Saturday, July 24, 2010

It is a Slow Time for TV Sports





It is such a slow time for televised sports that I thought about taking a Saturday off.

Then I decided it was a perfect time for this blog to give seven illustrations of how slow it is in the TV sports business.

With apologies to the late Johnny Carson, it is so slowwww that:

* Channel 4’s John Murphy actually carried an item Thursday about the Buffalo Bills putting tight end Joe Klopfenstein on injured reserve. He explained that Joe (you think I’m going to type his last name again?) caught one pass last year in a game in the snow.

It is safe to say that most Bills fans didn’t realize Joe was on the team and certainly had no idea how to spell his last name.

* In its ever expanding quest to avoid talking about sports and fill time, WGR started a local Food Draft. On Friday morning, Jeremy White declared that pizza was No.1. I’d almost rather White and Howard Simon talked more about TV shows like "Lost" than food. Or talked about Joe K.

* Just about every day that I turn on one of the ESPN channels, the ESPYs is playing.

* I actually look forward to “The T.O. Show” on VH-1 each Sunday night.

* The amount of time it is taking Channel 4 to hire a third member of the sports staff doesn’t seem that foolish this month. (Channel 4's Mylous Hairston, via Facebook, reported this morning that he will anchor news and sports at 6, 10 and 11 today).

* At a bagel store Friday morning, I heard an enthusiastic cycling fan describe a recent stage of an event carried by Versus and make it sound better than a sudden death NFL playoff game. Then he turned to me and asked: “Did you see it?” I hadn’t. His description had to better than seeing it anyway.

* The 10 p.m. highlight show of the Empire State Games carried by Time Warner Cable seems like must-TV.

pergament@msn.com

4 comments:

  1. It's a breather from a lot of interesting national sports stories. World Cup with record viewership in US, Wimbledon, network dream NBA final-Celtics and Lakers 7 games, great Stanley Cup playoffs (despite Sabres disappointment).

    As a sports fan, I always look forward to your Saturday articles. Have no idea what you'll do for tomorrow.

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  2. Cycling is a great sport, you should try watching it.

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  3. I don't count on channel 4 hiring a new sports guy (or, given quotas in the industry, sports gal) any time soon. Maybe when football starts and they HAVE to hire someone (with Peck doing UB-- is he still doing that?-- and Murphy working with the Bills), but not now.

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  4. Thanks for the kind words. I guess I should have been clearer. This was my Saturday column on a slow day. Some times, you try something a little different. I just post my Saturday column late on Friday night now. I agree on cycling. I do think Channel 4 will eventually hire someone to do sports but nationally the trend is to downsize the sports department.

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