MEDIA
SCOPE - November 16
by David Hershorin
Apologies
for the gap in last week's MEDIA SCOPE. Another
mid-season trip, this time to the heart and soul
of Buckeye territory - Columbus, Ohio. My conclusion
is that this would be an appropriate place for
the Sears Trophy to reside for a year. Such modest
people who know their collective football deserve
to throttle the mantle from the privileged Cane-nation.
But dare I speak my mind before the big one this
weekend
history would say otherwise. Nonetheless,
we get ready for the most-watched two-weekend
slate outside of the bowl frenzy.
Georgia vs. Auburn - CBS at 3:30pm
Vern Lundquist, Todd Blackledge, Jill Arrington
CBS
has continually raised its own bar with this broadcast
team. Without the laundry list ABC and its sister
networks (the ESPNs) have to offer, CBS's 'A'
team has polished its act with subtle tweaks for
optimum viewing affect. Too bad, demonstrated
again this week, that the technical ends haven't
achieved similar top quality.
Many
fine insights needed over-explaining due to weak
telestration. This on-air chalkboard has a place
as the game is played live, not just a tool for
replays. Someone should tell this to the more-than-capable
Blackledge. His acumen would play out better if
supported by the concise Xs and Os telestrators
supply rather than having to explain everything.
CBS offset this several ways - one with ample
info on this rivalries' history. They did their
homework on mover/shakers Pat Dye, Vince Dooley
and Tommy Tubberville - surprising all with graphics
and history of their connections to both schools.
A big thumbs up for the mid-game interview with
Dye. He exposed the intimate details of this rural
area and thus this rivalry. The in-booth visual
of the interview provided the weekend's most uncomfortable
moment - we saw Blackledge play and embrace the
third-wheel role as Vern and Pat chatted. Surprisingly,
Todd's evident foot shuffling provided a nice
human touch. An even bigger thumbs up when, in
mid-interview, a QB change rightfully interrupted
the booth's flow so they could outline the essential
moment. Couple this with witty banter and this
talk-team comes off nearly flawless, save the
lacking telestration. Vern spotted several penalties
officials missed, calling them out upon occurrence
for proof of his savvy. Blackledge coordinated
masterfully with the production truck(s) when
replays were paused up to 5 seconds at multiple
specific moments of the same play for more detailed
breakdown(s) of pivotal points in the given play's
development. This sequential method seems to allow
time to work for instead of against viewers as
we try to keep up with the action and its subsequent
analysis. Todd's omniscience has proven on par
with that of the esteemed Bob Griese, college
football's best color guy. All this earns the
booth an A-
a left-handed compliment: there
seems to be even more potential, so there is room
for improvement. But the technical ends left us
hanging at 1:08 of the first quarter with no feed
for over a minute. Couple that fact with isolated
replays of individuals more often than ones showing
the entire teams' development, and the geeks get
a rare C
DEFINITELY room for improvement.
Alabama vs. LSU - ESPN at 9pm
Ron Franklin, Mike Gottfried, Andrian Karsten
It
was another one of those games, where the action
on the field didn't keep viewers tuned-in. Too
bad, for this crew did much homework, which in
turn went unappreciated due to the blowout. But
the info was used as filler to make the broadcast
itself more enjoyable than the quality of the
game. The booth wisely outlined 'bama's rushing
strategy, successfully running outside the tackles,
away from the #1 defense's strong middle. But
the booth missed by not analyzing or telestrating
RB Sean William's long runs and how LSU made him
appear unstoppable. Another strong point was the
compare-and-contrast approach in sizing up the
defenses. LSU was #1 nationally in many categories,
but Alabama wasn't statistically far behind (#3
overall going into the tilt). And once given the
piece about how experienced the Crimson Tide's
linemen were, it was easy to put together how
this one would (and did) play out. So we'll give
the chatter an A for effort in this snoozer.
But
the technical ends fared far worse. Death Valley
is not supposed to describe the production's viability.
In this case, though, it did. The feed from Baton
Rouge was interrupted on the game's third play.
This resulted in over a minute of dead air, without
so much as the audio portion or a graphic to hold
our attention. In this age of 5-second clips,
an entire minute of nothing means thousands of
simultaneous clicks flipping away from what became
a bad game anyway. The score itself scared enough
people off
ESPN needed this delay (another
reason to leave) like a hole in their head. Suffice
to say that a problem this major isn't nit picking,
especially at sport's elite network. This C- should
be a wake-up call as the bowls are soon upon us.
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