I decided to check out Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco’s new Versus show last night and while it’s true that T.O. and Ocho have good chemistry (in spurts) and seem to genuinely like each other, I’m not sure there’s a show here.
Here’s the format: Former “SportsCenter” anchor and “Entertainment Tonight” host Kevin Frazier is in a Versus studio while T.O. and Ocho sit side-by-side at a studio somewhere in Cincinnati. Frazier asks the guys questions and they take turns responding. Of course, there’s the typical satellite delay awkwardness and at times one guy talks over the other, but for the most part it goes pretty smoothly.
Topics ranged from the Brett Favre rumors — Owens says that if it were one of them, they’d already be presumed “guilty” by the media…boo-hoo…everybody thinks Favre is guilty, guys — to Ochocinco calling himself out for his poor play this season. The low point of the show was a segment where the duo don doctor’s jackets and discuss the love lives of Jennifer Aniston, Kim Kardashian and Lindsay Lohan. The prescription for each was to start dating T.O. (who mentioned twice that he will be in Los Angeles this week) or Ochocinco, or both. Ugh.
They also struggled reading the prompter when they had to highlights for a few of the show’s segments, but they’ll probably improve in that area as time goes on.
In the end, “The T.Ocho Show” is probably only for the duo’s fans, though there’s plenty of room for improvement.
In a relatively short interview with CNN, LeBron James and Maverick Carter were asked whether or not race played a role in the backlash after “The Decision.”
O’BRIEN (voice-over): According to industry insiders, James and Carter have done just fine, striking multi-million dollar deals with State Farm, Nike and McDonalds. But those deals were overshadowed by this summer’s decision and negative headlines which seemed to tarnish LeBron James, the athlete, and the brand.
CARTER: It’s just about control and not doing it the way it’s always been done or not looking the way that it always looks.
O’BRIEN (on camera): Do you think there’s a role that race plays in this.
JAMES: I think so at times. It’s always, you know, a race factor.
CARTER: It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure.
O’BRIEN (voice-over): LeBron James and Maverick Carter say what does bother them is that lost amid the controversy is the fact that “The Decision” TV program raised $3 million for Boys & Girls Club of America.
CARTER: We own the advertising time. We went out and sold it to brands and we took every dime and donated it to charity.
FRANK SANCHEZ, V.P., BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF AMERICA: LeBron was using a significant moment in time to benefit young people. And a lot of people can take those opportunities and make it about them. He really was — his goal was to make it about kids and make it about giving opportunities for kids.
JAMES: For me to have an opportunity to give back to the Boys & Girls Club of America, that I would never change that. And if I have to take heat to give back to kids, I would do it the same way every single time.
I included the bit about the Boys & Girls Club because it is admirable that they donated all the advertising revenue to charity, but it still doesn’t change the way that LeBron ripped the heart out of his fans in Cleveland during an hour-long, primetime special. Again, it’s not the fact that LeBron left Cleveland that non-Clevelanders have a problem with, it’s the way he did it.
To be fair, Carter said that race played a factor in “some of the stuff coming out of the media,” but “The Decision” was such a big blunder that had it been Steve Nash or Larry Bird (in his day), the backlash would have been brutal.
It’s a free country and LeBron has the right to do whatever he wants, as long as he’s willing to deal with the consequences.
All right, I don’t know how many of our readers actually get ESPN Classic, but I don’t. I’d have to pay an extra $50 a month for DirecTV’s Premier Package to get ESPN’s grumpy grandpa.
The U.S. men’s basketball team plays Lithuania in the semifinals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship on Saturday morning and the game is only going to be broadcast on ESPN Classic.
Of course, all of the main ESPN channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) are packed with college football on Saturday morning, so if nothing else, this is just poor planning by the network. They could have worked out a deal with NBATV to simulcast the game, but they didn’t.
It does appear that ESPN3.com will stream the game for those that want to watch it live. Watching the game on the computer isn’t the same as watching it in HD, but it’s something. Of course, the game says it’s “subject to blackout,” so I’m not even sure that’s an option.
Sigh. Saturday Update: Yay! ESPN2 will be broadcasting the game…13.5 hours later. You can catch a rebroadcast of the game at 1:30 ET Sunday morning on ESPN2. Way to step up, ESPN. (Sarcasm.)
Saturday Update #2: ESPN3.com is only available to those who subscribe to an ESPN-affiliated internet subscriber, and my service — Time Warner — does not fall into that category. Woo-hoo!
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh just announced in an interview with Michael Wilbon that they’ll be signing with the Miami Heat.
Here are a few random thoughts about the interview:
- Wilbon did a pretty good job of asking pointed questions (Wade-Chicago, Spoelstra-Riley, Bosh-Toronto, Bosh-Cleveland) but when Bosh sidestepped the Cleveland S&T question, he let it go.
- Wade spoke as if he didn’t have any inside info about where LeBron will play next season. He said he’ll be in front of the TV like the rest of us.
- Wade said that he’d take less money if it meant that the Heat could bring in better players. How much less is the real question.
- Wade said that he chose the Heat because Bosh wanted to play in Miami. That’s interesting, because Bosh seemed open to joining the Bulls as well. Basically, Wade put the onus of his decision NOT to play in Chicago on Bosh’s desire to play in Miami.
- Wade on Chicago: “Chicago, they had my heart. I tear up a little bit right now just thinking about the opportunity I had.” Of course, Wade has said before that his heart was in Miami, so it must own a couple of homes.
- Wade said that Erik Spoelstra is his coach, and is Bosh’s coach, but he accidentally called Pat Riley “Coach Riley.” Freudian slip, I say.
- When Wilbon asked Bosh to give LeBron one last pitch, he declined, saying that LeBron already had enough people in his ear.
We’ll get into some detail below, but here are our main gripes with ESPN’s 2010 NBA draft coverage: 1) College players are being drafted, so why are NBA analysts the ones doing most of the talking?; 2) Far too much LeBron/free agency talk (a smattering was inevitable, but it was relentless; food for thought – Does the NBA need to consider pushing up free agency or pushing back the draft?); 3) there was zero energy from the ESPN talking heads. Maybe it was just a dull, predictable draft, or perhaps the flurry of trades killed whatever flow the draft could have had. But in a word, last night was dull. Was there even one distinguishable moment?
There are two separate issues here: 1) the predictability of the draft, especially the early picks, and 2) the quality of the coverage.
The first part of the draft was a snoozer, and that pretty much made the whole night a snoozer. Chad Ford nailed the top 8 picks, and there were no trades, so there were no surprises. After the marquee names are off the board, the draft became a grind, and that’s not really ESPN’s fault.
I thought Van Gundy was funny when given the opportunity and did a decent job adding levity to a night that needed it. Like TBL goes on to say, Jay Bilas needs a foil, someone to argue picks with, so ESPN should bring in another college scout type to play McShay to his Kiper. One NBA guy (JVG) is enough. He can put the pick into perspective and discuss the free agency rumors that are bouncing around.
