Advertisement

The weekend in sports TV: Grand Prix coverage a perfect bay area showcase

 
Published March 29, 2015

Tampa Bay Times columnist Tom Jones offers up the best and worst from a weekend of televised sports.

Best coverage

This is a special time of year, when the Tampa Bay area is on full display for the rest of the country.

There's spring training, of course. The PGA Tour was here this month at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor. The women's Final Four is coming this weekend to Amalie Arena. But nothing shows off how wonderful it is to live here more than the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Sunday's weather and spectacular aerial shots were perfect to show off our paradise, with the palm trees and the bay, as well as all the beautiful buildings in downtown St. Petersburg.

As far as the race coverage, ABC was on top of its game for the first IndyCar race of the season. The pre-race part featured excellent updates on car technology, insightful driver interviews about the cars (especially with Ryan Hunter-Reay) and spot-on analysis.

The graphics — including showing driver speeds, RPMs, and use of the throttle and brake — were fascinating. The announcers were very well schooled on the local landmarks, allowing Tampa Bay viewers to enjoy the race even more. The analysts and pit reporters, especially best-in-the-business Dr. Jerry Punch, were concise, yet complete. Never a wasted moment during the three hours.

St. Petersburg looked splendid, the weather was gorgeous, and the race was exciting. And ABC captured all that while doing a great job covering the race. Give ABC an A for the coverage.

Best point

For the past couple of months, we've wondered what would happen to Kentucky when the Wildcats found themselves in a tight basketball game late in the second half. How would Kentucky react when its perfect record was on the line and it faced a real threat that it might lose?

Well, the thing we overlooked is how other teams might react when they were close to pulling off the upset of the year.

That was the topic on ESPN's Sports Reporters on Sunday, and that was the excellent point made by Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom.

Saturday in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region final, Notre Dame found itself with a great chance to spoil Kentucky's perfect season. But instead of Kentucky panicking, it appeared as if Notre Dame started to shake over being this close to shocking the country.

It's not always the heavy favorite that feels the pressure of losing, but the heavy underdog that feels the pressure of the possibility of winning.

Coolest anecdote

At halftime of ABC's NBA coverage of the Rockets-Wizards game Sunday, studio analyst Doug Collins was talking about the energy teams need to have to be successful, and he mentioned a coaches clinic he went to years ago. He then told a story of listening to former Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt. How cool.

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Stay updated on Tampa Bay’s sports scene

Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter

We’ll send you news and analysis on the Bucs, Lightning, Rays and Florida’s college football teams every day.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Collins was a four-time NBA All-Star and coached four teams in the NBA. Not only did he still go listen to Summitt speak, but he recalled the impact her talk had on him. That just goes to show you how good Summitt was as a coach.

No takers

The Browns and Bills want no part of being featured on HBO's Hard Knocks, which follows an NFL team during training camp. You can see why the Browns would say no. They don't any more distractions for quarterback Johnny Manziel, who is in rehab. The Bills would have been a nice choice, considering their new coach, the always entertaining Rex Ryan. Hey, how about the Bucs?

Biggest trial balloon

The NFL announced last week that next season's Week 7 game in London between the Bills and Jaguars will be streamed online as well as being shown on network television in Buffalo and Jacksonville. With a 9:30 a.m. Eastern starting time, I just don't see many folks other than Bills and Jags diehards firing up their computers to watch the game. But many are guessing that the league eventually will offer an online package of games. It's also interesting to note that the game will be shown in China, where it will be on during prime time.

Biggest buzz

Who thought you'd ever hear this? Bob Raissman, the must-read sports media critic of the New York Daily News, says the Mets are creating more of a media buzz in the Big Apple these days than the Yankees. Raissman writes, "Things have been turned upside down. With expectations raised, the Mets are walking the high wire without a safety net. That kind of act will have people watching to see if the wire snaps.''

College hoops coverage

You have to pick some serious nits to find anything wrong with CBS/Turner's coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

The lead announcing team of Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill has been solid, though it still is trying to find just the right chemistry. You can understand why. It's a pairing of varying personalties. Nantz is straightforward, nuts and bolts. Raftery, with his catchphrases ("Onions!''), is all energy and passion. Hill is more low key and humble.

Nantz believes Hill has a chance to be an all-time great college basketball announcer. Hmm, you wonder if Greg Anthony, who was suspended at midseason after being arrested for soliciting a prostitute (the charge will be dropped after he does community service and stays out of trouble for four months), has a future on CBS's main announcing team if Nantz is talking up Hill like that.

Meantime, CBS/Turner had a nice combination with the team of Chris Webber and Len Elmore. The two had been working with announcer Marv Albert, but Albert missed Saturday's Kentucky-Notre Dame classic because he was under the weather. Brian Anderson filled in admirably, and the three were as good as the game they called, Webber especially.

By the way, about 14.7 million tuned in for the Kentucky-Notre Dame game on TBS, making it the most-watched program in the network's history.

Best (or maybe worst) prediction ever

During Sunday's Rockets-Wizards game, ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy predicted that the Dayton women would upset mighty UConn in the women's NCAA Tournament. And then he added that it might not even be close.

"See,'' broadcast partner Mike Breen said, "you always go one step too far.''

Biggest loss

Few announcers were as engaging and personable as Hot Rod Hundley, who died over the weekend at the age of 80. He was a great player at West Virginia in the mid 1950s and was a two-time All-Star in the NBA. He then went on to become a very successful broadcaster. He was best known for calling Jazz games, but he spent five years as a national broadcaster for CBS. He was one of the good guys, and you could tell that by just listening to him on the air.

Three things that popped into my head

1. After the way Texas bounced football coach Mack Brown and basketball coach Rick Barnes, I'm not sure any coach should be all that fired up to work there.

2. Have you noticed that ESPN's bottom-of-the-screen ticker seems to be including more and more cricket results? Is there a sudden interest in cricket in the United States?

3. Needs to be mentioned: Dwayne "The Rock'' Johnson hosted Saturday Night Live on Saturday and it was the best SNL in a couple of years.