Back in April, we took a look at the good, bad, and ugly from ESPN's coverage of the 1st round of the NFL Draft.  And, apart from walking caricature Chris Berman, ESPN hit a home run.  So, we thought it would only be fair to give the same scrutiny to ESPN's NBA Draft coverage, which is often just as entertaining even without the maniacal following the NFL Draft has amassed over the years. However, with last night's debacle, ESPN's NBA Draft coverage may have hit a new low, a next to impossible feat seeing as how Stephen A. Smith wasn't even a member of the studio team!  Let's start with the good news first...

The Good

-As big bro Matt said on Twitter last night, the star of ESPN's coverage was their "international expert" Fran Fraschilla,  The glut of international players selected throughout gave Fraschilla extra air time, but every time the former coach was on the air he delivered thorough analysis of those drafted.  Not only was Fraschilla on target with known quantities like Kanter and Jonas V, but Fraschilla also delivered the goods in the 2nd round when players like Targuy Ngombo from Qatar left every other ESPN "analyst" speechless.  For every international prospect, Fraschilla came ready with strenghts, weaknesses, comparisons, and even contract information.  With Fraschilla's knowledge of both international talent AND college prospects (after all he is a game analyst for the network), he would be a welcome addition to ESPN's main set.

-The other big winner from ESPN's Draft coverage had to be Jay Bilas, the smartest guy in the room no matter where he is.  Though I'm getting pretty tired of Bilas's pious act when discussing larger issues like education and the NCAA, he's at home analyzing draft prospects.  His smart, succinct analysis, including the flaws in each player's game and their projection into the pros, was a breath of fresh air for draft coverage. Unlike Jon Gruden's unending QB love and "THIS GUY" act, Bilas pulled no punches on players he thought weren't ready for the NBA.  The former Dukie even showed his self-aware humor with a nod to a drinking games based on his heavy use of words like wingspan.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get more sharp analysis from Bilas and Fraschilla because of other choices ESPN made with their broadcast...

Peyton Manning may be the most marketable athlete of our generation... and he has gotten every last drop out of it.  This newest DirecTV commercial is something like his 89,413th ad, but it is also one of his best.  In fact, I'd say it ranks right up there at the top with CUT THAT MEAT!  It chronicles the brothers Peyton and Eli as stars of the fictitious drama "Football Cops."  It's actually quite humorous and I laughed more in these two minutes than that entire awful cop movie with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell.  Some highlights include a guy getting impaled by a football (impalings are always comedic gold), goofy fake mustaches, an Archie Manning cameo, and enough bad football puns to make Jim Nantz proud.  By the way, while we're talking NFL, please end the stupid lockout.  Here's the clip...



H/T GuysGirl
 

The FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off this weekend in Germany and ESPN is taking some of the same attributes of their great 2010 World Cup coverage to Germany.  Some of the added features this time around include a live set from Germany and top announcers like Ian Darke, Adrian Healey, and Julie Foudy calling games as well as Bob Ley and former USWNT stars Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, and Brianna Scurry in the studio as part of the coverage.  Darke and Foudy will announce all US games in the group stages.  ESPN's This is Sportscenter ad campaign is even getting in on the action in a spot starring Abby Wambach of the USWNT...



AA has the announcing assignments for all the group stage games straight from ESPN.  Here's your schedule for the group stages up till July 6...

Date	Time	Network	Match	Group	Site
Su 6/26	8:45 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Nigeria vs. France   Adrian Healey and Kate Markgraf	A	Sinsheim
	11:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Germany vs. Canada   Ian Darke and Julie Foudy	A	Berlin
Mo 6/27	8:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Japan vs. New Zealand   Beth Mowins and Cat Whitehill	B	Bochum
	11:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Mexico vs. England   Healey and Markgraf	B	Wolfsburg
Tu 6/28	8:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Colombia vs. Sweden   Mowins and Whitehill	C	Leverkusen
	11:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	USA vs. Korea DPR   Darke and Foudy	C	Dresden
We 6/29	8:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Norway vs. Equatorial Guinea Mowins and Whitehill	D	Augsburg
	12 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Brazil vs. Australia Healey and Tony DiCicco	D	Moenchengladbach
Th 6/30	11:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Canada vs. France Healey and DiCicco	A	Bochum
	2:30 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Germany vs. Nigeria Darke and Foudy	A	Frankfurt
Fr 7/1	8:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Japan vs. Mexico Mowins and Whitehill	B	Leverkusen
	12 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	New Zealand vs. England Healey and Markgraf	B	Dresden
Sa 7/2	7:45 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Korea DPR vs. Sweden Mowins and Whitehill	C	Augsburg
	11:30 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	USA vs. Colombia Darke and Foudy	C	Sinsheim
Su 7/3	7:45 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Australia vs. Equatorial Guinea Healey and Markgraf	D	Bochum
	12 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Brazil vs. Norway Darke and Foudy	D	Wolfsburg
Tu 7/5	12 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	England vs. Japan Healey and Markgraf	B	Augsburg
	12 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	New Zealand vs. Mexico Mowins and Whitehill	B	Sinsheim
	2:30 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	France vs. Germany Darke and Foudy	A	Moenchengladbach
	2:30 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Canada vs. Nigeria Mowins and Whitehill	A	Dresden
We 7/6	11:45 a.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Equatorial Guinea vs. Brazil Mowins and Whitehill	D	Frankfurt
	11:45 a.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Australia vs. Norway Healey and Markgraf	D	Leverkusen
	2:30 p.m.	ESPN/ESPN3.com	Sweden vs. USA Darke and Foudy	C	Wolfsburg
	2:30 p.m.	ESPN2/ESPN3.com	Korea DPR vs. Colombia Mowins and Whitehill	C	Bochum

Thanks to Mac Nwulu at ESPN for the schedule

Yesterday, we received a tweet into the AA Twitter inbox regarding an online petition that exists to persuade Fox to allow broadcasting legend Vin Scully to announce one more World Series.  The driving force behind the online petition is Daily Stache, a Mets blog.  Already, the online document has over 2,000 signatures.  Here's what the petition says...

Vin Scully, the greatest baseball announcer of all time has not called a World Series Game on Television since Game 5 of the 1988 World Series when his Dodgers defeated the Mighty A’s. As his career comes closer to an end, I feel that this great man and broadcaster needs to have one more chance to shine when the stage shines the brightest, The World Series. Join me in this push to have him get one more chance to crown a World Champion in the way it should always be done, with class, diginity and honor, the way he has done it for over 60 years.

AA supports this petition wholeheartedly!  This is an amazing idea.  Here is the link so you can sign it yourself.  Please do.  Nobody in broadcasting deserves one more moment on the national stage like Vin Scully.  So many great broadcasters of years gone by still have prominent announcing roles - names like Brent Musberger, Dick Enberg, Dick Stockton, and Marv Albert are still at the top of the profession, why would Fox not invite a legend like Vin Scully into their broadcast booth for one World Series? 

As we wrote earlier this week, Fox needs a change in their MLB coverage, even throwing out possible names that Fox could hire to improve their broadcast stable.  What better addition could you make than giving a gracious cameo to the baseball's best announcer... perhaps ever.  I was 2 years old when Vin Scully last announced a World Series game.  Why not provide an opportunity for millions of young baseball fans that have never heard Vin Scully announce a game?  Sure, it wouldn't be the typical Fox broadcast with Buck & McCarver (who have announced the World Series since 1996)... but that's probably a good thing.  In fact, this petition isn't as much of a criticism of Buck & McCarver, rather a way to honor one of sports' best announcers (but I'm sure you could sign it if you just want to get rid of them too).  Going old school with the broadcast may in fact be a welcome decision with old and young fans. 

With Vin working at Fox Sports West calling Dodger games, I doubt the logistics would be too difficult.  Please sign the petition and use Twitter, Facebook, or any means you can think of to help this petition become reality and tell Fox you want to see Vin Scully announce one more World Series.
 

This is legendary sportscaster Dick Enberg's final Wimbledon after 28 years commentating at the All England Club.  While Enberg has certainly lost a step (who wouldn't at 76) in recent years, I actually have enjoyed his work at Wimbledon for ESPN.  Enberg was out of place with the faster pace of the NFL and college basketball, but the slower pace of tennis works well for Dick and his abilities at this stage of his career.  Over the course of his career, Enberg has to be listed in the Top 10 of all-time play by play men - he's announced seemingly every big American sporting event and done so with grace and professionalism.  After Wimbledon, he'll close out his announcing career as play by play man for the San Diego Padres. 

So, it's only fitting that the distinguished, 76 year old Dick Enberg, would close out his illustrious Wimbledon career by talking about "bloody blue balls."  Eww... here's the video from SportsGrid...



The reaction of Chris Evert (also a welcome addition back to the broadcast booth) is priceless.  "Ok, I'll leave that alone."  Do you really think Dick Enberg knew the meaning of blue balls before he went there?  If Regis Philbin can ask Michelle Beadle about the darkest reaches of the internet, I suppose anything is possible.  I just hope this clip makes one of Dick's famous reflective video montages as he says goodbye to Wimbledon.

H/T SportsGrid

The Los Angeles Lakers aren't just shuffling coaches this offseason, with former Cavs head coach Mike Brown replacing Phil Jackson, they are shuffling announcers as well.  Out are TV play by play man Joel Meyers and radio play by play man Spero Dedes.  Replacing them are Fox Sports West's Bill MacDonald on the TV side and ESPN Radio's John Ireland on the radio side.  The plan of the Lakers was to have the 31 year old Dedes, one of the rising stars in broadcasting, to do play by play on television, but Dedes reportedly had a change of heart late in the game... because he will do play by play for the New York Knicks instead.  Here's the report:

Industry sources say that Dedes has already accepted a job as the radio and TV play-by-play man for the New York Knicks, a contract that will allow him to continue working for CBS on the NFL and college basketball.

The job effectively is replacing Gus Johnson on Knicks' radio games, but would allow Dedes to move to the TV side when Mike Breen leaves to do a network assignment for ESPN or ABC.

As far as the Lakers side goes, they've struggled to find an established voice to fill the mic of the legendary Chick Hearn after he passed away in 2002, going through multiple announcers on TV and radio.  Dedes looked like he may have been that guy, but now he's leaving the team and leaving Los Angeles back at square one.  I can't speak to Ireland's play by play abilities, but I've always taken a liking to Billy Mac, even back in the days when he hosted the Carl's Jr. Sports Roundtable (how's that for an obscure reference).  As for Dedes, calling games for the Lakers and Knicks and working several national duties by age 31 is quite an impressive feat.  Dedes is from New Jersey and has worked Nets games in the past, so the move back East makes sense.  Also, the Knicks radio job will allow Dedes to continue appearing on the national stage with CBS, where he's done NFL and NCAA Tournament games recently.

Dedes turns down Lakers' TV gig for Knicks, so it goes to Macdonald - LA Daily News

Tonight Tiki Barber was featured on HBO's Real Sports where he discussed his motivations for making a comeback at the age of 36 after 4 years away from the game. If you missed it and have HBO, it's worth watching especially if you enjoy foul mouth agents waxing poetically. In the piece, Barber chronicles his last 4 years as a football player, television personality, Paparazzi target, and his last year as a depressed, unemployed media personality trying to start a new life with "the other woman". After a year of "sitting on the couch for 10 hours depressed a day", which is what we bloggers consider "the good life," Barber has been busting his butt in an attempt to make a comeback at the age of 36. 

Given none of last year's top 18 rushers were over 30 years of age, only three running backs in the top 50 were above 30 (Tomlinson, Thomas Jones, Ricky Williams), and only Williams is within three years of Barber's age of that group, you could say Barber certainly has his work cut out for him. With the time off you also have to take into consideration how much he's lost in those 1000+ days away from from the game. On the flip side his twin brother Rhonde seems to be maintaining a high level of play so there seems to be some data that the Barber twins don't fall off a cliff athletically after 34.

While Barber's time away from the game and his comeback are both unique stories, what's not unique is his departure and transition from athlete to broadcaster. In fact it's become an annual thing and was even foreshadowed all the way back in 2003 on ESPN's Playmakers. The story goes something like this:

An aging likeable and well spoken star begins to think about life after his playing career. Maybe their agent is pushing them out the door or just whispering it might be good to look at broadcasting options if they're available. Suddenly with no contract in place for next year and sagging interest from teams or maybe prospects of lesser playing time to finish out an existing contract, a broadcasting opportunity presents itself and then without warning that athlete's playing career is over. Major broadcasting jobs are HARD to get and now agents are pushing their clients towards these secondary careers. In fact they're going beyond looking for these jobs on behalf of their clients but are often grooming their clients, making them do side-work in the off-season, and networking on their behalf years in advance of any retirement.

When the offer comes, it's decision time. In some cases players may feel like they have a few years left in the tank and probably have grandeur of going out the right way. A heroic performance, in front of your home fans, maybe even a championship. It's an unlikely ending for any athlete but it seems like a happy ending worth chasing. 

But when the money is on the table from ESPN, Fox, NBC, etc. it seems athletes are hanging them up and going the safe route. Rather than 1-3 years of grinding and a future which is to be determined, the bird in the hand of launching a lucrative secondary broadcasting career seems to be winning out.

In the case of Barber it was $2 million a year, a fraction of his NFL salary, but a nice salary to launch what was thought to be a long-term career on television.

Aaron Boone, Marshall Faulk, Keyshawn Johnson, and Normar Garciaparra are other examples of guys who had the same day headline that read something like "Yeah I am retiring AND OMG I have a job on ESPN now". Others have had a little time in between like Michael Strahan and Mark Mulder to officially wind down before announcing their new gigs.

Terrelle Pryor's summer odyssey has now taken another interesting step, straight into the arms of Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden.  The maligned former Buckeye and current NFL prospect sat down with Gruden for one of his "QB Camp" specials that will air on June 30 at 9pm ET.  Excerpts will also run during the week on SportsCenter leading up to the special.  Let's look at the TP saga step by step, because I'm having a hard time figuring this out...

-Top HS prospect hyped as the next greatest player in the history of college football.
-Prospect makes his decision to attend Ohio State live on ESPN to an audience of millions.
-Ohio State QB criticized for not matching previous hype and not being the greatest player in the history of college football. 
-OSU QB enters into feud with ESPN analyst, also a former OSU QB.
-Player is embroiled in memorabilia/tattoo scandal that warrants a suspension as his coach loses his job and the school falls into a great scandal.
-As OSU coach resigns, QB is vilified by media and comes under more off-field scrutiny.
-Now disgraced QB leaves OSU, plans to enter NFL Supplemental Draft as media experts question his skills and future as an NFL prospect.
-NFL prospect participates in ESPN show about improving his questionable QB skills and future in the league.

Excuse me if I'm the only one that is troubled by Terrelle Pryor's relationship with ESPN and the way the sports media has covered him the last four years.  It was ESPN and the sports media that built Pryor up to impossible heights.  It was ESPN and the sports media that killed him for not living up to that hype (in spite of going 31-4 as a starter and winning a Rose Bowl and winning a Sugar Bowl and being MVP in both of those games).  It was ESPN and the sports media that shamed him throughout the Tressel scandal.  And now, it's ESPN and the sports media that will cling to his story of trying to make it in the NFL... and ESPN will get a TV special and a week's worth of SportsCenter segments out of it.  Here's a preview from SportsCenter today and thoughts about the special...

After last year's NFL season, we discussed Fox's inferior NFL broadcasting teams in comparison to their network rivals at CBS.  From top to bottom, CBS is deeper and better in the broadcast booth when it comes to pro football.  This offseason though, Fox is slowly taking steps to improve their network roster.  First, it was the all-star signing of Gus Johnson and now comes the arrival of former Dolphins and current free agent QB Chad Pennington.  After seriously injuring himself in the offseason playing a pickup basketball game, Pennington will take the year off and join Fox.  Here's some details from the Sacramento Bee:

"I'm going to take this year off, get healthy," Pennington told The Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail at a Thursday speaking engagement before the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Pennington, who signed a one-year contract with Fox, will be paired with Sam Rosen on one of the network's announcing teams. "He came to Los Angeles for an audition a few weeks ago, and we think he has a chance to be a pretty successful analyst," Fox Sports representative Dan Bell said Saturday morning.

Immediately, one has to wonder if this means that Fox analyst Tim Ryan (Rosen's partner the last few seasons) is getting the axe from Fox or is being moved down the analyst chain.  There's no mention of Ryan in the article, so it looks like Rosen/Pennington will go forward as a two man booth.  If Ryan does stay aboard, that may mean no more room for Torry Holt.  Darn.  Pennington has always seemed like a smart guy and should be a good addition for Fox.  Time will tell just how well Pennington transitions to the booth, but he will likely be a step up from Ryan.  Pennington may also be able to provide some unique and thoughtful analysis having played in the league last year.  Hopefully for his own sake, NFL analyst Chad Pennington will be the first TV personality that doesn't criticize QB Chad Pennington for his lack of arm strength.

Comedy Central has decided to give the axe to Sports Show with Norm Macdonald and Onion SportsDome. Comedy Central surprised many by introducing two separate shows that focused on the comedy of sports after ignoring this area for so long. And let's face it; we know as well as anyone that sports are a gigantic never-ending resource of ridiculous figures/shows who take themselves wayyy too seriously. Comedy Central even stuck our best people on it, Norm Macdonald was back in familiar territory behind the desk updating us on the news in sports and SportsDome was a spot-on parody of SportsCenter being run by America's Finest News Source, The Onion. Both shows were among my favorites on my DVR, and the decision to cancel them after one short season each was a disappointment.


I was very hopeful that SportsDome would be given another season to find its legs. Sure, its bits certainly didn't hit all the time, but when they worked, they were fantastic. I thought SportsDome nailed the small nuances that make SportsCenter insane and what it is, but struggled when they decided to mock more current material that came off as somewhat dated by the time it aired. Plus, for no real rhyme or reason, the show was extremely dark, which I think threw a lot of people off. Recurring dark bits such as, "who would you kill?" and "the Toad" were ideas I enjoyed, but I definitely  can see why they did not click with a wide audience. Still, I felt they got so much of the show right, and I really wanted another season to see if they could iron out some of their misses. Plus, after reading the ESPN book, there really is no other group of people that need to have their ego checked as much as so many at ESPN these days.

The Norm Macdonald show was exactly what I think all of us thought it would be. It was Norm and his unique, dry, and sarcastic tone making fun of sports for 30 minutes. Personally, Dirty Work (one of the first DVD"s I ever bought) and his time doing Weekend Update on SNL are things I always found to be fantastic, so I was eagerly looking forward to his show. Still, I was completely surprised that Comedy Central gave him his own show because, let's face it, Norm's a polarizing comedian. Plus, he's been around for a long time and he's awesomely stubborn and his audience is firmly established. Many just do not appreciate his schtick. Also, Norm hasn't been commercially successful in a long time, but he has a small, dedicated fanbase that will always support whatever he is doing. Unfortunately, small and dedicated audiences are not things that result in renewals in a bottom line business. While I'm upset with the cancellation, I think most fans of Norm realize this certainly won't be the last time we will be hearing from him.

With two misses, this certainly looks like the end of sports satire on the small screen for the time being. Let's just hope this doesn't mean Comedy Central takes us down that dark path once again and replaces these shows with Mind of Mencia and Jeff Dunham clones.