Jim Nantz - TVNewser

‘CBS This Morning’ Snags Surprise Jack Nicklaus Interview

Alex Weprin — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:55:19 +0000

In the high-stakes world of TV news, sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time. CBS Sportscaster Jim Nantz was in Augusta, Georgia covering the Masters golf tournament (CBS has the exclusive TV rights) when he saw golf legend Jack Nicklaus walking by. He did what any good journalist would do right before he was scheduled for a live-shot: he asked Nicklaus to join him.

WATCH:

Also, on “CTM,” correspondent John Miller and the co-anchors were joined by John Walsh, the host of “America’s Most Wanted,” which was recently canceled by Lifetime. Walsh explained the success of the show in catching criminals, and made an argument for it to be resurrected in some form:
continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Luther Campbell Says Sports Media is Basically All Racist

Cam Martin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:39:54 +0000

In his column in the Miami New Times, Luther Campbell, the former leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew and former Miami-Dade mayoral candidate, lambasted the sports media for having the audacity to say that Cam Newton struggled in his first NFL preseason game (even though he did). Campbell said the big reason why black athletes like Newton, Tiger Woods and LeBron James get heavily criticized, while Eli Manning, John Daly and Brett Favre supposedly get free passes, is because “sports news outlets are dominated by white faces.”

Campbell’s column is short enough that we could have pasted it here in full. But this outtake below is a good indication of his general tone and attitude: continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

NBC To Air WrestleMania: The World Premiere

Marcus Vanderberg — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:53:40 +0000

For the third straight year, NBC will air an hour-long WrestleMania special.

WrestleMania: The World Premiere airs Saturday, Aug. 13 at 9 p.m. ET, and feature highlights from WrestleMania XXVII this past April.

The highly anticipated pay-per-view event in front of 71,617 fans at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta marked the WrestleMania return of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and featured a main event between John Cena and The Miz for the WWE Championship.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

MLB Marks 48 Balls for Jeter's Potential Milestone

Cam Martin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:54:28 +0000

Four dozen Rawlings baseballs have been rubbed with dirt and numbered sequentially, ready to enter the game when Derek Jeter comes to the plate resting on 2999 hits. The balls, one of which will be hit for the milestone 3000th of the Yankee captain’s career, also carry a hidden marking to establish authenticity. Inexplicably the balls have not been sprayed with Driven, Jeter’s perfume.

Once Derek Jeter reaches 2,999 career hits, the marked ball will be deployed during his at-bats, one at a time, and each ball’s outcome is tracked by an Authentication staffer. The home-plate umpire and a bat boy will have the process down pat for each game. Start with four or six balls — usually four, but depending on the ump — and then go through them meticulously until Jeter strokes his 3,000th hit.

How do you decide on four dozen balls?

“It’s as needed,” said Howie Shelton, program manager for MLB Authentication, and the person who actually marked the balls. “If he takes a while, he gets maybe 12 balls into it, we’d have to mark up some more. Derek’s a contact hitter. He could foul off five, six or seven pitches, and we have to be ready.”

After 2,999, any balls are removed from play under normal circumstances — tossed out after a pitch in the dirt, or perhaps Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira comes off the field after a 4-3 putout and flips the ball into the crowd behind the Yankees’ dugout. In that case, let’s say it’s ball No. 20 after hit 2,999. The MLB Authenticator simply marks: “20 — Teixeira throws into crowd.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

MLB Ratings Up on ESPN

Cam Martin — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:56:24 +0000

Viewership of Major League Baseball games on ESPN is up seven percent through the first 22 games of the season, and up more 23 percent in the male 18-34 demographic. Meanwhile ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball is averaging 2,886,000 viewers through seven telecasts, an increase of 15 percent compared to the same span last season, according to Nielsen. Sunday Night Baseball has also experienced significant increases across all core male demos, up 32 percent among men 18-34, 24 percent among men 18-49 and 17 percent among men 25-54.

(Source: ESPN Mediazone)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

NFL Wife Writes Touching Article For The Nation

Marcus Vanderberg — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:41:22 +0000

Jaclyn Fujita, the wife of Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, wrote a touching article for The Nation on the realities of being the wife of a pro football player.

Come to find out, it’s not as glamorous as one might think.

“My husband could have lost his life to a staph infection. His NFL doctors and trainers were heating/icing/stemming his knee for a bursa-sac rupture and ignoring all the major signs of infection, while his body was screaming that something else must be wrong. He ended up in an emergency operation weeks after symptoms began. Following five nights in hospital isolation and many weeks beating back the infection, he was ready to play for the city we love and a team we built our life around. He would help them win the coveted Super Bowl Championship. Less than a month later he would be gone, feeling completely expendable and replaceable as if his blood, sweat and tears did not matter. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

ESPN Is So Powerful it Can Turn Back Time

Noah Davis — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:25:23 +0000

On March 4, ESPN posted a press release announcing events that happened on March 3. That’s power, folks.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Chargers Attempt To Address The Blackout Issue

Marcus Vanderberg — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:15:47 +0000

In what could be a sign of things to come, the San Diego Chargers will drop ticket prices on 6,500 seats in 2011.

The Chargers had three blackouts during the 2010 season including their home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Dropping in price are the View Level endzone tickets, which cost $63 last season. Starting in 2011, they will be $54 and make up nearly 10 percent of Qualcomm Stadium’s seating. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The NBA Cares. Just Not About its Employees.

Noah Davis — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 10:11:09 +0000

Peter Vecsey offers up a heartbreaking column detailing the trials of former Detroit Pistons vice president of publicity Matt Dobek, former Boston Celtics assistant coach Clifford Ray, and former all star Connie Hawkins.

All three received unfair treatment from front offices hoping to save a few bucks. Dobek’s case was the most severe; he took his own life.

On Aug. 21, Matt Dobek, a strict Catholic and devout family man with a legion of faithful friends, hung himself in his family garage. It was a day before his mother’s birthday. He was deeply depressed at no longer being the Pistons’ vice president of publicity. In May, Pistons’ officials had abruptly fired him – fraudulently accusing him of leaking another employees’ pending firing – as well as three other staff members who had pledged allegiance to the franchise for a combined century-plus. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

ESPN The Magazine Selects Buster Posey As Their "NEXT" Athlete

Marcus Vanderberg — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:15:17 +0000

ESPN The Magazine has dubbed San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey as their “NEXT” athlete for 2011.

The National League Rookie of the Year hit .305 with 18 home runs in only 108 games.

Joining Posey in their respective sports are Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, Evander Kane of the Atlanta Thrashers and Patrick Peterson of LSU.

For the most part, ESPN The Magazine has got it right in selecting the next breakout athlete.

Well, minus 2004.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The NBA's Big Year

Noah Davis — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:23:58 +0000

The NFL isn’t the only sport having a wonderful season in terms of television ratings. NBA broadcasts on TNT are are through the roof as well.

Sports Media Watch (via Turner Sports) reports, “Through 18 telecasts, TNT is averaging a 1.6 U.S. rating and 2.589 million viewers for NBA coverage, up 33 percent in ratings and 43 percent in viewership from last year (1.2, 1.813 mil), and up 60 percent and 71 percent, respectively, from 2008-09 (1.0, 1.518 mil).

The Miami Heat-Boston Celtics match on opening night and the Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers game were the two most-watched regular season telecasts since 1996. LeBron James is the new Michael Jordan, at least when it comes to television ratings. (And Charles Barkley is the new Charles Barkley.)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Michelle Beadle Is Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Marcus Vanderberg — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:31:26 +0000

ESPN’s Michelle Beadle is learning the hard way that Michael Vick has a loyal fanbase.

The SportsNation co-host has been vocal on Twitter regarding the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback comments about wanting another dog.

“Vick wants a dog,” Beadle tweeted on Thursday. “He should NEVER be allowed that gift again.Talking about it on show today. Be ready, mouthbreathers!”

Beadle followed it up with, “And because now I’m REALLY fired up..remember what he did the last time he had a dog. TDs don’t get u a pass.” Along with her tweet was a photo of one of the dogs Vick abused. Beadle stood by her stance on Thursday’s episode of SportsNation. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It's ESPN's World. We're All Just Living in it.

Noah Davis — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:34:06 +0000

In what’s otherwise another ranty, raving column, Phil Mushnick makes a nice catch:

Can’t make this stuff up, continued: ESPN’s website last week, in a lead paragraph, gave ESPN full credit for breaking the story that the Yankees have extended Cliff Lee an extra seventh year on their offer. In the third paragraph, this appeared: “SI.com first reported that the Yankees added a seventh year to their offer.”

In a sense, at least the Worldwide Leader bothered to give another outlet credit instead of just stealing it outright. Given the focus on the story – and the importance of SI.com – they probably couldn’t get away with snagging the credit for themselves. On the other hand, ESPN seems to get worse and worse as they gain more power. Maybe that book will change something?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Les Moonves Holds Court at CBS Holiday Bash

Chris Ariens — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:27:05 +0000

CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves — sans wife Julie Chen who is fully ensconced in L.A. for her ensemble daytime show, “The Talk” — celebrated with his CBS minions, and the press who cover them, at CBS’ Black Rock headquarters last night.

CBS' annual airing of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" drew 12.2 million viewers Nov. 30.

Several stars of CBS primetime shows were there, including Tom Selleck who stars in “Blue Bloods,” and Christine Baranski and Matt Czuchry of “The Good Wife.” And while Moonves can tout having the most-watched TV network, the stars of his struggling news division also worked the room — including the new front four of “The Early Show:” Erica Hill, Chris Wragge, Jeff Glor and Marysol Castro. The team will be hitting the road next week, making stops at several CBS affiliates where the #3-in-the-ratings show performs relatively well. (Our sister blog TVSpy reports Wragge’s last day on WCBS is today.)

We talked with show EP David Friedman and CBS News & Sports President Sean McManus who both expressed their confidence in the team. “It’ll take some time,” said McManus, “but this is a good group. I’m excited.”

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well That About Says it All

Noah Davis — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:49:35 +0000

In all seriousness, this should be fun. Goo luck, Bill.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.