coolhandgopher
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In advance, I apologize for a rant that might only affect me, but please indulge me. So, last year I discovered the ESPN U's college basketball podcast that became quite a nice little companion for workouts. It was an hour of talk about college basketball that was divvied up among the ESPN college basketball analysts and part of my affinity for the show may have been because the first few episodes I listened to involved the team of Dana O'Neil and Eammon Brennan, who are not ESPN's "A-team" but certainly can and did talk college hoops.
I was eager to pick up the podcasts again this year, since I live in a place where college bb analysis and talk is restricted to what I can pick up through stories on the internet. My first episode of the year, which I've listened to 40 of the 60 minutes thus far, was post-UConn/Michigan St. and Kentucky/Maryland. The podcast duo was Andy Katz/Seth Greenberg. I'll do my best to encapsulate these forty minutes:
First 12 minutes of the show: After the intros and light banter, Katz goes on to describe how he played pick-up basketball with President Obama on election day, along with others such as Scottie Pippen, Randy Brown, Arnie Duncan, Reggie Love. Towards the end of the game, Katz hit two three-pointers, choosing to shoot rather than pass to Pippen, which put the game out of reach for his and Obama's team. Greenberg playfully chides Katz for looking off Pippen and tells Katz he would have pulled him and put him on the bench if he had been the coach. This description and banter takes up nearly a quarter of the show.
Next 20 minutes: Josh Pastner, head coach of Memphis, is the special guest. Memphis hasn't played anyone by the time the show was telecast so there's no game to talk about, analyze, just games to talk about in the future. He mentions several times how Andy knows him well and they are friends. At the twenty minute mark of the show, they talk about how Joe Jackson is the key to Memphis' season. This is the first mention of an actual college basketball player on the show. Much of the conversation talks about Memphis' move next season to the Big East conference. The Obama pick-up game is rehashed and Pastner also mentions how he'd have sat down Katz if he looked off Pippen.
Next 8 minutes or so: Katz and Greenberg talk about the aircraft carrier games and offers minimal criticism of the fact that two of the games were canceled and one delayed. He was in Germany for the Michigan St and UConn game. Talks about how Izzo's a class act and how Kevin Ollie really did a great job preparing the Huskies. Talks about how these games are so special and how ESPN has committed to these games for the next few years and how important these games are. Suggests that contingency plans need to be put in place, such as playing the games during the day rather than night (I wonder what entity was behind scheduling the games at night?) Greenberg talks about how having worked with ESPN now for two months, he can see how everything is done first class with ESPN. Surprisingly, why Katz sings the praises of how much it meant to the enlisted to watch the UConn/Sparty game, no mention of those armed forces who missed out on Ohio State/Marquette or Florida/Georgetown and how disappointing that probably was.
Next 20 minutes: I'm a masochist; I'll see in a few minutes how they finish the show.
My commentary:
1. I understand banter/small talk to start any show off. However, I wasn't interested in listening to Katz's analysis of the pick-up game for a quarter of the show. I get it-playing hoops with the President is rare and unique and something that doesn't happen often. But nearly 15 minutes, much of it spent with Greenberg interrupting and talking over Katz?
2. This show is for college hoops junkies. Early season college basketball offers several interesting storylines and games to offer commentary upon (as Hodger did in his recent column about the first week of the season). I've listened to 40 minutes so far by purported experts of the game and have heard minimal analysis of two high profile games (they started talking just a bit about Kentucky-Maryland before I paused the podcast). Incredibly frustrating.
3. I'm an admirer of Coach Izzo, but it doesn't seem long before we'll see him identified on screen not as "Coach Tom Izzo" but rather "Coach Izzo, class act" (or perhaps "Saint Izzo, put on earth to lift up the masses"). The deification of Izzo is getting too close to Coach K-Dickie V. status for my liking.
4. 18 minutes before a player is mentioned. Yes, college basketball is a coach's game, but 18 minutes on a show designed for college bb junkies? Utterly ridiculous.
5. Katz and Greenberg's glossing over of the poor planning of the aircraft carrier games was unsurprisingly, sadly predicatable. Greenberg performing fellatio on the mighty ESPN empire was the sick cherry on top.
6. Am I the only curmudgeon left who bristles when I hear conversations between coaches (Pastner) and reporters (Katz) that are so chummy you feel as if they are going to backpack through Europe together? There's not even a wink towards journalistic ethos/boundaries amongst the ESPN folks anymore, unless a scandal breaks so big that they then all converge like a pack of starving wolves.
7. Why is it that ESPN tries pushing the personalities of their on-air "talent" so heavily rather than focus on sports? Is this really what draws ratings, folks to the TV screen, radio dial, podcasts? I generally have liked Andy Katz and upon initial listen, I thought, 'that's pretty cool, Katz was playing hoops with the President'. It's a worthy story to tell-but to shove it down our throats and go on and on with it? Overkill is not in the ESPN dictionary.
8. Dukie V blows. He had nothing to do with this show and Duke wasn't mentioned once, but since I'm making an anti-ESPN rant about college basketball, I thought I'd get it in before Thursday's game
.
I was eager to pick up the podcasts again this year, since I live in a place where college bb analysis and talk is restricted to what I can pick up through stories on the internet. My first episode of the year, which I've listened to 40 of the 60 minutes thus far, was post-UConn/Michigan St. and Kentucky/Maryland. The podcast duo was Andy Katz/Seth Greenberg. I'll do my best to encapsulate these forty minutes:
First 12 minutes of the show: After the intros and light banter, Katz goes on to describe how he played pick-up basketball with President Obama on election day, along with others such as Scottie Pippen, Randy Brown, Arnie Duncan, Reggie Love. Towards the end of the game, Katz hit two three-pointers, choosing to shoot rather than pass to Pippen, which put the game out of reach for his and Obama's team. Greenberg playfully chides Katz for looking off Pippen and tells Katz he would have pulled him and put him on the bench if he had been the coach. This description and banter takes up nearly a quarter of the show.
Next 20 minutes: Josh Pastner, head coach of Memphis, is the special guest. Memphis hasn't played anyone by the time the show was telecast so there's no game to talk about, analyze, just games to talk about in the future. He mentions several times how Andy knows him well and they are friends. At the twenty minute mark of the show, they talk about how Joe Jackson is the key to Memphis' season. This is the first mention of an actual college basketball player on the show. Much of the conversation talks about Memphis' move next season to the Big East conference. The Obama pick-up game is rehashed and Pastner also mentions how he'd have sat down Katz if he looked off Pippen.
Next 8 minutes or so: Katz and Greenberg talk about the aircraft carrier games and offers minimal criticism of the fact that two of the games were canceled and one delayed. He was in Germany for the Michigan St and UConn game. Talks about how Izzo's a class act and how Kevin Ollie really did a great job preparing the Huskies. Talks about how these games are so special and how ESPN has committed to these games for the next few years and how important these games are. Suggests that contingency plans need to be put in place, such as playing the games during the day rather than night (I wonder what entity was behind scheduling the games at night?) Greenberg talks about how having worked with ESPN now for two months, he can see how everything is done first class with ESPN. Surprisingly, why Katz sings the praises of how much it meant to the enlisted to watch the UConn/Sparty game, no mention of those armed forces who missed out on Ohio State/Marquette or Florida/Georgetown and how disappointing that probably was.
Next 20 minutes: I'm a masochist; I'll see in a few minutes how they finish the show.
My commentary:
1. I understand banter/small talk to start any show off. However, I wasn't interested in listening to Katz's analysis of the pick-up game for a quarter of the show. I get it-playing hoops with the President is rare and unique and something that doesn't happen often. But nearly 15 minutes, much of it spent with Greenberg interrupting and talking over Katz?
2. This show is for college hoops junkies. Early season college basketball offers several interesting storylines and games to offer commentary upon (as Hodger did in his recent column about the first week of the season). I've listened to 40 minutes so far by purported experts of the game and have heard minimal analysis of two high profile games (they started talking just a bit about Kentucky-Maryland before I paused the podcast). Incredibly frustrating.
3. I'm an admirer of Coach Izzo, but it doesn't seem long before we'll see him identified on screen not as "Coach Tom Izzo" but rather "Coach Izzo, class act" (or perhaps "Saint Izzo, put on earth to lift up the masses"). The deification of Izzo is getting too close to Coach K-Dickie V. status for my liking.
4. 18 minutes before a player is mentioned. Yes, college basketball is a coach's game, but 18 minutes on a show designed for college bb junkies? Utterly ridiculous.
5. Katz and Greenberg's glossing over of the poor planning of the aircraft carrier games was unsurprisingly, sadly predicatable. Greenberg performing fellatio on the mighty ESPN empire was the sick cherry on top.
6. Am I the only curmudgeon left who bristles when I hear conversations between coaches (Pastner) and reporters (Katz) that are so chummy you feel as if they are going to backpack through Europe together? There's not even a wink towards journalistic ethos/boundaries amongst the ESPN folks anymore, unless a scandal breaks so big that they then all converge like a pack of starving wolves.
7. Why is it that ESPN tries pushing the personalities of their on-air "talent" so heavily rather than focus on sports? Is this really what draws ratings, folks to the TV screen, radio dial, podcasts? I generally have liked Andy Katz and upon initial listen, I thought, 'that's pretty cool, Katz was playing hoops with the President'. It's a worthy story to tell-but to shove it down our throats and go on and on with it? Overkill is not in the ESPN dictionary.
8. Dukie V blows. He had nothing to do with this show and Duke wasn't mentioned once, but since I'm making an anti-ESPN rant about college basketball, I thought I'd get it in before Thursday's game
.