Sports property/Telecaster partnerships you miss (or don't)

[bpatrick]

Not to say I miss it, because it was so long ago..a different era..

But I liked the NBA on ABC in the late 60's-1973..Keith Jackson, Jack Twyman
and Chris Schenkel did the games..These games, along with listening to Cincinnati Royals Radio games on WLW-AM 700, made me a fan of the NBA. At first "The NBA on CBS" didnt sound right to me, I was that used to ABC doing the games at that time..

Also, the ABC/Pro Bowlers tour was a great match..Though they are on ESPN now (Technically ABC property)..It just isnt the same..

Bowling isn't bowling without Chris Schenkel. But I'll give an honorable mention to Johnny Johnston, host of "Make That Spare," which followed ABC's boxing telecasts from 1960-64. (As for boxing, most of you will probably say that Howard Cosell couldn't be beaten as a commentator, but I think a tip of the fedora is in order for Don Dunphy.)
Thumbs down to "Jackpot Bowling Starring Milton Berle," however.

 

[EnbyCee]

Miss:

Madden and Summerall doing NFL games on CBS and Fox, until their last couple of years when Madden had long turned into a self-parody and Summerall was losing it.

The NHL on ESPN and ESPN2 from 1993 until those networks got the NBA and relegated the NHL somewhat. They were a little biased in favor of the Rangers and Red Wings, but it was still the best coverage the league ever had in the US and probably ever will.

Pat Foley and Dale Tallon calling Chicago Blackhawks games on Sportsvision/Sportschannel/FSN Chicago and radio. Great, funny tandem who often sounded a little bit drunk, especially when on long road trips in western Canada.

Harry Caray.

The old Hockey Night In Canada theme.

Monday Night Football on ABC, aside from the stupid Dennis Miller experiment.

ABC Monday Night Baseball

NBC Saturday Game of the Week

Paul Page calling the Indy 500. ESPN demoted him to a friggin' hot dog eating contest in their infinite wisdom.

Don't Miss:

The NHL on ABC from 2000-04. I thought their coverage was a half-assed, watered-down version of ESPN's.

Curt Menefee and Brian Baldinger as a broadcast tandem on Fox NFL games. Nothing said "mediocre Bears-Lions game" like those two. Though I think Menefee has done a better job on Fox's pre and postgame shows.

Baseball, including some playoffs, on the Family Channel/ABC Family/Fox Family, including one year with ESPN production and graphics for some odd reason.

NFL Thursday Night Football on TNT, in the days when the NFL mandated one national TV appearance per year for every single team. This resulted in a lot of clunker games being dumped both on TNT and ESPN's Sunday Night package.

 

[onairb]

The ESPN crews did the final year of 'ABC Family' postseason baseball coverage in 2002, after Fox had sold the network to Disney. Tecnically, Fox still held the rights to those playoff games, but 'farmed them out' to Disney, which simply used its sports crews on the games, just as 'Fox Family' had used announcers from the various Fox Sports Net/FX/Family Channel telecasts of that era.

 

[stdjsb25]

Here's some more things that I miss:

The NFL Today on CBS---the golden days of Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, Irv Cross, and Jimmy "The Greek". They were truly a great team.

Jim McKay--period. He was the gold standard for all sportscasters.

Pro Bowling on ABC: That was one way you could always tell it was Saturday, that and....

Wide World of Sports: That was truly the end of ABC Sports when that show came to an end.

And one more thing I don't miss: Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. That was the biggest mistake that ABC ever made.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Paul Page calling the Indy 500. ESPN demoted him to a friggin' hot dog eating contest in their infinite wisdom.

That and tractor pulls.

 

[liradioisbad]

Regarding the Olympics on NBC...Gag! They've turned the whole thing into a 2 week long chick flick that only cares about swimming and gymnastics, with some basketball thrown in. ABC showed so many other things, like boxing (when we had some future great pros, of course), and even a lot of stuff like rowing, kayaking, weightlifting, and closed track bicycling. But who's to say ABC wouldn't have gone down the same road as NBC has?

The main reason those other sports aren't on NBC is that they can simply put that coverage on cable/online so they could focus on the big sports, not to mention that they really try to cater to women with that strategy. That said, I cringe at the thought of today's ABC/ESPN getting Olympic rights in 2014/2016 (and from what I've read, it's very possible).

 

[bpatrick]

Re the Olympics: I have a beef with NBC's unwillingness
to go live when events warrant, just to hold an audience
all evening. Case in point: Kerri Strug's miraculous performance
for the U.S. women's gymnastics team in Atlanta was seen on
tape, close to midnight in the East. How much more effective
it would have been live. And I remember what was probably the
worst telecast of an Olympics ever: NBC at the Winter Games in
Sapporo, Japan, in 1972. During the ski-jumping they showed
every single participant; further, all the winners had to be helicoptered
to a distant studio to be interviewed. NBC has improved since then,
but for me ABC will always be "the network of the Olympics."

 

[azumanga]

I cringe at the thought of today's ABC/ESPN getting Olympic rights in 2014/2016 (and from what I've read, it's very possible).

As long as they actually make it into a sporting event and not a drama, like what NBC did.

Re the Olympics: I have a beef with NBC's unwillingness
to go live when events warrant, just to hold an audience
all evening. Case in point: Kerri Strug's miraculous performance
for the U.S. women's gymnastics team in Atlanta was seen on
tape, close to midnight in the East. How much more effective
it would have been live.

When the Olympics were in the same time zone as 30 Rock, NBC practically treated the 1996 Olympics as if it was from Upper Mongolia. Worse, NBC seldom identified its coverage that time as taped, until an Olympic Park bombing happened while NBC was showing taped coverage.

 

[ixnay]

Miss the NHL on NBC in it's original incarnation in the 70's. Tim Ryan play-by-play with the
legendary Ted Lindsay doing color. And the affable Brian McFarlane filling the intermissions
with standings, scores, and Peter Puck cartoons.

H-B produced Peter Puck, I believe.
On one PP short Peter showed a bunch of pucks ("my relatives") being manufactured. On another ep, Peter explained different refs/linesmen's signals. When the ref gave the boarding signal on one half of a split screen (one fist being pounded into the other palm) the other half of the screen showed a player being checked hard, and the camera panning to show where the poor fella went through the boards.

Today's incarnation of NHL on NBC is pretty good too.

Haven't seen enough modern day NHL on NBC to make a judgment. OTOH too bad DirecTV has dropped VS.

Don't miss NHL on Fox with the glowing pucks and annoying robot animations whenever a goal was scored.

Neither do I. Fox Sports (or the grandkid of some highly placed person there) must have a fetish with Transformers/Gobots/etc. Witness Fox on fall Sundays.

Also don't miss cut-rate productions of College Football Bowl Games on regional networks like
Mizlou and Jefferson Pilot.

As well as in regular season on JP after the SCOTUS deregulated college FB telecasting in around 1984. WBAL-11, then WJZ-13 aired JP Atlantic Coast Conference FB in Baltimore in the second half of the '80s (the Maryland Terrapins are in the ACC).

ixnay

 

[ShawnHill1]

I do miss the Pro Bowlers Tour and Wide World of Sports on ABC...my grandmother (who basically got me interesting in sports on TV) and I would watch every Saturday it was on. I do occasionally watch the PBA on ESPN, but of course it could every be the same when ABC did it. I definitely also miss NBC's (and to a lesser extent, CBS') NBA coverage...thank goodness for the classic re-airs on ESPN Classic and NBA TV. The games themselves were the featured events, not all of the unnecessary secondary junk they surround it with.

 

[Davros2006]

Like when I mentioned Fred Cusick and WSBK and the Boston Bruins early on in this thread, this is also geared to Boston residents: Anyone remember when WCVB (and its predecessor WHDH, both on Channel 5) did Candlepin Bowling broadcasts for a grand total of 37 years (1958-1995)?

Several clips can be found on YouTube.

 

[danderson4411]

i know its local what about WYFF and the ACC up to 1995?

 

[bmasters1981]

This September will be the 30th anniversary of when Jim Nantz debuted on CBS with The Prudential College Football Report at halftime; at that time, CBS had Big Ten games, among others, and for that first year, Jim had Pat Haden in the studio with him; Jim went solo starting in 1986. I was four years old when he debuted on CBS, and he's nearing 30 years there.

 

[Avid Listener]

What about Sports property folks who use Stratocasters, or Les Pauls?

 

[paulsonj72]

Re the Olympics: I have a beef with NBC's unwillingness
to go live when events warrant, just to hold an audience
all evening. Case in point: Kerri Strug's miraculous performance
for the U.S. women's gymnastics team in Atlanta was seen on
tape, close to midnight in the East. How much more effective
it would have been live. And I remember what was probably the
worst telecast of an Olympics ever: NBC at the Winter Games in
Sapporo, Japan, in 1972. During the ski-jumping they showed
every single participant; further, all the winners had to be helicoptered
to a distant studio to be interviewed. NBC has improved since then,
but for me ABC will always be "the network of the Olympics."

The reason NBC didn't do the gymnastics live in 1996 was that when the scheduling was done the IOC gave the Europeans a bone and gave them a marquee event to show live in prime time over there. NBC would have LOVED to have had that event in prime time for the US.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I kind of liked the original ABC Monday Night Baseball crew of Warner Wolf, Bob Prince and Bob Uecker.
This pretty much introduced Uecker to a national audience. Prince had been a long-time wild man as
play-by-play announcer for the Pirates. Those guys were nuts!

In general I miss baseball on the former cable superstations (Braves on TBS, Mets on WOR, Cubs and Sox on WGN).
Watched a LOT of baseball on them over the years.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Prince only lasted a year because he was perceived to have a bias toward National League teams, and Roone Arledge was even quoted as saying that in some of the games, he wouldn't let anyone else talk. His style worked locally, but not on a national level.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

What about Sports property folks who use Stratocasters, or Les Pauls?

As long as it's not BC Rich guitars...

Topic: I miss the old IU basketball network, if only for the epic open:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdsCEFA1Ln0