It is about the game and only the game.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

It is about the game and only the game.


I have lived in or around LA most of my life and consider my self a sports fan, not really a LA sports fan, but a sports fan. College football seems to be a passion right now and it used to be the NFL but ESPN, FOX, CBS and NBC have hyped the games so much that it is hard to see the game thru the lengthy commercials and the promos for their own shows, WHILE THE GAME IS BEING PLAYED. All of the pre-game shows are brutal to watch, to follow and seemed to be geared to the fair weathered fan. Very little game information is shown or presented just lots of hype about a players struggle when they were growing up, or the sibling that is sick, ill or dead, or the “foundation” they set up to help the disadvantaged. We get the pre-requisite comedic interview with a player, coach or team executive that is continually teased but fails to deliver any valuable information. We also get comments from the studio hosts about what it was like when they played and one of the ex-players always, ALWAYS, supports one of their buddies in trouble or in the doghouse for a bad performance, “He’s just misunderstood”.

ESPN is the worst with the NFL on Monday Night Football. Now that they have the game the hype, commercials, promos, crossovers, and Chris Berman and Stewart Scott are too much to handle. They, (ESPN) believe it is all about ESPN and we all watch just to see ESPN and to listen to Berman ramble on and on and make sound effects while showing highlights. The nicknames have always been lame and Stewart Scott, Do you really have a degree in journalism or has someone convinced you that what your doing is actually reporting? Why do you feel the need to introduce to the world new words for the English language?

I used to tape the show on ESPN that Ron Jaworski had on Monday afternoons before the game was on ABC and it was the best show about football ever. He would explain defenses and show on film the difference between “cover 2”, “nickel” and “dime” packages. Tendencies, trends and actual game film were presented, no player profiles. The show generated from the NFL Film studios in NJ and presented FOOTBALL and nothing else. I believe it was called Monday Night Match-up; it seems to have disappeared from ESPN’s MNF schedule only to be replaced by Chris Berman’s idiotic variety show.

ESPN has somehow convinced it self that the majority of its viewers had no life before MNF on ESPN and if we don’t watch all of their shows we are just missing out on the greatest event on TV. It still is called Monday Night FOOTBALL, not The Monday Night Television Special. I believe that they will eventually fail or at least change the substance of their programming because they broke the rule that dooms sports broadcasting; it is about the game and only the game. I now move on to what happened last night in LA.

I used to go to 5-10 Dodger games a year but it got to be expensive and a really long night. 1–2 hours down to the stadium, game time plus a 1-hour drive home. Last night while I was cleaning up around the house and I had the Dodger vs. Padres game on Fox Prime, (pick a name guys and stick with it will you) in the
den and I convinced myself to go to bed when the game ended. I was wrapping up my house cleaning when it was bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers down to the Padres 9-5. Game over I thought, but then I saw the greatest end to a baseball game ever, EVER.

Four home runs in a row from the Dodgers to come from behind to tie the game and then Nomar hits the walk off in the 11th to beat the Padres and the Dodgers regain the lead in the west. First Jeff Kent, then JD Drew and that’s when it got a little interesting. Future Hall of Fame reliever for the Padres Trevor Hoffman comes in and on his first pitch Russell Martin goes deep, WHOOO HOOO. Dodgers are down by one and then Marlon Anderson drives in the game tying shot. I scream aloud and realize it late but four home runs in a row wow, I’ve never seen that before and to tie up the game in the bottom of the ninth time to stop cleaning and pay attention.

The Padres score 1 in the top of the tenth and with Kenny Lofton at first base with a walk; Nomar hits the game winner and gives a little arm pump, and the Dodgers are back in first place.

Welcome back Peter Gammons it’s good to know you are OK.

It was time to go bed with a little smile on my face.