For the past several weeks, ESPN has been holding a “contest” to find the greatest sports highlight of all time.  It concluded last night with Mike Eruzione’s “Miracle on Ice” goal winning the prize.  The problem, in my opinion, is that it shouldn’t have been in the running in the first place.

My problem is in the definition of a highlight, or more specifically, a sports highlight.  Typically, each game or sporting event will have one or two moments that define the game.  In this year’s Super Bowl, that moment was clearly the play where Eli Manning escaped a sack and threw the ball to David Tyree, who somehow managed to catch the ball with his helmet.  What makes that play a great highlight is that if you take that play out of the Super Bowl, and put it into any game, even a pre-season game, it’s still a great play and a great highlight.  A great highlight should be able to stand on it’s own without the urgency or need of the back story of the game it occurs in.

Eruzione’s goal was a nice play, but had it happened in any other game, it would be have been forgotten as just another goal.  Take away the socio-political plot lines of a USA vs. Soviet hockey game, and that goal is just a goal.

Continue reading . . . 

When interviewing an ass, would you kindly make sure there isn’t another one in the frame?  Thanks.

I love ESPN, especially SportsCenter, and I love most of the commercials in the “This Is SportsCenter” campaign.  They are often funny, irreverent, and do a good job of incorporating, and poking fun at, sports stars.

One of my favorites from the last few years is The Manning Family Tour in which the entire Manning family (mother, father, three brothers) are given a tour of, what is probably, a small section of ESPN’s production offices.  During the tour, Peyton and Eli, each wearing their respective team’s t-shirts, are “getting on each other’s nerves” by flicking ears, giving wet willies, and even a behind the back kick.  While your focus is on the brothers and their antics, the tour guide talks about the various areas.  The best part of the commercial is when Archie Manning looks back at the brothers and Peyton points to Eli like it’s all his fault.  You can see the commercial on YouTube.

So, for the public’s benefit, I present the transcript of the tour.  I love how the hallway plays a prominent roll.

Anyway, that’s the control room.  Lotta chaos there, but it all looks good when it comes out on the show, actually thanks to those people.  Then over here in the digital center is our highlight screening area.  So that’s where we get all the games that are played that night down into ninety-second or two-minute clips or whatever you see on SportsCenter.  This hallway, it runs between, you know, between both rooms, you know.  If you want to get from the control room to the screening, then this is the hallway you take.  Questions or anything?  I can answer whatever you want about the place.  No?  Nothing?