Sports Media Spotlight: COVID-19 pandemic is bringing out the ‘real pros’ of broadcasting

Baseball, basketball and hockey are back (for now) and game broadcasts from the pro sports leagues share two things — an absence of fans and an increased reliance on technology.

With a small sample size, those things have seemed innovative and inspired at times, while leaving viewers wanting for familiar approaches at others.

Among the innovative and inspired are increased access with additional camera angles and microphones. They often provide perspectives that improve game broadcasts.

At the same time, things like piped in fan noise feel like a double-edged sword depending on the sport, or even the location of the competition. When done well, those sounds can provide a semblance of ambiance — a familiar soundtrack, of sorts. At other times, the sounds seem out of place and clearly contrived.

Still, those involved in broadcasting all the sports deserve credit.

Games in all pro sports leagues have been mostly TV shows for years now, with those in attendance nothing more than a studio audience. Leagues that understand that best, like the NFL, have thrived. Leagues that have not focused as much on their TV product have been left wanting.

Honestly, it’s hard to find a truly bad broadcast anymore. Too many top-notch professionals, especially behind the scenes, have improved broadcasts by copying best practices of those who do it well.

That trickle-down effect had made this a golden era of sports broadcasting — until the coronavirus pandemic hit, at least.

Now we’re finding out about the real pros.

Facing unexpected challenges, the best sports broadcasters are separating themselves with creativity and experimentation. Most important is a determination to serve fans, finding just the right mix of bells and whistles without the broadcasts themselves becoming a circus act.

While the outcomes matter this weekend, and for however long the leagues continue play this season, the broadcasts themselves remain ultimately interesting for how those involved approach the myriad related challenges.

About access

With some broadcasters and almost all other media members remotely covering pro leagues, not much differentiates them from normal fans this year.

Honestly, it’s all about access — and not many people have it.

If you’re watching the Pirates game from home and then watch the postgame manager’s interview on TV afterward, you have almost as much access to the team as its beat writers this season.

Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing for media members. Access to news conferences has offered insights on lazy and poor questions through the years, but the media members were usually at least in the same physical location as those they were covering.

Creative or well-established media members will bolster their reputations this year if they can separate themselves and provide good information despite those logistical challenges. It’ll be interesting to see who, and in which sports, does that best.

Count me among those rooting for the media members. We’re better served as fans by a proven, smart media contingent — not folks who watch games and simply churn content based on a Zoom call.

Confirming COVID

What’s been most interesting by sports media members (and all media members, really) during coverage of the pandemic has been the surprisingly all-or-nothing approach.

Amid all the discussion of bubbles, protocols and safety, there seems to be an accepted zero-tolerance threshold. It’s almost like a rule on guns in school gone awry — you know, when the third-grader accidentally brings a water pistol to school and gets suspended for the year.

In this instance, it plays out whenever there’s a positive test of someone involved with one of the leagues or teams. Breathless and concerned speculation follows, as if there were no room for error and a single test must end it all.

Now, granted, that’s largely what happened in the spring when the NBA’s first positive test became public, but to think that any of these activities can continue without a positive test seems irrational.

We’re in the midst of a global pandemic without a vaccine. If these activities continue — even with numerous precautions — players will likely test positive. Media members reporting on the topic expecting perfection will certainly be disappointed. And when they continually push that narrative, they sound out of touch.

Certainly, nobody wants to be irresponsible and enhance the spread of the virus. Still, it seems that everyone involved, from participants to those reporting about it, has to at least acknowledge some level of risk exists, and that there’s a level that can be acceptable, without shutting everything down.

Things might get shut down at some point, but that should not happen with the first handful of positive tests.

Goodbye Golic

The last morning-drive broadcast of Mike Golic’s career probably happened Friday, and his absence from ESPN Radio will not be a good thing going forward.

Golic, the former NFL defensive lineman and radio Hall of Famer for his work with Mike Greenberg for a decade and a half on “Mike & Mike,” has been shifted off radio with the cancellation of “Golic & Wingo,” the morning show that aired on ESPN nationally the past few years.

Golic played, actually overplayed, his everyman attributes. At some point his approach became a schtick. Still, what shone through was his compassion, curiosity, honesty and talent. He was good on radio.

He earned every minute of his airtime on national sports-talk radio.

Unfortunately, ESPN has decided to shake up its lineup, leaving Golic waiting for an eventual move to a position as a college football analyst. More importantly, it leaves the network’s national radio lineup with many question marks.

Starting Aug. 17 , the daily lineup begins at 6 a.m. with Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Zubin Mehenti. An abbreviated Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz follows from 10 a.m. to noon, and then Greenberg comes back to radio with his own show from noon to 2 p.m. The rest of the daytime includes Max Kellerman and a combo show with Chiney Ogwumike and Mike Golic Jr.

They’ve all earned their shot. Or at least ESPN execs think so.

For me, the elder Golic’s departure is a huge loss. His charming, common sense approach. His unabated Notre Dame fandom because he played there. His willingness to be the brunt of jokes and even feature his family.

All of it made him relatable — and in radio relatable matters.

As a result of his departure, ESPN Radio matters a little less to me moving forward.

Tackling trust

All that fake noise on broadcasts? Virtual ads, which have been a thing for years? And virtual fans?

It’s really not about what’s good for a broadcast. It’s more about knowing what can be trusted.

It used to be you could trust your eyes. Now, though, with made up or virtual things on the screen or field or broadcast, it’s just hard to know what’s true. Or what or who to trust. That’s a shame.

Tuner tidbits

• That change several weeks ago at WRSC, with the station jettisoning morning co-hosts Jeff Byers and Gary Sinderson, continues to impact the community in a bad way. The station has salvaged a single hour a day with a local host, but if you were going to keep one host, why not keep one of those two? And last week the existing host embraced a caller’s not-incorrect narrative that the changing media landscape had simply come home to roost locally. That’s partially true, but if a broadcast entity were committed to having a local presence, you’d think it would make an effort to promote and sell a local show. That never seemed to be the case for the morning show and in a market with so little to offer in terms of local news and sports talk, three hours a day remains a huge loss.

• There’s only one good thing about the “Monday Night Football” broadcast team that ESPN recently announced and that’s analyst Louis Riddick. He’s connected and smart. He offers opinions he believes rather than talking just to prompt a reaction. He deserves a big-time spot. That said, play-by-play man Steve Levy and fellow analyst Brian Griese are just OK at best. Pros, no doubt, but hardly worthy of the show’s pantheon.

• Veteran sports broadcaster Bob Costas, who has been critical of the NFL in recent years and has proven himself on every sport throughout his career, has joined CNN as a contributor. He’ll serve as a commentator on sports-related issues and the intersection of sports and society. He remains with MLB Network for play-by-play duties.

• NBC Sports is using a five-second delay on its NHL broadcasts to help limit “colorful language” from players making it onto broadcasts.

• The absence of the Summer Olympics from Tokyo will enable NBC to televise more NHL games in the next couple of weeks.

• NFL insider Josina Anderson recently left ESPN.

This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Sports Media Spotlight: COVID-19 pandemic is bringing out the ‘real pros’ of broadcasting."