Times columnist Tom Jones looks back at the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports.
Most interesting coverage
The death of former Patriots and Gators tight end Aaron Hernandez dominated ESPN daytime programming Wednesday, even bumping the popular First Take to ESPN2 so SportsCenter could continue its coverage. Did ESPN go overboard, seeing as how Hernandez hadn't played a football game since 2013 and there was nothing to really report other than Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell, where he was serving a life term for murder?
Absolutely not. This is a compelling story of the fall from grace of an elite athlete who lived a double life. But what made the coverage interesting — and, at times, controversial — was how close some ESPN personalities came to portraying Hernandez's death as sympathetic. While it's understandable for viewers not to view Hernandez's death as sad or even tragic, there are dozens of lives — some close to Hernandez and some not — that have been forever altered by Hernandez's actions. And that is tragic.
The network's most interesting comments came from Dan Le Batard, who said the following while on SportsCenter:
"This guy doesn't have a lot of precedent in the history of sports where you've got a guy who has everything and wastes it this overtly because he preferred to be a gangster. … He decided instead that he was going to be somebody who was a thug, who was flippant about life. For him to choose to end his own pain that way, for him to choose suicide as a solution tells you just how dark a place he was in and how dark a place he lived in. A dark place of his own choosing."
Best sarcastic point
Talking on ESPN's Sports Reporters on Sunday, the network's Jeremy Schaap made a sarcastic, yet interesting point about James Dolan, owner of the New York Knicks and Rangers. Schaap said, "Jim Dolan's Rangers finished off the Montreal Canadiens, which just goes to show you that when you're an owner who cares about the fans and community, good things just seem to happen.''
Schaap was, obviously, taking a shot at Dolan over the Knicks' woes, but you do have to ask: Why does Dolan gets most of the blame for the Knicks being terrible, yet no credit for the success of the Rangers? Plenty of people who follow New York sports will tell you how Dolan has ruined the Knicks, but if we're pointing fingers, maybe we should start with president Phil Jackson.
Best real point
Another solid weekend from Rays analyst Brian Anderson on Fox Sports Sun. During Sunday's Rays-Astros game, Anderson looked at a stat that showed Astros starting pitcher Joe Musgrove struggling more each time he went through the lineup. Hitters batted .240 the first time through the order, .280 the second time around and a whopping .383 the third time around.
"I really think it goes back to a lot of these guys come through the minors and because of the way they are kind of held down (in innings) and pitch limits,'' Anderson said, "they never learn how to go through a lineup three times with difference sequencing on how to get guys out.''
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Explore all your optionsAnderson saw a stat that jumped out to the viewer and then intelligently explained it.
Best announcing team
No announcing crew has settled into their roles more comfortably than NBC's lead hockey team of Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire. And with that comfort comes even more confidence, especially when it comes to being critical of players and coaches. During Saturday night's outstanding coverage of the Rangers-Canadiens playoff game, Olczyk laid into the Rangers' Chris Kreider for taking a penalty because he didn't go hard after a puck behind the net. It was a play that easily could have gone unnoticed or ignored, but not only did Olczyk notice it, he called Kreider out.
"You can't take the easy way out,'' Olczyk barked.
You don't always hear announcers, especially former players such as Olczyk, criticize players like that, but that's what he's paid to do, and he did it well.
Best landing spot
CBS's Phil Simms lost his spot on the network's No. 1 NFL announcing team to Tony Romo, but he ended up with a sweet gig. He is replacing Tony Gonzalez on the network's NFL Today pregame show. Simms will be a nice addition to the studio crew. I've always thought his big-picture perspective was more interesting than his game analysis. Studio work seems like the best fit for him.
Media tidbits
• Maybe a league being dominated by two teams isn't such a good thing after all. NBA viewership for the regular season was down this season. The average audience for games across TNT, ESPN, ABC and NBA TV was 1.19 million, about a 6 percent dip from a season ago.
• Steve Albert, the brother of Marv and Al and the uncle of Kenny, is retiring after 45 years as a broadcaster. He called play-by-play for several New York teams and spent the end of his career calling games for the Phoenix Suns. But he's probably best remembered for calling boxing matches, including the famous fight when Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield.
• ESPN's upcoming "30 for 30'' two-part documentary about the rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers will debut June 13. Meantime, the "30 for 30'' on the Mike and the Mad Dog radio show will debut July 13.
Three things that popped into my head
1 Injuries happen, but it is disturbing that the Rays were left with not one left-handed arm coming out of the bullpen over the weekend.
2 Speaking of the Rays, a costly passed ball Sunday by Jesus Sucre to go along with he and Derek Norris having a combined batting average of .191. Safe to say, the Rays continue to have major questions about their catching.
3 Every day there's an incredibly dramatic Stanley Cup playoff game. Every day. Too bad the NBA can't say the same thing.