The 30th Annual Sports Emmy Awards were held this week in New York, and NBC won the “President’s Trophy” by taking home nine awards. It was a good night for the gang from 30 Rock.
There was a tie for Outstanding Studio Analyst between the colorful Terry Bradshaw (The NFL on FOX) and Tom Jackson (ESPN NFL GameDay).
It should come as no surprise that Bob Costas of NBC/HBO took home the Outstanding Studio Host while his partner Cris Collinsworth, of NBC, snagged the Outstanding Sports Event Analyst.
The always smooth Jim Nantz of CBS took home the Emmy for Outstanding Play-by-Play. He never over hypes events and is always solid in any sport he does.
Showtime/CBS/NFL Films came up with the Emmy for the Outstanding Studio Show (Weekly) with “Inside the NFL.” This was no simple deal because James Brown, Phil Simms, Warren Sapp and Collinsworth had to equal the quality of the long running show on HBO. The thing is, they were equal to the task and brought a new slant and breathed new life into one of sports television’s signature shows.
TNT won Outstanding Studio Show (Daily) for “Inside the NBA Playoffs.” Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley took home the prize for their consistently good work for their show, which at times, is more entertaining than the games they are presenting.
The award for Outstanding Live Sports Series went to “NBC Sunday Night Football” which is a fitting end for the career of John Madden. NBC also grabbed the statue for the Outstanding Sports Special for their coverage of Tiger Woods’ dramatic win at the 108th U.S. Open.
Another highlight of the Sports Emmy’s was HBO winning for their outstanding documentary, “Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football.”
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
