In TV there are those defining moments that establish when a network makes it to the big time. For the MLB Network, that moment came Saturday at 2 p.m. when Bob Costas had a one-on-one interview with Sports Illustrated reporter Selena Roberts. It was Roberts who broke the story earlier in the day — in 2003 Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs use during a “blind test” conducted by Major League Baseball to determine how best combat the issue. There were 104 names in that sealed report and someone leaked A-Rod’s name to S.I.
For nearly an hour, Costas and Roberts talked about the all aspects the S.I. story and the ramifications that story may have A-Rod and others. It was the MLB Network handling breaking news with the best anchor in the business with the first network interview of the reporter that broke the story. Any thought that the network would run away from controversy was silenced with Costas interview of Roberts.
Not to be outdone, ESPNews was also all over the story with New York’s top sports talk host Andrew Marchand getting listener reaction from ESPN Radio 1050 in the Big Apple. They also had phone interviews with Rodriguez’s former manager (and ESPN analyst) Buck Showalter, ESPN investigative reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn, ESPN baseball analysts Tim Kurkjian, Buster Olney and Steve Phillips, ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack, former director of conditioning for the Texas Rangers Fernando Montes, and former Rangers teammate Doug Glanville.
They also had an interview with Roberts — but it came from ABC News and not directly with her. That scoop belonged to Costas and the MLB Network.
Later Saturday night ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS, FOXNews and other major new outlets had the story. It is one that we will be following for quite a while. But on the day that it broke, the credit must got to the upstart MLB Network for getting Costas on the air with Roberts and showing anyone who had any doubt that it would be a force in the marketplace when it comes breaking news in baseball.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on dcexaminer.com.
