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Press Coverage: ESPN’s British Soccer Invasion, WaPo’s Obit, BwB Fireworks & More

Jun 7, 2010, 5:30 PM UTC

If there is a stop anywhere at ESPN, they’ve pulled it out for this year’s World Cup. The term “Worldwide Leader” is often used by writers with bit of a derisive tone. But not anymore. Not after this World Cup. ESPN has proven that they are serious about being the actual worldwide leader in sports. And lo and behold, it’s the American sports fan who will benefit.â†µâ†µOr will we? Being the best in the world means hiring the best in the world to handle your coverage. ESPN did just that with the addition of a stable of top football announcers, led by legendary broadcaster Martin Tyler. Tyler is joined in the play-by-play role by the likes of Adrian Healey, Ian Darke and Derrick Rae.â†µ

â†µâ†µTyler is ESPN’s lead soccer announcer and will call the United States’ first match against England, supplanting American JP Dellacamera from the lead role of play-by-play man for the USMNT. John Harkes, who has been calling games for the United States for years, has remained on as the lead booth analyst, while Dellacamera has been jettisoned to radio.â†µ

â†µâ†µReplacing Dellacamera with Tyler is indeed a step up for ESPN. But does it help the coverage of the American team? And, to extend that question with another, should ESPN care?â†µ

â†µâ†µThere’s no doubt that Tyler’s first game with Harkes was, shall we say, sub-par. Their rapport lacked about as much luster as a broadcast tandem could lack, a fact that could be attributable to the absence of energy in the stadium. Tyler is accustomed to calling matches in the Premiership where nearly every contest is surrounded by raucous crowds and a constant backdrop of excitement from the stands. Saturday’s match saw desert hills with an audio accompaniment of vuvuzelas. That was not a recipe for a successful broadcast. â†µ

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â†µâ†µIn addition to the lack of chemistry between the two and lack of energy from some of Tyler’s calls – take the non-call of Australian Tim Cahill’s tally – Tyler was catching much of the ire from soccer fans for his complete lack of familiarity with the US team. In fact, the only players Tyler seemed to know much about were the few who played in the Premiership. Granted, he has a week to become more familiar with the squad, but it’s clearly not the same as someone who has followed the players for years.â†µ

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â†µAt one point in Saturday's match the video cut to two fans in the stands wearing Everton jerseys and Tyler made the comment that their loyalties may be split next weekend, with the likes of Landon Donovan and Tim Howard having played for the English club team, facing the English national team. There is little chance someone in an Everton jersey would be rooting at all for their American club team members over their native country. Besides, Donovan was there for all of six minutes in the grand scheme of things…does anyone who considers themselves an Everton fan hold any loyalty to Donovan? Howard, maybe, but Donovan?â†µ

â†µâ†µIt seemed Tyler may have been projecting his own thoughts of the upcoming match onto those in the stands. It won’t matter that the play-by-play voice will be decidedly British when the U.S. plays Slovenia or Algeria (note: fellow Brit Ian Darke will call the US-Slovenia match and the Algeria match is TBD. Harkes will handle all the USMNT color analyst duties). ESPN’s new British invasion will be completely apparent, however, during the match against England. Now, the balance of an American homer like Harkes in the booth with a Brit should make things a little more even. But do we want our coverage to be even? Or do we just want the best possible voices around, no matter which side their heart is pulling for?â†µ

â†µâ†µWould we care if Vin Scully was calling a World Series that featured the Dodgers, or would we just be happy – even as fans of the AL opponent – that we’re able to hear the best in the business call the game? NHL fans don’t care that Mike Emrick was a longtime (and fomer) Flyers announcer because he’s calling the Stanley Cup games evenly for both squads. Yet in the Olympics, it did seem more important that he was “one of us.” Would Al Michaels have believed in miracles if he was a Russian import? It will be worth noting next weekend.â†µ

â†µâ†µWe’ve already seen glimpses of what may be coming next weekend from ESPN, as the Australia match featured more shots of a stoic David Beckham helping to scout the USMNT than it did any of the Americans on their bench, Jozy Altidore and Oguchi Onyewu included.â†µ

â†µâ†µAgain, simply the accent of the play-by-play man should not impact one’s ability to trust his impartiality. One could actually make the case that the British bent makes the games somehow more enjoyable and should England make a deep run into the tournament, we’ll all benefit from Tyler’s call. But for this one game, the manner in which he pronounces words will be entirely noticeable. If the U.S. upsets England, his call will be particularly fascinating to hear.â†µ

â†µâ†µWashington Post’s Pre-emptive John Wooden Tributeâ†µ
â†µIt was widely discussed late last week – I first noticed it on Kansas City Star blog Upon Further Review – that the Washington Post prematurely posted a gallery of John Wooden that included the line “John Wooden dies at 99.”â†µ

â†µâ†µWooden obviously did pass, but the coaching great hadn’t yet done so when the Post put that gallery out. The paper has been getting slammed for the gaffe, and while I won’t defend the situation, it seems nothing more egregious than any mistake in web publishing that happen all the time. This, yes, was a huge mistake, but it’s not like they pushed it out about the President or someone in good health. Wooden was literally on his deathbed and it was, as turned out to be the case, a matter of time.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe question, then, seems to be how this happened. And not how it happened in the sense that an editor mentioned it in the newsroom and someone hustled to publish the gallery without double-checking the fact that Wooden had yet to actually die. I’m more interested in how it happened that the entire world got this news, even after the Post changed the graphic to read that Wooden was not actually dead.â†µ

â†µâ†µFor a long time I’ve been in search of the question of whether or not its important to be ‘first’ or ‘right.’ In this case, the Post went for ‘first’ over ‘right.’ That said, those inside the Post newsroom indicated to me that the being ‘first’ isn’t really important either. It’s being first in the Google news aggregator and other forms of seach engine optimization (SEO) that has become most important. The importance of headlines and post metadata (including multiple spellings of names to hit those who may not get a name right) can help posts hit at the top of internet searches and, quite literally, pay the bills for some of the larger sites. So being first wasn’t as important as being the first big house to get something up.â†µ

â†µâ†µBeat the blogs? That’s not really important to papers. But beat the New York Times or CNN and that can make their week. So, it’s not about being first, or right. Just as long as you’re not first wrong, because as quick as Google pushes out the news, the cache doesn’t exactly update things as quickly. That’s when SEO can bite you back.â†µ

â†µâ†µRich Eisen Didn’t Need This Headacheâ†µ
â†µRemember when Rich Eisen’s was named in a scandal with emailed photos of then Philadelphia news anchor Alycia Lane in a bikini? Rumor had it that Suzy Shuster, Eisen’s wife, leaked the news, but we then came to find that Lane’s co-anchor Larry Mendte was insanely hacking her email and dishing the news to the local gossip columnist in town. Both anchors ended up getting fired – Mendte for that and Lane for hitting a cop in New York. Lane is suing the local CBS affiliate for wrongful termination.â†µ

â†µâ†µAs part of that case, some saucy emails between Lane and Eisen have come out, including the NFL Network anchor sending notes like, “I’m sweet on you kid” and “Happy Thanksgiving, hottie.” Lane’s attorney claims the emails, now almost four years old by the way, have no context in her lawsuit against her former employer and were “purely platonic.” Yet here they are in an effort, obviously, to sully her name.â†µ

â†µâ†µI’m sure Eisen’s wife is loving the fact that Lane now works at the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, home base for Eisen’s NFL Network gig.â†µ

â†µâ†µBlogs with Balls 3.0 Featured a Fireworks Displayâ†µ
â†µBlogs with Balls was this weekend, and while I wasn’t there, the pullout fireworks display from the event seems to be the exchange with The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre and Spencer Hall, formerly of this fine site and now plying his trade at SB Nation. The video can’t be embedded on this site, so click the link and zoom to the 24-minute mark for the display.â†µ

â†µThe argument stems from the post on The Big Lead about Mark Sanchez and who he was dating or some ridiculous, yet traffic-worthy, nugget like that. The story ran on April Fools Day and was a ruse put on by Hall and some others who, to put it kindly, aren’t fans of McIntyre’s work. Hall used the example during this panel to challenge McIntyre’s credibility with regard to checking sources before running a story.â†µâ†µLook, every site makes mistakes (see above with the Washington Post), but Hall was using the huge gaffe by TBL to illustrate that not checking sources and throwing up whatever you like without simple checks and balances gives the entire industry of blogging a bad name. I actually don’t disagree with that at all. He’s absolutely right (and note that it’s not just TBL, but sites like Deadspin as well. Heck Bleacher Report just released a new level of standards because of this very situation on their network).â†µ

â†µâ†µMy only issue with this is that it smacked of a set-up. As Josh Zerkle, on the panel for With Leather, pointed out, why didn’t Hall announce he was behind the hoax when it happened? Doing it in public ended up making McIntyre out to be a sympathetic character. That said, while I would have never been part of the set-up of another blog like that, had I been there this weekend, I’d have likely challenged McIntyre – or any blogger – the same way. I’ll never blame Spencer for holding people accountable, despite the method behind his madness.â†µ

â†µâ†µSB Nation Goes Localâ†µ
â†µSpeaking of SB Nation, the company is going local, launching a host of city-specific pages around the country, with a plan for more to come in the next few days and weeks.â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥The company has 29 full-time employees, including people on the advertising and technology side, while most of the contributors to SB Nation’s sites are paid a monthly stipend.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Each of the new regional sites will have its own editor. Al Yellon, for example, who has run Bleed Cubbie Blue, a site devoted to the Chicago Cubs, will oversee the Chicago site.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥One formidable competitor is ESPN, the sports media juggernaut, which started its first regional site last year for Chicago and has since moved into other cities. Official team sites, particularly those run by Major League Baseball, also provide their own articles, images and video.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µThat New York Times article took the news and looked up at the likes of ESPN and MLB, but what about looking down…and out? I mean this in all seriousness, but how local can local get? There are blogs on the SB Nation network dedicated to college and pro teams, regional MMA stories and even individual athletes like Tiger Woods. How long before individual blogs will be servicing the fanbase of high school sports…or even kids recreational leagues? If there’s an audience, right? Heck, we all used to get small write ups in the paper, didn’t we? Why not on a blog?â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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