My Olympic marathon is over. It’s time to review NBC’s coverage of the 21st Olympic Winter Games. I think the overall story of these games was the unbridled patriotism of the Canadian people. There was a lot of “O, Canada” to go a round as they set the record of the most Gold Medals at a Winter Olympics with 14 Olympic champions. The most remarkable show of patriotism was at the men’s curling final, when in the last end or innings of the match the crowd just erupted in “O, Canada”. Great scenes.
I’ve got an idea of how NBC can give us diehard sports fans live coverage and not taped delayed. They should stream, live coverage on their website for those of us who want, for example, more than 5 out of 50 competitors in downhill. Then they can do the highlights in Primetime. I think this is the way to go in London in 2012 and Sochi, Russia in 2014.
In my last report I talked about Al Michaels. I have to say, he has improved in the second week as daytime host. He was at his best when he hosted five men’s Hockey games and also the closing ceremonies with Bob Costas. I hope Al comes back for London to get another shot at hosting.
I continue to be imprested by Jimmy Roberts; he is the best writer and essayer in the business. He knows how to use words to describe any moment. He was also very good in hosting “Meet the Olympic Press” on Universal Sports TV.
I have often said on this blog that Al Trautwig is the best scene setter in the business. Again he proved me right in calling the Nordic events at these games. I can’t say the same thing about his partner Chad Salmela. Chad just yelled too much for my taste.
My dislike for Todd Harris continues. In the men’s ski cross event he used the initials B.C. to say they were from British Columbia. I did not hear any other announcer on the NBC talent roster use B.C. they all said British Columbia. When any announcer uses initials it sounds very bad and improper.
I was very impressed with two new announcers at these games. As I said last time Johnny Moseley was very good. He did a great job of explaining his sports. The other rookie of the year was Andrew Catalon on Curling. He did a great job setting the scene at a very raucous venue. He will be back for sure and at 30 years old is the future of NBC sports.
I have to give credit to Ted Robinson for a great job calling the most unpredictable sport of Short Track Speed Skating. Andy Gabel was great in explaining his sport and all of the disqualifications.
Let me review some of the storylines I outlined in my Olympic preview. Lindsey Vonn won two medals in Vancouver. She won the Downhill and a Bronze in the Super-G. The Downhill was the one she wanted more than any other and got it.
Shaun White defends his title in Snowboarding Half-Pipe. This was one of the standout performers of the games. Shaun won the event after the first run of two and didn’t have to take his second run but did and pulled off the greatest run I have ever seen. I think the kid has the heart of a champion. Just an awesome Olympic moment, I think.
Shani Davis Won Gold in the 1,000 Meters and Sliver in the 1,500 Meters Long Track Speed Skating. Good way to go out Shani. The most bizarre moment of these games was when 5,000 Meter Champion Sven Kramer of the Netherlands was disqualified in the 10,000 Meters for not crossing lanes. His coach told him to go in the inner lane and he was supposed to cross to the outer. I have never seen any thing like this on the Olympic level. What a bad Olympic moment. If you know any thing about the Netherlands this is their nation sport.
The most inspirational moment of the games in Figure Skating was Joannie Rochette of Canada whose mother died just two days before she was to skate. She did skate and won a bronze medal. What a brave young women. This is the kind of story and person that Canada will name schools after. You get these stories at every Olympics but I don’t remember one like this.
The US Nordic Combined team ended their loosing streak in a big way with 6 medals over 3 events. Bill Demong won the Gold medal in the large Hill competition. Johnny Spillane won 2 Silver Medals and in the team relay they also won the Silver. Awesome job guys.
Steve Holcomb broke the 62-year drought of the US in Four-Man Bobsled with the Gold medal. The night train was on fire. All the sliding (Luge, Bobsled and Skeleton) sports made me nervous this year. The Whistler track was the fastest in the world and it showed.
The Olympics are done for 2010. Next stop for the Olympics is London in 2012. Hope to be in London. The next stop on the sports calendar is March Madness and also the start of the baseball season.
Talk to you all again soon.
Jamie Lazaroff
Showing posts with label Announcers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Announcers. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Olympic Update
We are a few days into the Winter Olympics Games; so let me give you my quick thoughts. Overall NBC is doing a nice job but they could make some changes, like not holding some marquee events for prime time. I know that they have to make choices when they show events happening at the same time but they have other cable networks that are not being used. I guess I have to avoid the Internet for duration of the Olympics.
One thing I don’t like is when they switch from one event to the other. Stay on one event live until we know who wins the Gold medal. If you have to tape the other event then do it. They should always show the words "LIVE" so we know and we don’t have to guess. Most of the time they will flash the word live on screen then take it off after a few seconds. Monday night they showed the words “LIVE” during the Gold medal ceremony for Men’s Moguls. Why can’t they do this for the competition? Also, please limit the commercial breaks. I know this is how NBC makes its money, but give me more than 2 minutes of action at a time.
I’M disappointed and sad at the same time for Al Michaels as daytime host. He looks very nervous in the studio. I hope he gets comfortable as the games go on. In prime time the host Bob Costas can host the games until I die, he is the best in the business in the studio.
Todd Harris is the worst announcer of all times. Thank goodness that Johnny Moseley was very good in his Olympics broadcasting debut. Harris used other announcer’s lines and at the end of the Men’s Moguls he described the winner’s brother, who happens to have cerebral palsy as suffering from. Todd, he was born with it and he is a person who happens to have it. Mr. Harris also stole a call from early in the day. When Johnny Spillane won the USA first medal ever in Nordic Combined, Chad Salmela said, “The medal drought is over!” Todd said the “The Drought is over” when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada’s first Gold medal ever on home turf. (1976 Summer Games in Montreal and 1988 Winter Games in Calgary no Gold’s) Please use original lines Mr. Harris.
Dan Patrick did a very good job in his role of setting the scene at the mogul’s completion. I hope he continues to doing this through out the games.
Update: He’s not, Tuesday he was back in New York doing his radio show.
I can’t believe more people watched the Winter Olympics on Sunday than the Daytona 500. Why I don’t know, but the Daytona 500 was delayed twice by potholes developing on the track. The Olympics coverage is up nearly 25% for the opening weekend over the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. I think more people are out of work and home and want something compelling to watch so they turn to the Olympics.
Until next time.
Jamie Lazaroff
One thing I don’t like is when they switch from one event to the other. Stay on one event live until we know who wins the Gold medal. If you have to tape the other event then do it. They should always show the words "LIVE" so we know and we don’t have to guess. Most of the time they will flash the word live on screen then take it off after a few seconds. Monday night they showed the words “LIVE” during the Gold medal ceremony for Men’s Moguls. Why can’t they do this for the competition? Also, please limit the commercial breaks. I know this is how NBC makes its money, but give me more than 2 minutes of action at a time.
I’M disappointed and sad at the same time for Al Michaels as daytime host. He looks very nervous in the studio. I hope he gets comfortable as the games go on. In prime time the host Bob Costas can host the games until I die, he is the best in the business in the studio.
Todd Harris is the worst announcer of all times. Thank goodness that Johnny Moseley was very good in his Olympics broadcasting debut. Harris used other announcer’s lines and at the end of the Men’s Moguls he described the winner’s brother, who happens to have cerebral palsy as suffering from. Todd, he was born with it and he is a person who happens to have it. Mr. Harris also stole a call from early in the day. When Johnny Spillane won the USA first medal ever in Nordic Combined, Chad Salmela said, “The medal drought is over!” Todd said the “The Drought is over” when Alexandre Bilodeau won Canada’s first Gold medal ever on home turf. (1976 Summer Games in Montreal and 1988 Winter Games in Calgary no Gold’s) Please use original lines Mr. Harris.
Dan Patrick did a very good job in his role of setting the scene at the mogul’s completion. I hope he continues to doing this through out the games.
Update: He’s not, Tuesday he was back in New York doing his radio show.
I can’t believe more people watched the Winter Olympics on Sunday than the Daytona 500. Why I don’t know, but the Daytona 500 was delayed twice by potholes developing on the track. The Olympics coverage is up nearly 25% for the opening weekend over the 2006 Winter Games in Turin. I think more people are out of work and home and want something compelling to watch so they turn to the Olympics.
Until next time.
Jamie Lazaroff
Friday, June 5, 2009
A view for the chair
Hi folks
I’m back and better than ever. We are diligently working on the audio podcast; I hope to have it up by the end of next week. I’ll keep you posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
There is a lot going on in the world of sports, so let’s go. Rance Mullinicks was in the booth this weekend as the Red Sox were in Toronto to play the Blue Jays. New England Sports Network (NESN) has been using different analysts since May 6, when Jerry Remy took a leave of absence so he can fully recover from the effects of cancer surgery. Rance has been the best sub NESN has had; he was clear and did not use baseball jargon. Please come back soon Jerry, we miss you.
Breaking news: Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison are the new analysts for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Rodney and Tony worked for NBC at the Super Bowl in February and were very good. They are replacing Cris Collinsworth, who is leaving the studio and replacing John Madden in the game booth and Jerome Bettis who was let go by the network. I cannot believe Tiki Barber as the only holdover from last season and Jerome was let go. Jerome you could tell loved the game and it showed. He had passion and Tiki is seems like he’s just going through the motions. Tony and Rodney has that passion and I think they will do very well.
For the past two weeks, ESPN has been sharing converge of the French Open with the Tennis Channel on weekdays and NBC Sports on the weekends. This past Sunday 4-time defending champion Rafael Nadal lost to 23rd seed Robin Soderling. NBC had all the matches on the day taped for the afternoon; remember that Paris is 5 hours ahead of New York. Next time something big happens please NBC, let ESPN (as they are in more homes than the Tennis Channel) show the match live. The finals this weekend will be live, the women are Saturday and the men are Sunday.
There is big news in the mixed martial arts world this week. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced that former eliteXC fighter Kimbo Slice is a part of season 10 of there reality TV show the “Ultimate Fighter” that will start airing on Spike on September16. UFC President Dana White, at one point last year, called Kimbo “not a real fighter”, a “fraud”, and that he would not let him in UFC. Dana has stated the only way Kimbo will fight in the UFC is if he wins the Ultimate Fighter contract. The other fights announced for the show are all former NFL players…will be a fun season and I can’t wait for September.
I have one question, why are games 3 and 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on Versus? I don’t know any major sports league other than the NHL that has their championship series on cable TV. For a league that needs showcasing, the NHL does a terrible job at being visible. Just a thought.
This weekend
This is a huge weekend for sports. The crazy French Open wraps up with the Women’s Final Saturday morning and the Men’s final on Sunday morning, both live on NBC.
It is a huge weekend for mixed martial arts with events on both days. Saturday is Strikeforce on Showtime. The main event is Robbie Lawler versus Jake Shields, but the fight I want to see is Nick Diaz versus Scott Smith. These will be two very entertaining bouts but there are great fighters up and down the card. Should be fun…wish I had Showtime.
On Sunday night is the WEC on Versus at 9 P.M.. The main bout is a rematch for the Featherweight Championship with defending champion Mike Brown fighting Urijah Faber, the man he beat for the title.
Saturday is the Belmont stakes on ABC at 5 P.M. Calvin Borel will be looking for a jockey triple crown, as he won the Kentucky Derby on Mine That Bird, and the Preakness on Rachel Alexandra and he is back on Mine That Bird for the mile and a half “test of the champions.” Will be very interesting, I don’t think he can do it. The Belmont is the longest Triple Crown and perhaps the longest race the horse will run in his entire career. Calvin Borel is a jockey made for shorter races.
Besides all this, the WNBA starts its season. I will be at the season opener this Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena when the Sun take on the Washington Mystics. I will have a report next week. Should be fun.
Also, can the USA Men’s national soccer team rebound after a 3 to 1 lost to Costa Rica Wednesday night in World Cup qualifying? Saturday the U.S. host Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago at 8 P.M. on ESPN. With only two home games left in qualifying I think we need to win this game. The national team has a big month ahead of them as they head to South Africa for the FIFA Confederations Cup and play some of the best national teams in the world. Their first two games in South Africa will be against Italy and Brazil; these two teams combine for 9 world cup titles. Will be some good matches, I hope.
Talk to you next week if not before.
Jamie Lazaroff
I’m back and better than ever. We are diligently working on the audio podcast; I hope to have it up by the end of next week. I’ll keep you posted.
Enough about me, on to the sports.
There is a lot going on in the world of sports, so let’s go. Rance Mullinicks was in the booth this weekend as the Red Sox were in Toronto to play the Blue Jays. New England Sports Network (NESN) has been using different analysts since May 6, when Jerry Remy took a leave of absence so he can fully recover from the effects of cancer surgery. Rance has been the best sub NESN has had; he was clear and did not use baseball jargon. Please come back soon Jerry, we miss you.
Breaking news: Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison are the new analysts for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Rodney and Tony worked for NBC at the Super Bowl in February and were very good. They are replacing Cris Collinsworth, who is leaving the studio and replacing John Madden in the game booth and Jerome Bettis who was let go by the network. I cannot believe Tiki Barber as the only holdover from last season and Jerome was let go. Jerome you could tell loved the game and it showed. He had passion and Tiki is seems like he’s just going through the motions. Tony and Rodney has that passion and I think they will do very well.
For the past two weeks, ESPN has been sharing converge of the French Open with the Tennis Channel on weekdays and NBC Sports on the weekends. This past Sunday 4-time defending champion Rafael Nadal lost to 23rd seed Robin Soderling. NBC had all the matches on the day taped for the afternoon; remember that Paris is 5 hours ahead of New York. Next time something big happens please NBC, let ESPN (as they are in more homes than the Tennis Channel) show the match live. The finals this weekend will be live, the women are Saturday and the men are Sunday.
There is big news in the mixed martial arts world this week. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced that former eliteXC fighter Kimbo Slice is a part of season 10 of there reality TV show the “Ultimate Fighter” that will start airing on Spike on September16. UFC President Dana White, at one point last year, called Kimbo “not a real fighter”, a “fraud”, and that he would not let him in UFC. Dana has stated the only way Kimbo will fight in the UFC is if he wins the Ultimate Fighter contract. The other fights announced for the show are all former NFL players…will be a fun season and I can’t wait for September.
I have one question, why are games 3 and 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals on Versus? I don’t know any major sports league other than the NHL that has their championship series on cable TV. For a league that needs showcasing, the NHL does a terrible job at being visible. Just a thought.
This weekend
This is a huge weekend for sports. The crazy French Open wraps up with the Women’s Final Saturday morning and the Men’s final on Sunday morning, both live on NBC.
It is a huge weekend for mixed martial arts with events on both days. Saturday is Strikeforce on Showtime. The main event is Robbie Lawler versus Jake Shields, but the fight I want to see is Nick Diaz versus Scott Smith. These will be two very entertaining bouts but there are great fighters up and down the card. Should be fun…wish I had Showtime.
On Sunday night is the WEC on Versus at 9 P.M.. The main bout is a rematch for the Featherweight Championship with defending champion Mike Brown fighting Urijah Faber, the man he beat for the title.
Saturday is the Belmont stakes on ABC at 5 P.M. Calvin Borel will be looking for a jockey triple crown, as he won the Kentucky Derby on Mine That Bird, and the Preakness on Rachel Alexandra and he is back on Mine That Bird for the mile and a half “test of the champions.” Will be very interesting, I don’t think he can do it. The Belmont is the longest Triple Crown and perhaps the longest race the horse will run in his entire career. Calvin Borel is a jockey made for shorter races.
Besides all this, the WNBA starts its season. I will be at the season opener this Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena when the Sun take on the Washington Mystics. I will have a report next week. Should be fun.
Also, can the USA Men’s national soccer team rebound after a 3 to 1 lost to Costa Rica Wednesday night in World Cup qualifying? Saturday the U.S. host Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago at 8 P.M. on ESPN. With only two home games left in qualifying I think we need to win this game. The national team has a big month ahead of them as they head to South Africa for the FIFA Confederations Cup and play some of the best national teams in the world. Their first two games in South Africa will be against Italy and Brazil; these two teams combine for 9 world cup titles. Will be some good matches, I hope.
Talk to you next week if not before.
Jamie Lazaroff
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The view from the chair
This year’s first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament was not the most exciting action, there were no major upsets and the games were pretty boring with just 2 overtime games and a few buzzer beaters. The only double-digit seed to advance to the sweet 16 is Arizona. The good part is that my bracket is holding up pretty well, most years it in the can by now. By the way, I am beating President Obama’s picks after the first weekend and the second weekend as well. The good thing about no upsets is that there were some very good matchups.
Update #1: We did get great games and a few surprises with Missouri over Memphis and Villanova over Duke. Villanova also beat Pittsburgh to advance to the Final Four. Update #2: Your Final Four was UCONN and Michigan State, Villanova and North Carolina, until UCONN lost to Michigan State this past weekend, and North Carolina beat Villanova. Tonight, Monday April 6th it is Michigan State and North Carolina. Update #3: North Carolina won the national title in a blow out. President Obama did pick the champ, and I lost.
It’s an interesting year when the Women’s Tournament catches my interest, there were some great games and a few buzzer beaters, and they even had some upsets. The problem I have with the Women’s Tournament is that the first two rounds are held at on campus sites so some teams have their home crowd on their side. Most of the time it’s the higher seeds home court but this year some of the double-digit seeds had the advantage. This caused two major upsets as Rutgers beat a second seed Auburn and Michigan State beat a # 1 seed Duke. The Men’s Tournaments are played on neutral sites all the way through. I would love to see the Women play their first rounds with the Men.
Let me talk about some of the announcers, UCONN had the team of Carter Blackburn and Jay Bilas on Thursday, Jay is one of the best analyst in the business, Carter in the new kid on the block and may be good in the future but he had no enthusiasm for the game or the event. We had Jay with Dick Enberg for the other three games. Dick is a legend in the sports broadcasting business but this tournament he mispronounced names and called a
2-pointer a 3 pointer that clearly was not. At 74 years old he can still call Tennis better than any one but basketball is a young man’s game. I fell badly for him but when your time is up its up.
Speaking of enthusiasm, one man that had too much of it was Gus Johnson. One game I heard him scream the last name of the officials, I thought to myself, calm down, the game has not even begun. The main team this year is Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. Clark took over for Billy Packer who has called the Final Four since 1974 until last year. Clark was CBS’s studio analyst from 1997 until this year. I think he is better in the studio because he has more time. He uses stats and that’s more useful in the studio, at the game just call what you see. I think he will get better the more he does it. One person I would love to call the Final Four is Bill Raftery. His enthusiasm for the game is infectious. He’s a lot of fun to listen to. By the way, Raf will be on the radio to call the title game tonight. Here is one of his gems from the first round of this year’s tourament with partner Verne Lundquist.
What to watch for this weekend
Easter weekend bring us the first major of the golf season, The Masters from Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. Converge begins Wednesday with the par-3 contest 3 to 5 P.M. on ESPN. The first two rounds will be on ESPN 4 to7:30 P.M. each day. CSB has the weekend converge on the weekend with the Third-Round on Saturday from 3:30 to 7 P.M. Easter Sunday is the Final Round from 2 to 7 P.M. For the 24th consecutive year Jim Nantz will cover the Masters for CBS (his 22nd year as host). This is CBS sport’s 54th consecutive year of converging the Masters. It is truly is a tradition unlike another and a sure sign of spring. Enjoy!!!!!
This week is the start of Baseball season. The Boston Red Sox have there home opener today at 3 P.M.
Jamie Lazaroff
Update #1: We did get great games and a few surprises with Missouri over Memphis and Villanova over Duke. Villanova also beat Pittsburgh to advance to the Final Four. Update #2: Your Final Four was UCONN and Michigan State, Villanova and North Carolina, until UCONN lost to Michigan State this past weekend, and North Carolina beat Villanova. Tonight, Monday April 6th it is Michigan State and North Carolina. Update #3: North Carolina won the national title in a blow out. President Obama did pick the champ, and I lost.
It’s an interesting year when the Women’s Tournament catches my interest, there were some great games and a few buzzer beaters, and they even had some upsets. The problem I have with the Women’s Tournament is that the first two rounds are held at on campus sites so some teams have their home crowd on their side. Most of the time it’s the higher seeds home court but this year some of the double-digit seeds had the advantage. This caused two major upsets as Rutgers beat a second seed Auburn and Michigan State beat a # 1 seed Duke. The Men’s Tournaments are played on neutral sites all the way through. I would love to see the Women play their first rounds with the Men.
Let me talk about some of the announcers, UCONN had the team of Carter Blackburn and Jay Bilas on Thursday, Jay is one of the best analyst in the business, Carter in the new kid on the block and may be good in the future but he had no enthusiasm for the game or the event. We had Jay with Dick Enberg for the other three games. Dick is a legend in the sports broadcasting business but this tournament he mispronounced names and called a
2-pointer a 3 pointer that clearly was not. At 74 years old he can still call Tennis better than any one but basketball is a young man’s game. I fell badly for him but when your time is up its up.
Speaking of enthusiasm, one man that had too much of it was Gus Johnson. One game I heard him scream the last name of the officials, I thought to myself, calm down, the game has not even begun. The main team this year is Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg. Clark took over for Billy Packer who has called the Final Four since 1974 until last year. Clark was CBS’s studio analyst from 1997 until this year. I think he is better in the studio because he has more time. He uses stats and that’s more useful in the studio, at the game just call what you see. I think he will get better the more he does it. One person I would love to call the Final Four is Bill Raftery. His enthusiasm for the game is infectious. He’s a lot of fun to listen to. By the way, Raf will be on the radio to call the title game tonight. Here is one of his gems from the first round of this year’s tourament with partner Verne Lundquist.
What to watch for this weekend
Easter weekend bring us the first major of the golf season, The Masters from Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. Converge begins Wednesday with the par-3 contest 3 to 5 P.M. on ESPN. The first two rounds will be on ESPN 4 to7:30 P.M. each day. CSB has the weekend converge on the weekend with the Third-Round on Saturday from 3:30 to 7 P.M. Easter Sunday is the Final Round from 2 to 7 P.M. For the 24th consecutive year Jim Nantz will cover the Masters for CBS (his 22nd year as host). This is CBS sport’s 54th consecutive year of converging the Masters. It is truly is a tradition unlike another and a sure sign of spring. Enjoy!!!!!
This week is the start of Baseball season. The Boston Red Sox have there home opener today at 3 P.M.
Jamie Lazaroff
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