Gator team sitting courtside — that would be great.”
» Finally, the gutsy move of the week goes to FOX for showing the F-1 U.S. Grand Prix up against TNT’s coverage of NASCAR in a head to head battle on Sunday.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on www.examiner.com.
