The big sports story of last weekend was Tom Watson leading the Open Championship (British Open) at 59 years young for most of the weekend. It was very inspiring to see a man, 2-months shy of his 60 birthday, contenting in the world’s oldest major championship. But as Dom Amore wrote in Sunday’s Hartford Courant ”To be really good when you’re old, you have to have been great when you were young”: Tom is a 5-time Open Championship winner, 1977 at Turnberry (site of this year’s championship) 3 Senior British Open tittles including the 2003 Senior Open at Turnberry. So he knows this course and how to play in windy conditions, which you need to play links golf. I don’t think Tom chocked in the end, Stewart Cink won the tournament in a 4-hole playoff. I think Tom got tired in the end, his par putt on the 72nd green to win came up just short and in the playoff he don’t drive it into the fairway like he did the whole week. Tom’s motivation was not just to win his sixth Open Championship but also make the cut and play late on the weekend because if he didn’t he would have been working for ABC.
Let’s talk about the TV coverage, like I said last week; this was TNT’s last year of Thursday and Friday coverage of the Open. For visuals ABC and TNT were limited to the BBC feed. Let’s talk about the announcers, TNT was not bad but not good, Ernie Johnson is great as host of TNT’s NBA coverage but golf is not his game. Ian Baker-Finch and Terry Gannon were the best of the bunch, they both had the enthusiasm that I like and made the telecast enjoyable. ABC weekend coverage was good in spots. Mike Tirco is the best play-by-play man in the business in any sport, bar none. Curtis Strange was very annoying and talked way too much. Tom Weiskopf was the new kid on the block and my first impression was that he was no good, he could not talk very well, but once he we got to golf he gave very good insight to what was going on. Tirco’s partner in the booth was Paul Azinger, who I did not like at all, was just bad. On the golf course walking with the players were Andy North and Judy Rankin. I think they are the two best on the course commentators in the business. Most media critics love BBC’s Peter Alliss, who showed up for an hour or so each day. Don’t get me wrong I love the British, but Mr. Alliss is 78 years old and he mumbled a lot. I could not understand a word he was saying. I also think Rich Reilly was excellent; I liked it when he sat in with Gannon on Saturday and just his obvious joy while watching Watson.
The non-sports story of the weekend was the death of newsman Walter Cronkite at the age of 92. “Uncle” Walter was the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. I don’t remember Mr. Cronkite but from what I saw in the last few days, I was very impressed. He was a newsman’s newsman; I mean he was a reporter first who happened to be an anchor. CNN’s Larry King Live replayed an interview with Walter from many years ago. We can lean a lot about covering the news from Mr. Cronkite. Goodbye “Uncle” Walter, there will never be any one like you.
This Weekend
The big event Saturday is the WNBA All-Star at the Morgan Sun at 3:30 on ABC. This is the best of the best of women’s basketball and all the big names will be there like Bird and Taurasi. The best part is that I will be there as well.
Sunday’s big event is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Brickyard 400 at Indy. I still can’t believe this is the 16th running of this event. It really has become one of NASCAR’s biggest races.
As Uncle Water would say,” That’s the way it is.”
Talk to you all next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The view from here
Good day folks,
The top story this week is the shocking death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair. It turned out that he died in a murder-suicide by his 20-year-old girlfriend. Steve played a 13-year career, most with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Steve will be remembered for being one of the toughest QBs ever to play in the NFL. In the Super Bowl in 2000 Steve led Tennessee within a foot of a game-winning touchdown. I hope people remember Steve as a great QB and not the strange way he died. This is the same I hope for all celebrities, like Michael Jackson as well.
My comment this week is on Manny Ramirez. As you may know, Manny was suspended 50 games for using a women's fertility drug. My questions are, why was Manny allowed during his suspention to workout at the Dodgers' spring training facilities with Dodger coach Manny Mota? He was also allowed a short rehab stint in the minor leagues to get back into playing shape. He played two games with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. He also played several games with the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers. I don’t remember any player who was suspended getting this kind of preferincial treatment before! As of this week the Commissioner is looking this kind of treatment in the future. Manny came back during the July 4th holiday. During his suspension there was a movement by Dodgers’ fans to get him voted into the All-Star Game. I’m glad to report this was not allowed and he is not in St. Louis this week. During the Press Conference to anounce his suspension, Manny stated that he had seen a physician who unknowingly prescribed medication that is banned under the MLB drug policy. He is a professional athletle, he should know what the doctor is prescribeing him, its not the doctor’s fault that he gave him a banned drug. Since he came back Manny has been cheered every place he has been, WHY? He is a drug cheat and he should be treated as such. Barry Bonds was a drug cheat who was never caught, but was a hated figure. Manny should be in the same boat.
Media Notes
The big sports media story is that the US Olympics Committee is setting up it’s own TV network next year. I have three questions about this: How are they going to compete with NBC’s Universal Sports Network? How are they going to get live programming? Universal Sports has most of the Olympic sports rights to broadcast these events. How will this development affect Chicago’s hopes to get the 2016 Summer Games? The International Olympic Committee is objecting to the network and said that the USOC had not authorized the use of the Olympic name or television footage. I will monitor this developing story.
The week’s ESPN watch is that the “Worldwide Leader” is truly becoming the worldwide leader in sports after getting a piece of the English Premier League package of games and thus a foot hold in the UK. On this side of the pond we are getting converge of some soccer with Spain’s La Liga League this fall. This is good news; after ESPN lost the Champions League rights to FOX, I thought there would be no soccer on the ESPN family of networks.
Speaking of ESPN, I was glad to see they have coverage of Indoor Volleyball’s World League. I enjoy Indoor volleyball much more than beach volleyball, there is more action and the ball is in the air with six players each side to two per side for beach volleyball. I hope they do more volleyball in the future.
In other ESPN news, they have hired a new Ombudsman in legendary TV Exec Don Ohlmeyer. This is a controversial choice because the first two Ombudsmen for ESPN were newspaper people and respected journalist but Ohlmeyer is the best producer, not just in sports but also TV sitcoms. Don will start in August, we will see then.
What to watch for
Tuesday July 14th was the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on FOX. This will be the seventh year in which the All-Star Game determines home field advantage in the World Series. By the way the American League win 4 to 3 over the National League. It was the 12th straight win ( one tie) for the American League in the Mid Summer Classic. I enjoy the All-Star Game because it’s the best of the best in baseball. I think interleague play should determine the home field in the World Series. I think this is a great way to update the interleague play which is getting boring the way it is now.
This weekend is the third Major of the golf year, The Open Championship (British Open). The Open is played on links course that are right on the sea, so the wind will be a factor. It is also the oldest major championship which was started in 1860. All of these factors are why it’s my favorite golf major. TNT will have Thurday’s and Friday’s coverage for the last time, ESPN takes oover next year. Coverage is live starting at 7 A.M. each day. TNT has some weekend coverage before ABC takes over 7 to 9 A.M Saturday and 6 to 8 A.M. on Sunday. ABC takes over Saturday 9 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. and Championship Sunday 8 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Enjoy, I know I will.
Talk to you all soon
Jamie Lazaroff
The top story this week is the shocking death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair. It turned out that he died in a murder-suicide by his 20-year-old girlfriend. Steve played a 13-year career, most with the Tennessee Titans in Nashville. Steve will be remembered for being one of the toughest QBs ever to play in the NFL. In the Super Bowl in 2000 Steve led Tennessee within a foot of a game-winning touchdown. I hope people remember Steve as a great QB and not the strange way he died. This is the same I hope for all celebrities, like Michael Jackson as well.
My comment this week is on Manny Ramirez. As you may know, Manny was suspended 50 games for using a women's fertility drug. My questions are, why was Manny allowed during his suspention to workout at the Dodgers' spring training facilities with Dodger coach Manny Mota? He was also allowed a short rehab stint in the minor leagues to get back into playing shape. He played two games with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. He also played several games with the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers. I don’t remember any player who was suspended getting this kind of preferincial treatment before! As of this week the Commissioner is looking this kind of treatment in the future. Manny came back during the July 4th holiday. During his suspension there was a movement by Dodgers’ fans to get him voted into the All-Star Game. I’m glad to report this was not allowed and he is not in St. Louis this week. During the Press Conference to anounce his suspension, Manny stated that he had seen a physician who unknowingly prescribed medication that is banned under the MLB drug policy. He is a professional athletle, he should know what the doctor is prescribeing him, its not the doctor’s fault that he gave him a banned drug. Since he came back Manny has been cheered every place he has been, WHY? He is a drug cheat and he should be treated as such. Barry Bonds was a drug cheat who was never caught, but was a hated figure. Manny should be in the same boat.
Media Notes
The big sports media story is that the US Olympics Committee is setting up it’s own TV network next year. I have three questions about this: How are they going to compete with NBC’s Universal Sports Network? How are they going to get live programming? Universal Sports has most of the Olympic sports rights to broadcast these events. How will this development affect Chicago’s hopes to get the 2016 Summer Games? The International Olympic Committee is objecting to the network and said that the USOC had not authorized the use of the Olympic name or television footage. I will monitor this developing story.
The week’s ESPN watch is that the “Worldwide Leader” is truly becoming the worldwide leader in sports after getting a piece of the English Premier League package of games and thus a foot hold in the UK. On this side of the pond we are getting converge of some soccer with Spain’s La Liga League this fall. This is good news; after ESPN lost the Champions League rights to FOX, I thought there would be no soccer on the ESPN family of networks.
Speaking of ESPN, I was glad to see they have coverage of Indoor Volleyball’s World League. I enjoy Indoor volleyball much more than beach volleyball, there is more action and the ball is in the air with six players each side to two per side for beach volleyball. I hope they do more volleyball in the future.
In other ESPN news, they have hired a new Ombudsman in legendary TV Exec Don Ohlmeyer. This is a controversial choice because the first two Ombudsmen for ESPN were newspaper people and respected journalist but Ohlmeyer is the best producer, not just in sports but also TV sitcoms. Don will start in August, we will see then.
What to watch for
Tuesday July 14th was the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on FOX. This will be the seventh year in which the All-Star Game determines home field advantage in the World Series. By the way the American League win 4 to 3 over the National League. It was the 12th straight win ( one tie) for the American League in the Mid Summer Classic. I enjoy the All-Star Game because it’s the best of the best in baseball. I think interleague play should determine the home field in the World Series. I think this is a great way to update the interleague play which is getting boring the way it is now.
This weekend is the third Major of the golf year, The Open Championship (British Open). The Open is played on links course that are right on the sea, so the wind will be a factor. It is also the oldest major championship which was started in 1860. All of these factors are why it’s my favorite golf major. TNT will have Thurday’s and Friday’s coverage for the last time, ESPN takes oover next year. Coverage is live starting at 7 A.M. each day. TNT has some weekend coverage before ABC takes over 7 to 9 A.M Saturday and 6 to 8 A.M. on Sunday. ABC takes over Saturday 9 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. and Championship Sunday 8 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Enjoy, I know I will.
Talk to you all soon
Jamie Lazaroff
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The view from here
Oh my! Last week was a huge sports and news week. So lets get to it.
Sunday June 21st was Father’s Day and the last group game for the U.S. National Soccer Team in the Confederations Cup Tournament. The U.S. played Egypt and needed a miracle to advance to the semifinals. If you remember, we were out scored 6 goals to one, in their first two-group games, by Italy and Brazil. They beat Egypt 3 to 0 and needed Brazil to beat Italy by more than 2 goals, they beat them 3 to 0 for the U.S. to advance. I will have the semifinal game later in this report.
Monday was the final round of the US Open Golf Championship at Bethpage State Park on Long Island New York. The Championship usually ends on Father’s Day but with all the rain on Long Island it played the final round on Monday for only the 4th time in the tournaments 109-year history. It was full of stories, Phil Mickelson trying to win one for Amy, his wife who is battling cancer. Phil came up just short this year but in the process he set a record for the most runner-up finishes in his career. I can’t imagine the pressure and the emotions Phil was feeling that week. Great show Phil!
Ricky Barnes was another story at the US Open; he was the 2002 US Amateur Champion but struggled as a pro. This was his first year on the PGA Tour but his season was not going well and he came out of nowhere to set a record for the lowest half way total in this tournament. Hopefully this performance will lead to bigger and better things. Another great story was the resurgence of David Duval. David was a former number one player in the world who has struggled in recent years with his game. Hopefully this performance will lead him back to the Winner’s Circle soon. The Champion is the last great story, Lucas Glover. Lucas is a journeyman golfer, who did not make the cut in his three previous US Open appearances and has one PGA Tour victory. Lucas survived a tough week and deserves this victory. What I like about Lucas is that he could have taken the week off after the win, but he made a commitment a few months ago to play the Travelers Championship in Connecticut and kept that commitment. Bottom line is if you make a commitment keep it. Good for you Lucas.
Tuesday was a slow day with the Red Sox beating the happless Washington Nationals 11 to 3 and it was day two at Wimbledon.
But Wednesday was one of the biggest upset in worldwide Soccer history as the US National Team beat Spain 2 to 0 in the Confederations Cup Semi Finals to advance to their first FIFA worldwide final. Spain was the world number one team, had a fifteen game win streak and beat their three group opponents in this tournament by a total of 8 goals to 0. With stats like that a lot of people, myself included, thought the US would get killed. But we played a perfect game with the defense and especially goalkeeper Tim Howard really steped up. My question is where was this performance in their first two games? If we want to contend in the World Cup next year I think we have to play well in all games not just the ones that matter?
Thursday was a crazy day. First was the other Semi final in the Confederations Cup: Brazil beat South Africa 1 to 0. I was very impressed by how the South Africa’s played by keeping Brazil to one goal. (They scored 10 goals in the group stage) South Africa will be a tough opponent next year at home for the World Cup. This result gave the US a ray of hope for the final. Remember the US lost to Brazil 3 to 0. Right after the game ended news was breaking that Michael Jackson had died. If you like him or didn’t like him you had to respect his music and his dancing. In fact while writing this post I was rocking out to some old school Jackson 5 music.
I will skip to the Confederations Cup Final on Sunday. I will admit that I missed the first 15 minutes or so because I though the US would get blown out and that they could not put two big upsets together. I was shocked to see that Clint Dempsey scored the first goal in the 10th minute and than added to the lead in the 27th minute with a Landon Donovan goal to make it 2 to zero at halftime. At the half I was thinking that we could shock the world but than I remembered that there was 45 minutes to go and Brazil being Brazil any thing could happen. Then it happen Brazil scored 3 goals in the second half to win. After the first goal in the 46th minute I thought OK we can hold them for 44 more minutes, well we could not, Luis Fabiano scored again in the 74th minute to tie it up. Then I started to panick and knew we were going to loose. Thank goodness it didn’t go to PKs because I think it’s a hideous way to end a major championship. Thankfully Brazil scored in the 84th minute to put me out of my misery. Good game from the US, Tim Howard played great again and kept the ball out of the goal as best he could. We forget that there is two halves in a game! The defence that gave us the lead in the first half was forgotten in the second half. Great run in this tournament, they should be proud of the run, but getting to the finals should not be good enough. We need to learn from these experiences because the World Cup is the ultimate test.
This Weekend
The big event this upcoming weekend is the Wimbledon Finals. Saturday the 4th of July is the Women’s Final and it looks like we will have an all American final with Venus and Serena Williams meeting for the championship. Sunday is the Men’s Final with Roger Federer looking to regain his crown and become the greatest Grand Slam Champion of all time. He is tied with Pete Sampras with 14 wins. Roger will meet one of the Andy’s in the final, either Andy Roddick the American or Andy Murray the Brit. This is also the 30th anniversary of “Breakfast at Wimbledon”. In 1979 NBC Sports showed the Gentleman Final at 9 A.M. Saturday morning thus the name “Breakfast at Wimbledon”. That first “Breakfast at Wimbledon” almost didn’t happen. You see, in the old days the Final started at 9 A.M. on the dot. NBC needed time for the announcers to set up the match. They got a lucky break that year; the match was between Bjorn Borg and Roscoe Tanner. One of NBC’s announcers that year was Donald Dell who happened to be Tanner’s manager. Dell told Tanner to come out, go directly to the chair umpire, request a bathroom break, and not to comeback out of the locker room until 9a.m. Because Tanner did this NBC didn’t miss a point of the match. Interesting story to start a summer tradition, I think!
The other big event is the Moto GP at Laguna Seca in California. This is one of the most exciting round of the championship and one of the few times of the year that the bikes are on TV. The race is live on FOX at 5 P.M. on Sunday.
On Sunday I will be at Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play the Seattle Mariners. I will have a full report next week. I’M looking forward to it. If you get a change to go to Fenway, even if you’re a Yankee fan, I urge you to go. When you walk to you seats through the tunnel and see the Green Monster, I well tell you there’s nothing like it.
Talk to you next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
Sunday June 21st was Father’s Day and the last group game for the U.S. National Soccer Team in the Confederations Cup Tournament. The U.S. played Egypt and needed a miracle to advance to the semifinals. If you remember, we were out scored 6 goals to one, in their first two-group games, by Italy and Brazil. They beat Egypt 3 to 0 and needed Brazil to beat Italy by more than 2 goals, they beat them 3 to 0 for the U.S. to advance. I will have the semifinal game later in this report.
Monday was the final round of the US Open Golf Championship at Bethpage State Park on Long Island New York. The Championship usually ends on Father’s Day but with all the rain on Long Island it played the final round on Monday for only the 4th time in the tournaments 109-year history. It was full of stories, Phil Mickelson trying to win one for Amy, his wife who is battling cancer. Phil came up just short this year but in the process he set a record for the most runner-up finishes in his career. I can’t imagine the pressure and the emotions Phil was feeling that week. Great show Phil!
Ricky Barnes was another story at the US Open; he was the 2002 US Amateur Champion but struggled as a pro. This was his first year on the PGA Tour but his season was not going well and he came out of nowhere to set a record for the lowest half way total in this tournament. Hopefully this performance will lead to bigger and better things. Another great story was the resurgence of David Duval. David was a former number one player in the world who has struggled in recent years with his game. Hopefully this performance will lead him back to the Winner’s Circle soon. The Champion is the last great story, Lucas Glover. Lucas is a journeyman golfer, who did not make the cut in his three previous US Open appearances and has one PGA Tour victory. Lucas survived a tough week and deserves this victory. What I like about Lucas is that he could have taken the week off after the win, but he made a commitment a few months ago to play the Travelers Championship in Connecticut and kept that commitment. Bottom line is if you make a commitment keep it. Good for you Lucas.
Tuesday was a slow day with the Red Sox beating the happless Washington Nationals 11 to 3 and it was day two at Wimbledon.
But Wednesday was one of the biggest upset in worldwide Soccer history as the US National Team beat Spain 2 to 0 in the Confederations Cup Semi Finals to advance to their first FIFA worldwide final. Spain was the world number one team, had a fifteen game win streak and beat their three group opponents in this tournament by a total of 8 goals to 0. With stats like that a lot of people, myself included, thought the US would get killed. But we played a perfect game with the defense and especially goalkeeper Tim Howard really steped up. My question is where was this performance in their first two games? If we want to contend in the World Cup next year I think we have to play well in all games not just the ones that matter?
Thursday was a crazy day. First was the other Semi final in the Confederations Cup: Brazil beat South Africa 1 to 0. I was very impressed by how the South Africa’s played by keeping Brazil to one goal. (They scored 10 goals in the group stage) South Africa will be a tough opponent next year at home for the World Cup. This result gave the US a ray of hope for the final. Remember the US lost to Brazil 3 to 0. Right after the game ended news was breaking that Michael Jackson had died. If you like him or didn’t like him you had to respect his music and his dancing. In fact while writing this post I was rocking out to some old school Jackson 5 music.
I will skip to the Confederations Cup Final on Sunday. I will admit that I missed the first 15 minutes or so because I though the US would get blown out and that they could not put two big upsets together. I was shocked to see that Clint Dempsey scored the first goal in the 10th minute and than added to the lead in the 27th minute with a Landon Donovan goal to make it 2 to zero at halftime. At the half I was thinking that we could shock the world but than I remembered that there was 45 minutes to go and Brazil being Brazil any thing could happen. Then it happen Brazil scored 3 goals in the second half to win. After the first goal in the 46th minute I thought OK we can hold them for 44 more minutes, well we could not, Luis Fabiano scored again in the 74th minute to tie it up. Then I started to panick and knew we were going to loose. Thank goodness it didn’t go to PKs because I think it’s a hideous way to end a major championship. Thankfully Brazil scored in the 84th minute to put me out of my misery. Good game from the US, Tim Howard played great again and kept the ball out of the goal as best he could. We forget that there is two halves in a game! The defence that gave us the lead in the first half was forgotten in the second half. Great run in this tournament, they should be proud of the run, but getting to the finals should not be good enough. We need to learn from these experiences because the World Cup is the ultimate test.
This Weekend
The big event this upcoming weekend is the Wimbledon Finals. Saturday the 4th of July is the Women’s Final and it looks like we will have an all American final with Venus and Serena Williams meeting for the championship. Sunday is the Men’s Final with Roger Federer looking to regain his crown and become the greatest Grand Slam Champion of all time. He is tied with Pete Sampras with 14 wins. Roger will meet one of the Andy’s in the final, either Andy Roddick the American or Andy Murray the Brit. This is also the 30th anniversary of “Breakfast at Wimbledon”. In 1979 NBC Sports showed the Gentleman Final at 9 A.M. Saturday morning thus the name “Breakfast at Wimbledon”. That first “Breakfast at Wimbledon” almost didn’t happen. You see, in the old days the Final started at 9 A.M. on the dot. NBC needed time for the announcers to set up the match. They got a lucky break that year; the match was between Bjorn Borg and Roscoe Tanner. One of NBC’s announcers that year was Donald Dell who happened to be Tanner’s manager. Dell told Tanner to come out, go directly to the chair umpire, request a bathroom break, and not to comeback out of the locker room until 9a.m. Because Tanner did this NBC didn’t miss a point of the match. Interesting story to start a summer tradition, I think!
The other big event is the Moto GP at Laguna Seca in California. This is one of the most exciting round of the championship and one of the few times of the year that the bikes are on TV. The race is live on FOX at 5 P.M. on Sunday.
On Sunday I will be at Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play the Seattle Mariners. I will have a full report next week. I’M looking forward to it. If you get a change to go to Fenway, even if you’re a Yankee fan, I urge you to go. When you walk to you seats through the tunnel and see the Green Monster, I well tell you there’s nothing like it.
Talk to you next week.
Jamie Lazaroff
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