All posts tagged NBC

Sports News Roundup: the Morons Edition

By | October 10, 2010 | Football, injuries, NFL, Soccer | 2 Comments

Between Brett Favre’s penis and the Yankees party planning, there hasn’t been a lot of smart in sports this week, unless you count the Pirates’ firing of manager John Russell, which was brilliant. Late, but brilliant. Anyway.

The week began with this tweet from NBC Sports.NBC Sports announces Moss tradeNo joke. They didn’t even delete it later.

We also heard about a Jacksonville man who ended up in serious condition with a compound arm fracture due to a missed high five while leaving the Jaguars game last Sunday. It has since been determined he was trying to leap from a gridlocked stairway to a moving escalator. As of Wednesday, he was still in the hospital.

Taking the cake in the moron department has to be news that the Ravens ejected a lesbian couple from their stadium during the Sept. 26 game against the Cleveland Browns. Security claims they were ejected for lifting a plastic cup from a concession stand that they took to use for ketchup, and not kissing, as the couple claims. Either way, it’s just plain stupid.

RAVENS-eject-lesbian-couple

Who is more off-base, Terrell Owen or the NFL and their Twitter policy? T.O. tweeted inside the 9o-minute pre-game window with the critical information that a fan wearing his jersey at today’s Bengals-Tampa Bay contest would win a signed football from him and buddy Chad OchoCinco. OchoCinco has been Twitter-law abiding since a $25,000 fine in August, and kept today’s tweets about his pet pigeon (seriously?) and the dreadful state of the world to well before kickoff. No news yet about a fine for T.O., but an NFL spokesperson says they’re looking into this possible careless breakage of an arguably rather stupid rule.

Lest you think there was no humor this week, I leave you with this video. Not smart, but also pretty silly. With thanks to Google’s translator:  Peter Niemeyer touched the breasts of referee Bibiana Steinhaus. Niemeyer, “They stood a little further away than thought, I wanted to give her a shoulder pat, but you have to entertain the crowd a little ….”

The Last Straw

By | February 28, 2010 | Olympics, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

I recently wrote about my dissatisfaction with NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I really and truly thought that I had gotten it out of my system.

Oh, how wrong I was.

So here I sit on the last morning of the games wondering if we’ll get ANY COVERAGE AT ALL. You see, according to the KNBC website and the listings guide on cable, Olympic coverage came on at 9 am. Really? Because all I’ve seen is Access Hollywood (rerun) and Monk (also a rerun.) The hockey game-GOLD MEDAL GAME AGAINST CANADA is supposed to be on, as well as a few other events that are having their final rounds today.

This is absolutely unacceptable, NBC. You say that your ratings are high? Honestly, it can only be because we have NO other options for viewing. Have you polled anyone lately? And, quite honestly, I think I’m done with you as a network, local and national. This has been the final straw.

Here’s how I think national Olympic coverage should look from you, NBC (and CBS, ABC, and FOX should take notice, should there be a change in networks for the next games. Please?!)

Morning show- Fine. Cute stories about athletes, whatever. Depending on the time zone of the actual games, I get this. (The morning crew has actually done a great job of interviewing the athletes.)

Just after the morning show: LIVE COVERAGE

Noon: 30 minutes of local news.

Afternoon: LIVE COVERAGE

5 or 6 pm: 30 minutes of local news, 30 minutes of national news.

Evening: LIVE COVERAGE

10 pm: 30 minutes of local news

THE END.

Seriously, it’s only two weeks out of every two years. There is nothing that can’t be put on hiatus for those two weeks. With everyone having digital television now, if a network or local affiliate feels the need to air their regular programming they can now create a digital 2.0 channel for those programs and leave the regular channel for people to find the coverage of the Olympics easily. If you really need your dose of pop culture and celebrity news there are plenty of other networks and online outlets for that.

Here on the west coast we have had to wait until 11-12 pm to watch the medal rounds and races. Why is this if we’re watching it taped? If we tape it to watch later, the morning shows ruin the results. Watching is just not the same if you already know the outcome.

As for the actual coverage? It, too, has been horrendous. Someone actually made a chart of the time that was dedicated to each category: advertising, special stories, Bob Costas, medal ceremonies, etc. Costas is getting more coverage than replays and medal ceremonies COMBINED. The Olympics are not about you, Bob, they’re about the athletes, their competition, their competitors, and their medals. Last night he actually said “If you’re in the central or mountain time zone you can figure it out for yourself,” which I found pretty lame. I tweeted “Bob Costas is a douche,” and I received the following reply from Glennia: @HeadlessMom Amen to that. A botoxed, toupee-wearing douche at that. #shutupcostas.

Really Bob? As the announcer it’s your JOB to be able to tell the viewers when their national coverage begins and we only have four time zones. I guess we’d really be in trouble if we had something like 11 like Russia does.

Thank goodness today is the last day. I honestly don’t think I could take much more. Here’s to a new network getting the rights for the next Olympic games. One that will commit to getting it right.

(Cross posted at The Adventures of the Headless Family and Inland Empire Family)

The Numbers Don’t Lie: NBC Is Doing a Crappy Job Covering the Olympics

By | February 25, 2010 | Olympics | 3 Comments
Bob Costas

Bob Costas

If you were hoping to watch sporting events this Olympics, allow me to chuckle at your cute naivete. If, however, you’re really into commercials, Bob Costas’ fireplace, and blimp shots, then you are probably in media heaven these days.

Complaints about NBC’s coverage of these games is nothing new. My Twitter friends have been pretty vocal about it and we even heard from our own HeadlessMom about the absurdity of not being able to see coverage of the Olympics, even though they’re happening in her own time zone.

But what separates bitching and serious criticism is raw data and David Bireman at the Wall Street Journal has given fuel to our fire.

An analysis of NBC’s 3 ½-hour program Friday night showed that there were 56 minutes, 41 seconds of commercials over 24 breaks—that’s three more minutes than actual event action that was showed.

Even more damning? This chart:

NBC Olympics Coverage Breakdown

NBC Olympics Coverage Breakdown

By the way, charts = science, so don’t even try to question it, mkay?

Obviously, this is not groundbreaking bad coverage. Most major sports events have a similar focus on advertising dollars over actual sports. But I think people are angry because the Olympics offer a chance to see sports that you don’t normally catch. I get that it’s a rare marketing opportunity, but the fact that these events can captivate even the most indifferent viewer should be at least a little respected and NBC should let us see a little more of the awe-inspiring feats that we tuned in to see in the first place.

Rodney Harrison – Patriots Loss is NBC’s Gain

By | June 3, 2009 | Football | Comments Off


The word on the street (and by street I mean internet) is that Rodney Harrison will announce sometime today that he will retire from the NFL and join NBC Sunday Night Football team.

Rodney Harrison is currently the only player in NFL history with more than 30 sacks and 30 interceptions. He has two Super Bowl victories and fifteen NFL seasons under his belt.

I think it is fair to say he PWNED it.

Good luck, Rodney.

Can I still even say PWNED? Is that really passe? Am I totally 2008 here? Whatever, I don’t care. My son was up barfing all night. I cannot be expected to be cool unless I am well rested.

[source via Boston Brat]

Blog Widget by LinkWithin