Press Coverage: Drafting the NFL Draft Telecasts

The NFL Draft is the league’s event of excess. Even more than the Super Bowl, which with all the hoopla and fanfare still centers around a pretty important game, the draft has become the league’s night at the aquarium. Come, look at our giant fishbowl of riches.This year, they’ve expanded the draft to three days, because the two-day format of previous years just wasn’t enough. Especially not during baseball season and the NBA and NHL playoffs. No, sports fans, the league demands even more of your time! And they demand it in the evenings as well as the weekends!

Alas, there are two networks covering the three-day event from wall-to-wall or cover-to-cover or up-and-down and speeding all over. It’s a lot of coverage. Just how much, exactly? Well, by our count, there are 66 different faces you’ll see covering the draft for NFL Network and ESPN. NFLN lists 27 different names as part of its coverage, with another five or so doing work exclusively for NFL.com. ESPN, through the ESPN family of networks that includes the mothership, the Deuce, ESPNews and ESPN Radio, will employ 36 people for the event. That doesn’t include its host of people writing exclusively for ESPN.com. Neither number includes current players, coaches and executives each network plans to use as part of its coverage.

In other words, when ESPN kicks its coverage on Saturday to a pre-taped segment where Suzy Kolber interviews a round table full of players...we aren’t even counting those players on the list.

So, let’s reconstruct the draft coverage and limit each network to just 16 names apiece, giving us -- across the two networks -- one talking head per team. So this is more like a draft and less like me putting together two lists, I’ve asked Andy Hutchins to pick a side. Please keep in mind this is who we think would be best on the Draft, not analyzing the NFL, which is why a certain former Bronco linebacker from Louisville may not make the list. I’ve got first pick.

Dan: 1. Mel Kiper, Jr.
While teams use the draft to improve their rosters, the concept of the draft on TV is all about fanfare. More sizzle than steak, they say. The draft is Mel Kiper, Jr., from the hair to the Baltimore accent to the ridiculous knowledge of every player that’s eligible. Mike Mayock may be higher on some boards, but for spectacle that is the NFL Draft, you must start with Mel.

Andy: 2. Steve Young
You can have your fanfare. I want the cool, calm Young, who often seems too measured for ESPN’s bombast in general NFL coverage, and will help balance my production. Besides, are you really going to pick both Kiper and Mayock?

Dan: 3. Mike Mayock
Mayock has won me over. Sure, he uses all the draft clichés and spent time during the NFL Combine gushing about an offensive lineman’s arm length, but he watches everything he can get his hands on (which at NFLN is, in fact, everything) and seems really connected in the league.

Andy: 4. Todd McShay
It’s a value pick. I wanted Young as the savvy, smart studio guy, but getting a draft expert is absolutely a must, and McShay fits that bill. He makes for great television, even if his claims sometimes seem specious, and though he wouldn’t have Kiper to spar with, he would be studied and authoritative enough to hold down the draft expert role.

Dan: 5. Adam Schefter.
The only guy, other than Rich Eisen, to successfully star at both networks. He’s my inside information guy.

Andy: 6. Rich Eisen
Funny, smooth, and would anchor my coverage beautifully.

Dan: 7. Keyshawn Johnson
Andy blew apart my board by taking Eisen. I feel that Johnson is, ahem, key to any draft coverage. He can talk about being the number one pick. He can talk about wideouts transitioning to the NFL. He can talk about USC or Lane Kiffin players or what Pete Carroll may want to do in Seattle. He can talk about himself some more, too.

Andy: 8. Deion Sanders
Much like Keyshawn, Deion is good for talking about himself and adding some style to the broadcast. Unlike Keyshawn, Deion has great chemistry with Eisen and will be excellent at poking fun at McShay.

Dan: 9. Corey Chavous
He really impressed with his knowledge and ability to talk on TV during the Senior Bowl. Plus, with DraftNasty.com, he has to prove he knows a ton about this year’s draft class.

Andy: 10. Ron Jaworski
He knows his stuff and can break down film with the best, and those talents shine in studio.

Dan: 11. Mike Tirico
I don’t have a host yet, and while Trey Wingo is one of my favorite people at ESPN, if I have a chance to grab Tirico this late, I’d be silly not to.

Andy: 12. Chris Mortensen
I need an insider, Schefter’s off the board, and Jason La Canfora doesn’t have the name recognition Mort does. So Mort’s the pick.

Dan: 13. Jason La Canfora
I almost feel sorry for whoever is still watching your network, Andy. La Canfora may not be a big name, but media people know and trust his work from his days at Wash Post. He’s proven himself adept on TV as well, even if he does dress like Regis Philbin on Millionaire sometimes.

Andy: 14. Suzy Kolber
My network isn’t going to work? I have solid analysis from a variety of perspectives, no Keyshawn Johnson, and can pick up Suzy Kolber as a combination studio/field reporter. It’ll work.

Dan: 15. Stacey Dales
I think that NFLN is underutilizing Dales if she is just slated to cover one team. She does a good job, and honestly, people will be sick of looking at Tirico after a while. I’ll use her as my Saturday host.

Andy: 16. Michael Irvin
Saturday factors in here: What would be a better way to while away late-round hours than Sanders and Irvin telling war stories about the Cowboys as Eisen goads them?

Dan: 17. Chris Berman
Fresh off a new mega-contract extension with ESPN, Berman has to be part of the draft. That said, I wouldn’t want him to anchor the coverage. I’d ask him to step into the role of interviewer. Line up big names -- Goodell, Belichick, former No. 1 picks -- and let Berman loose.

Andy: 18. Trey Wingo
If Berman can be deployed as an interviewer, so to can Wingo. But Wingo’s versatility makes him valuable as an anchor, and he’s far less grating than Boomer’s shtick can be.

Dan: 19. Sal Paolantonio
If we’re keeping score, to this point you had five people I’ve interviewed on my show and I have just two (shameless plug, I know). We need to rectify that, and it starts with another “insider” in Sal Pal.

Andy: 20. Cris Carter
Another smart studio analyst whose star has fallen since leaving Showtime. Freed from the ESPN chucklefest, he’ll be good with Eisen, Young and Jaworski.

That’s 10 picks each, and yes, Andy has Deion, Michael Irvin and Cris Carter. In the interest of time, here are each of our next six:

Dan: 21. Mike Lombardi
Andy: 22. John Clayton
Dan: 23. Kirk Herbstreit
Andy: 24. Joe Schad
Dan: 25. Rachel Nichols
Andy: 26. D’Marco Farr
Dan: 27. Marshall Faulk
Andy: 28. Michael Smith
Dan: 29. Brian Billick
Andy: 30. Steve Mariucci
Dan: 31. Ed Werder
Andy: 32. Mack Brown

It’s rather interesting that neither of us picked a coach until the later rounds and neither of us picked a former GM at all, telling the networks that people who fail at their jobs may not have the expertise they think. That, or both networks totally dropped the ball by not having Matt Millen work the draft.

Those not selected (undrafted free agents) for NFLN: Charles Davis, Charlie Casserly, Scott Hanson, Solomon Wilcots, Tom Waddle, Alex Flanagan, Bob Papa, Derrin Horton, Jamie Dukes, Jim Mora, Paul Allen, Paul Burmeister, Randy Moss, Wes Durham.

Those not taken from ESPN: Jon Gruden, Eric Allen, Qadry Ismail, Tedy Bruschi, Tom Jackson, Trent Dilfer, Dari Nowkhah, Freddie Coleman, Mike Hill, Ryan Burr, Colleen Dominguez, Pedro Gomez, Shelley Smith, Wendy Nix, Herm Edwards, Vinny Cerrato.

Golf Digest and Dan Jenkins Apologize for a “Hasty Attempt at Humor”

We danced around this topic last week and did our level best to fairly report on the fact that legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins made a terribly inappropriate –- or inappropriately terrible –- joke at the expense of golfer Y.E. Yang, without getting on a soapbox and turning it into something more than it was.

Golf Digest did one better:

⇥Our Jenkins apology⇥
⇥SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2010⇥
⇥From Dan Jenkins regarding his Masters tweet about Y.E. Yang: ⇥⇥“Anyone who has read me over the years recognizes that satire and poking fun have been an essential part of my writing. I’ve been an equal opportunity fun-poker. But I realize in this case that I made a hasty attempt at humor and unfortunately crossed the line of good taste and hurt people who I respect. To Y. E. Yang and the Asian community, I want to apologize sincerely and ask them to forgive my mistake.” -- DAN JENKINS⇥

Golf Digest then followed the apology with selected letters from readers. In the full-disclosure media world we live in -– especially on Twitter –- it was an apt reply to Yang, and others who may have been offended. Even if it took a while.

Football Media Being Treated Like Anyone Else

When several people send you different versions of the same story, and all the versions are people complaining about something ... it’s a fish in a barrel situation for media scribes.

David Climer of The Tennessean wrote a column last week taking issue with the Vols for charging media to come to their scrimmage. But media are not allowed at practice or scrimmages -- perhaps an overprotective rule but one the new coach has employed. That said, the coaches clinic is open to people who pay $50 to get in. So, if a media person wanted to pay the money, he or she was allowed in as well. Climer took issue:

⇥At the spring meeting of the University of Tennessee Athletics Board last Saturday morning, UT officials announced that the budget for Vols sports in fiscal year 2009-10 was $102.45 million.⇥⇥Later that day, members of the media were allowed to attend an otherwise closed football scrimmage for a fee of $50 apiece.⇥

⇥⇥When you’re running a nine-figure athletics department, I guess you’ve got to find new revenue streams anywhere you can.⇥

That’s his lede, which is more a stylistic jab at UT than an actual complaint. Before explaining the $50 was part of the coaches clinic that the new coaching staff was inviting some media to attend, Climer actually spent seven paragraphs ripping Tennessee, including, “[q]uestion: If it’s $50 to attend a scrimmage, is a one-on-one interview after the Orange & White Game going to run you a couple of hundred?”

Of course, this same column has the following two lines:

⇥Frankly, limiting or even eliminating media access to practice or scrimmages is both pointless and silly.⇥⇥Personally, I don’t have a problem if a coach bans the media from practice.⇥

And yes, he threw in the “few things are more boring than watching football practice” and “most of the people in sports media don’t know the difference between a crack-back block and a crack pipe.” Classic lines, really.

Perhaps The Tennessean would have been better off subtracting $50 from whatever Climer was paid to write this column and sending him to watch the entire scrimmage. Maybe he could have live-blogged it. That’s probably too expensive, actually, what with all the budget cuts at newspapers these days.

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