Mobile
- courtesy of FoxSports.com
- He can keep the football, just don't give him the mike! Troy Aikman (who should have stuck with playing the game) and Dick Stockton
Gripe number 2: Andy Rooney was a little bit right. When the 60 Minutes curmudgeon made his sexist remark that women don't belong on football sidelines as reporters, the expected howl was justified. For reporters like Andrea Joyce, Melissa Stark, and Michele Tafoya, his remark is just plain wrong. But for a parade of no-names hired for assets based on appearance and not sports smarts, crusty Andy is right. Women who have worked too long in a tough business to get the plum assignments alongside male colleagues are done a disservice by Miss Hair Extension of the Moment.
Gripe number 3: Announcers trying to be bigger than the game. OK, I'll say it: how many of you have to hit the mute button when Dick Vitale calls a game? His bombastic BS overshadows a good game. Then again, I'm a purist who hates basketball sideline guys, as well. Vitale's yelling and personal babbling about his friends and "diaper dandies" and all that... what was the score of the game again? I'm all for opinion in the Billy Packer mode, but when you're babbling about yourself more than what's on the floor... who won the game again?
Gripe number 4: Newspaper guys as broadcasters. Whether looking for bigger bucks, a bigger ego stroke, or PR for their paper or magazine, there are one too many print boys babbling in their erudite but geeky way out there. I can handle a Mike Lupica in print, but the whine and the "I'm always right" play better in print. In radio, newspaper writers seem to fill out the roster on many sports talk stations, but I'll spot them the knowledge of beat reportage over ex-jocks any day (see gripe number 1).
Gripe number 5: The BIG voice. You've heard it. Like no other broadcasters I know, too many sportsies try to coax a baritone boom out of average pipes, and talk too loud. Call it Ted Baxter Syndrome or Tank McNamara Disease. I know two sportscasters who've had throat nodule surgeries to correct the way they've abused their throats with faux voices all these years.
True story: I knew a sportscaster a few years back who got phone calls from a fan who always said that his mother liked when the sportscaster came on their local news: "Mama's hard of hearing, but we don't have to turn up the TV when you come on!"
Gripe number 6: Kill the cliches. The movie Bull Durham showed us the uselessness of the sports cliche the best, but there are a few that sportsies must retire (not to mention the coaches and players who regurgitate them): "shock the world," "take our game to the next level," "110 percent," "intensity," and "stud." And they aren't talking retired race horses, dawg.
AND ANOTHER THING OR TWO... Longtime radio and TV traffic guru Brian Stickley begins the New Year looking for a new gig, as Infinity Broadcasting cuts his job to do traffic business with sister biz Metro traffic... There'll be shades of the Today show, as WBTV refits a street level space at Founders Hall with a news studio, moving from their current interior location by summertime... Moving in and out at WCNC these days: new reporter Tim Knol will man their Rock Hill Bureau, assistant news director Anzio Williams heads to Orlando for a new job, and Brad Panovich is on board as a new meteorologist... Despite on-air rhetoric and a long holiday vacation, did anyone think that Mark Packer wasn't renewing his deal with WFNZ-AM?... And wonder how many Charlotte TV reporters took umbrage with the Observer's Ed Williams who said that said Channel 3 reporter Mike Cozza's retirement is "reducing by about 90 percent the store of local knowledge among Charlotte's TV reporters."?
Speaking of News_media.html
-
So You Wanna Be On TV
May 11, 2005 -
When A Closed-Door Meeting Remains Open
May 4, 2005 -
First Tom & Dan, Now Bill
Apr 27, 2005 - More »
Latest in Media notes
-
UNC CHARLOTTE MARRIOTT HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTER NOW OPEN $87 million project owned by the UNC Charlotte Endowment Fund, operated by Sage Hospitality Group
Apr 5, 2021 -
How to Identify a Winning Vinyl Banner Design
Aug 20, 2020 -
Lifting Beams vs. Spreader Bars: Knowing the Difference
Aug 18, 2020 - More »
More by Shannon Reichley
-
So You Wanna Be On TV
May 11, 2005 -
When A Closed-Door Meeting Remains Open
May 4, 2005 -
First Tom & Dan, Now Bill
Apr 27, 2005 - More »
Calendar
-
Queen Charlotte Fair @ Route 29 Pavilion
- Through April 22, 4-11 p.m.
-
-
NEW WINDOW GALLERY-Pat Rhea-ACRYLIC PAINTINGS-April 05-30 2024 VALDESE, NC 28690 @ New Window Gallery/Play It Again Records
- Through April 30, 12 p.m.
-
TheDiscountCodes
- Mondays-Sundays. Continues through Dec. 31
-
-
Wine & Paint @ Blackfinn Ameripub- Ballantyne
- Thu., April 18, 6-9 p.m.
-
-
Face to Face Foundation Gala @ The Revelry North End
- Fri., April 19, 6-10 p.m.
-
