This week the ESPN on ABC crew continues their coverage of the NEXTEL Cup Series with a live telecast from the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The afternoon begins at 1PM Eastern Time with Brent Musburger and Suzy Kolber hosting a one hour edition of NASCAR Countdown. Alongside Kolber in the Infield Studio for this show will be Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace.
Race coverage starts at 2PM and is scheduled until 6PM on the ABC stations nationwide.
The ESPN on ABC broadcast team will be Dr. Jerry Punch, Rusty Wallace, and Andy Petree in the announce booth. On pit road will be Allen Bestwick, Mike Massaro, Jamie Little and Dave Burns. Tim Brewer will be in the Tech Center.
This page will host your comments about the telecast on ABC. Please restrict your comments to TV-related issues, and read the rules on the right hand side of the main page before posting. To add your comment, simply click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the instructions. There is nothing to join, and you do not have to leave your email address.
Thank you once again for taking the time to stop-by The Daly Planet and leave your opinion of the NASCAR TV partners.
196 comments:
Noticed that Jayski has stopped listing NASCAR Now in the TV listings on the side of the Cup main page, or the Racing TV listings page.
NN wasn't listed there Friday, so I wasn't sure it was coming on. but it was on at the regular time.
NN just came on and it's not on Jayski's TV schedule for today, Sunday or tomorrow, Monday. Perhaps it was just a glitch in the list sent to him this week.
Well I didn't stay up until 12:30 AM to finally watch Happy Hour so I DVR'ed it and just started watching it now.
Can you explain to me how the hell you can have a tape-delayed 60 minute broadcast for a practice session that only last 45 minutes, and when you start recording the cars are already on the racetrack in the background and have been practicing for God knows how long already??????????
Someone at ESPN needs to get a clue as to how to cover NASCAR. You have 15 minutes of built-in down time and you still can't manage show the entire practice session on TV, you've gotta be kidding me!
They don't cover Happy Hour live so they can start recording any time they please. Start recording 5 minutes before the session starts and stop recording 10 minutes after the end of the session. 5 minutes + 45 minutes + 10 minutes = 60 minute broadcast... it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! Even if there's an incident and a long cleanup, guess what, you can stop recording and ignore all the downtime and still stay on schedule to finish recording 10 minutes after the end of the session.
Plus, the crawl says Happy Hour will be interrupted by Basball Tonight when the baseball game ends?????? It's a good thing I recorded 90 minutes extra, just on the hunch that ESPN could find a way to further prolong Happy Hour any later into the evening. This is ridiculous!
I'm sorry for posting my Happy Hour comments here but I didn't see a seperate place for "Happy Hour on ESPN2 coverage comments".
after Race Day on speed is over we now turn the tv off and listen to the race on mrn.-prn.we don't get upset anymore. Thanks John
There is a very excellent article posted today on Insider Racing News about many of the topics that have been covered this year. The article is "Sirius Satellite Radio Takes Lead in Sports Broadcasting" by Kim Roberson. You can find it by the links tap on the right side of the main page here or by going to Jayski and hitting the news articles link. (also, Sophiaz123, it gives you a lot of detail about Sirius's content!)
Tom in Dayton.
ESPN Rocks!
Yep, no point in listening to ESPN's guys when you can just listen to good broadcasters on MRN or PRN.
I don't understand people (or trolls) who come to this site to stir the pot or rile people up. Most Nascar fans who are critical of any broadcast (be it ESPN/ABC now, NBC or Fox in the past, or SPEED's current coverage) are after the same thing...better or high-quality coverage.
We should be able to turn on the TV on race day, watch the race, find out what happens throughout the race, see who wins at the end, get a few post-race stories and wrap-ups, and then move on to the rest of our day.
When that doesn't happen and we are forced to the radio, Internet coverage, or just ignoring the race altogether as some will end up doing, we then feel we have the need to vent and possibly have our comments heard.
This isn't just a Nascar issue; many sports fans have to deal with overdone and overhyped coverage with most of the major sports - just check a site like Awful Announcing or sometimes Deadspin to see how critical fans can be of Fox, TNT, or ESPN's baseball coverage...same thing with pre-game shows for the NFL and on and on.
We all want the same thing...quality coverage. When it doesn't happen, we use The Daly Planet to vent.
Well said, illpolo.
I give ESPN a thumbs up for that Alan Kulwicki feature. Well done.
Nice piece on Kulwicki
That was a great and moving clip of Alan.. such an inspiration.
OMG!!!
The Rusty Reaction to the Kulwicki piece! He can barely speak! Looks like espn never showed it to him before air
How embarrassing!!!!
How is that embarrassing? It just shows how emotional the 1993 season was. I thought his reaction just added to the moving piece.
If anything was embarrassing, it was that commercial, haha.
-Matt
Stricklanfan
I went BALLISTIC during the hh interruption. I think it's in the end of the 400 column post about the Busch race.
CRIPES, ESPN is a bunch of uncouth slobs. FIRST they interrupted MID SENTENCE during the prayer yesterday, then mid SENTENCE for HH.
Oh, I can't see the crawl that well in room on tv..half buried and I TRY to ignore it anyway. BLOOD ANNOYING.
Still, no excuse to CONSTANTLY do sloppy coverage
The Kolber interview on pitroad is a ridiculous segment. Please send her back to football......
John S did a great job on the anthem. Always thought he had a great voice.
That is the best story,Kulwicki, that I have seen in years. I remember watching the footage of the hauler leaving, it gave me goose bumps today.
As usual the coverage on ABC is breaking up and the words are choppy. And yes, I checked all of my other TV channels.
I have two channels that are ABC and one is so bad that I can't see anything. The other is slightly better. Didn't have problems until ESPN took over the last leg on televising the races. And I can't stand the woman that is one of the announcers. Come on Rusty buck boy I don't want to see a weeping ex-driver!
I have no problem with ABC reception. do you use cable satellite or an antenna?
sorry I missed the Kulwicki piece piece and sorry Rusty must have got emotional.
Doesn't make him less of a man. geez
That Kasey commercial with the woman is CREEPY!!
Anonymous said...
"Come on Rusty buck boy I don't want to see a weeping ex-driver!"
Go back in your cave and continue beating your kids or cats..F-uk You
Wow! Did I hear this question right I for Greg Zipadelli...why did you decide to pit in the back of pit road? Uhhh....well we qualified 30th so we didn't have much of a choice.
Was that Jaime Little?
I liked that shot with Dave burns...he was talking to one camera on pit road, then turned around and faced another camera on top of the press box that provided a wider view of pit road.
Is it just me or do Punch and the broadcast crew seem to be hoping for a problem to Gordon/Johnson/Bowyer when they talk about the race...anytime I hear them mention this group of drivers I hear someone liek Punch say something like "Are they do for a problem?" or something along those lines.
Can't they just call the race?
Illpolo it's not just you my first thought was what is he wishing for them to have bad luck. I guess that's going to be this weeks theme oh brother here we go again or maybe it was just a comment and the trend will stop
coverage seems solid for the first few laps.
Coverage was okay...with the mute button on. Other than the 3 laps of Dale Jr coverage throughout the first 7 laps, at least they were able to show a good portion of the track for the first segment of racing.
The announce team was muted after the green flag and they have made the PRN guys sound excellent so far.
Ahhh...only one caution so far and I found about it first from PRN, then from Fox Trax, and finally....2 minutes later...from ESPN (the one showing the race).
Illpolo said...
Is it just me or do Punch and the broadcast crew seem to be hoping for a problem to Gordon/Johnson/Bowyer when they talk about the race...anytime I hear them mention this group of drivers I hear someone liek Punch say something like "Are they do for a problem?" or something along those lines.
Can't they just call the race?
October 28, 2007 2:17 PM
It's because they would rather "excitement" or "drama" then see guys have solid performances week in and week out. It's sad.
well they were in a local break....so I dont think you can blame them for that one.....and we get to see the restart.
Who hit the commitment cone and had to go to the back of the pack? Jr??? They were talking about it on the #20 channel, but I missed who it was.
First caution, cars already leaving the pits, ABC/ESPN continues running the scheduled commercials. After a brief look at Motoya's cut tire, back to more commercials. At least they returned just as the green flag was flying.
No matter who is in the booth, they cannot overcome the poor decisions made by the production staff. Those people simply do not understand the dynamics of NASCAR.
Anonymous said...
Who hit the commitment cone and had to go to the back of the pack? Jr??? They were talking about it on the #20 channel, but I missed who it was.
October 28, 2007 2:45 PM
it was the 8 car. during the last caution ESPN replayed the incident.
well I came here to comment on ALL THE COMMERCIALS already...and Blaney's car died....
THey did catch the last restart but it was a high google earth shot and the cars looked like gnats.
WHY DO THEY KEEP interviewing OVER THE GREEN RACE...make the darn drivers pic SMALLER than the cars. Geez
STOP IT! I love JR but for weeks we had the media sticking to Jr like barnacles...now its going to be the Jimmie and Jeffie story...sigh
Ughhh...do they need to have interviews about Gordon and Johnson's friendship/rivalry during GREEN FLAG RACING?!?!?! WHY?!?!?!?
They need to concern themselves with showing what is going on when it happens...this whole race is basically replays of what we missed when it actually did happen.
video clips during green flag runs not to mention we've seen them before somebody has got to be passing someone how about they show racing other than the Jeff/Jimmie show and I like Jeff and Jimmie
Well, we've had "full sail", "full song", "set sail" and Punch is using terms that have me baffled as to what he's trying to say.
It's time to engage the mute button.
Great camera work catching that wreck live.
This camera work is driving me nuts. Someone needs to tell the producer that long periods of time where you only have one car on the screen and nobody else on the camera is NOT GOOD RACE COVERAGE. Pan out so we can see the interval to the cars around them, or maybe, you know, switch to a camera on somewhere where there's actual racing.
Ditti Skip, now have a red flag where those vidoi clips could have been appropriately used. Maybe we'll get a reset of the field??? LOL
First-time poster.
I didn't see the Kulwicki piece, but I do know that Rusty's and Alan's careers paralleled each other, as they both started out running in ASA back in the 80s. So that might have been part of his emotions too.
why not show the part were the 83 got into the 38 to cause the wreck. ESPNS only concern is the "Cool Wreck" show the rest please!!
Who has gotten the Lucky dogs today? So many cautions where are the dogs?
Per Jayski:
Who got a lap back on each caution? the Lucky Dog: (and their finish)
Caution 3: #7-Gordon
Caution 4: #10-Riggs
Caution 2: #55-Waltrip
Caution 1: #66-Mayfield
Joey Lagano interview was nice. Still waiting for the field reset. Petrie did mention that 38 problem was red bull car related but couldn't see number there should have been follow up on who AJ or BV.
The Kulwicki piece was excellent and I thought Rusty's response to the hauler leaving the track was genuine and touching.
The coverage on the Busch race last night was so much better than this. They reset the field after each of those many yellows and announced the lucky dog frequently. Even Rusty was better with the help of the different crew.
Sam - from Jayski
Caution 4: #10-Riggs
Caution 3: #7-Gordon
Caution 2: #55-Waltrip
Caution 1: #66-Mayfield
Mark Martin lmfao! "What kind of question was that!?"
Gotta love Mark Martin "what kind of question was that"
Good interview with Mark and I liked his comment to Massaro!!! Good for you Mark!
Mark Martin just answered a question by saying: "I don't know. What kind of question is that?"
what a waste of talking heads..suzy and Brad.
She is talking over the restart.
ESPN PRODUCERS are the WORSt.
YEs, the focus on ONE car too much, or are too far away..OR switch cams too OFTEN on the wider good shots...often they change cams when WE AT HOME can see something getting ready to happen..
They just asked Mark a dumb question and Mark even said WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT (how much of your body absorbed that crash????)
ESPN TRULY is not listening to the criticisms.
Can they get some INTELLIGENT FOLKS ON PIT ROAD. Jamie little is cringeworthy and now the guy that asked Mark Martin that dumb question. SHEESH
Do the broadcasters know that the 20 just lost 5 spots? follow up please
Most drivers would have gave credit to the safer walls or hans device to answer the questions, Not grumpy old Mark..
INDEED! Good for Mark...I tell you after reading abou the embarrassing question jamie asked ZIppy about pit road, I feel like I need to watch this race with a paper bag over my head.. I am embarrased for the drivers and the sport.
;-)
mike massaro has been in nascar for years. he was the one who asked that question. you can't insult his nascar intelligence just because of that.
did anyone see that technical difficulty? the picture went to black, then it came back, but the audio was different. It sounded like they put PRN audio on ABC for a few seconds, then it went back to Dr. punch in the both a few seconds later.
Massaro should've WORDED that question differently, perhaps..that's all.
If he has been in NASCAR, he should know about SAFER barriers but also head on hard hits...he might have asked "Even with all the modern safety equipment, that had to hurt" or something..rather than appearing to ask for percentages of body on impact. Um, my guess would be the entire body and he will know even more tomorrow morning when the muscle aches settle in.
P.S. Yes, I noticed that technical glitch and EARLIER in the race my TV went black a couple seconds on ESPN.
No doubt blaming this on sunspots. Ha
I thought we were getting a thru the field but they even skipped over junior it's just the chasers, do they ever listen
FYI:FoxTrax on Fox sports has a readable live leaderboard and a lap-by-lap summary providing the actual race coverage we're looking for.
Makiki
I think the booth has done a better job at watching the track more than the monitor. they have seen more accidents now before the cameras. that's the reason they are on top of the stands in the first place.
I have foxtrax up but shouldn't have to use it when watching a race would be nice to know what the drivers/crews are saying which foxtrx doesn't have. The pit road reporters should be listening to the scanners
you could tell yesterday at the busch race they were watching the race maybe Rusty learned something
one thing I think ESPN should do more of is mentioning the lucky dog. But maybe they are not doing that because they feel they would need to explain it to new fans every time they do. as we all know they try to help the new fans more than others.
maybe im crazy but isnt it required you have all your lugs tight?
Blaney and JJ back on the track according to trackpass this is important esp for Blaney and top 35 not to finish 43rd
No rule is on the wheel nothing about tight. Usually ok if 4 tight anything less than that won't be good
TV on MUTED, headphones on PRN and computer with the Steeler's broadcast.
I have yet to hear Rusty.
Jeff
you'd be surprised. rusty is preforming well today.
I just noticed what's on NBC at the last commercial.
Wally and Bill are calling Monster Truck races?
Yes, I think Rusty is better today than in previous races.
Anonymous said...
I just noticed what's on NBC at the last commercial.
Wally and Bill are calling Monster Truck races?
October 28, 2007 3:48 PM
those are not monster trucks, its championship off-road racing. they have been calling that series for 2 years now and I think they have been doing a decent job there.
Marty Snider doing interview on NBC.
Why oh Why didnt NBC keep NASCAR. Oh yeah Football. Sign
SophiaZ123. Mike Massaro is a professional. He just worded the question wrong.
"Why oh Why didnt NBC keep NASCAR. Oh yeah Football. Sign"
Now that's FUNNY!!!
professional but worded badly - like Jerry Punch does A LOT.
Another ESPN APOLOGIOST.
PRN: Dale Jr brushed the wall
ESPN - NOTHING
Anonymous said...
professional but worded badly - like Jerry Punch does A LOT.
Another ESPN APOLOGIOST.
October 28, 2007 4:01 PM
How does that make that person an ESPN Apologist? By saying mike is a pro?
people are pitting and ESPN goes to a break??
you said:
He just worded the question wrong.
------------------------
IF YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL YOU DON'T WORD QUESTIONS BADLY - SEE MATT YOKUM OR DR DIRT.
YOU APOLOGIZED FOR HIS ACTIONS AND YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO KNOWLEDGE OF HIS MINDSET SO YOU ARE AN APOLOGIST. JUST THE TRUTH.
Seems as if there are many empty seats today. Perhaps fans stayed home to watch the wonderful ESPN coverage.
Makiki
show me the empty seats
I thought John Andretti was first one lap down.
I think ESPN has improved the "full throttle" you can understand everything that is said.
John. Where are you? We have some spammers.
whatever
lets please the keep comment about the broadcast.
Anonymous said...
show me the empty seats
October 28, 2007 4:09 PM
Saw plenty during the driver introductions, esp. when Massaro was interviwing Gordon.
Anyone notice Sorenson in 11th place? Nice run so far.
Atlanta reminds me of ESPN in the old days. Todays broadcast so far seems solid.
NOOOOOO draft tracker please let this be a 1 x thing, that's acceptable
someone said
Atlanta reminds me of ESPN in the old days.
------------------------
It stank then and it stinks now. Yup just like the old days
Fairly good broadcast, except they should show more of the NON-chasers I think.
oh you mean BESIDES Dale Jr.
20 on pit road - ESPN?
Anonymous said...
20 on pit road - ESPN?
October 28, 2007 4:38 PM
ESPN reported it a while ago.
Well show more of the chasers BESIDES Jr. I meant to write.
There are a lot of cars in this race that are having good runs but all ESPN can talk about are the 1, 5, 8, and the 2. They just don't cover the field well enough
I really messed up that comment. I meant to say that ABC should show more of the NON-chasers and Jr. I'll get it right in a minute. Sorry.
I was j/k about Jr but they do show him a lot. Its like chasers and Jr.
Give Kolber two rounds of wedge & a spring rubber & send her on her way to annoy the NFL fans....they don't like her any better
Suzy's only claim is that she got hit on by an inebriated Joe Namath in a pre-season NFL telecast. Namath went to rehab and we get her.
What happen to the 78?
did you see that? ESPN broke from commercial to get to that last wreak. that is good progress.
A lot of shiny aluminum bleachers were visible from the aerial shot.
Yeah, they're doing better, but I'd like to see more than 3 green flag laps between commercials.
YEAH thru the field to 15th would have liked them to keep going but this is progress
Looks to me like the race might run over 6:00 p.m. What do y'all think will happen then?
The key point of a race you wait all week for and they cut to commercial with 40 laps to go. Kyle Busch and Truex going back and forth while a bit loose, Gordon and Johnson fighting for 7th spot, Jr with a chance to finish in the top 5, Kenseth and Kurt Busch lurking in 3rd and 4th and....
Commercial. Great job of coverage ESPN/ABC. I can hear on PRN and watch on the Internet to know what's going on, but it's 2007 and I can't see the best part of a live race on television.
there is no live sports event after that...so we should see at least a few driver interview.
what is this full screen 1 minute promo for ABC???
I expect commercial free coverage to the checkered except if there is a caution.
Actually I was wondering whether we'd even see the end of the race on ABC. Reruns of poker on ESPN2.
we WILL see the end of the race on ABC no matter what.
GEE WHIZ GUYS will we see interviews on ABC
Anonymous said...
"we WILL see the end of the race on ABC no matter what."
I truly hope you don't have to eat those words.
hail mary - roll the dice - that hockey analogy
Dr Jerry the ultimate professional. Wow what did we do for the six years he wasn't broadcasting.
dr. punch did some football on ESPN for the past 6 years.
5:40 14 laps to go.
around 32 seconds per lap brings us to 5:50 if no yellow flags. Gonna be close
that was stupid - cant tell time
5:50 14 laps brings us to about 5:54 PM
sorry
get the deuce ready
people....ABC has done this before...they will keep NASCAR on until at least 6:30. no need to worry.
Anonymous said...
people....ABC has done this before...they will keep NASCAR on until at least 6:30. no need to worry.
October 28, 2007 5:56 PM
I should add... if the race ends before 6:30...they will go off the air sooner than that.
WOW! sauters car is all torn up..that boy has the worst luck.
i can tell I am losing interest with ESPN...I turned off the tv (had tape in) and listened to radio and drove to nearby park for some deer pics. SUNNY DAY for first time in ages.
PRN guys not NEARLY as good as MRN...try to be comedians and hog air time. That would NEVER happen on MRN. Still nice to hear the race on free radio on a sunny day.
I just need to rewind the tape to find out what happened to Labonte, or see what happened..on PRN interview he didn't know if something broke or what. I gotta by more Cheerios. :-)
I hope we get a POST RACE SHOW!! NOt fair to folks without SPEED if we get ripped off again like LAST NIGHT.
Oy vey, between that and HH INTERRUPTION...I was cranky towards ESPN.
Man, can't wait to see what JD says bout the race and I hope he mentions the Happy Hour Interruptus.
they will interview winner but will other chase drivers get interviewed or will they go to news quickly?
Will word go out to winner no burn out or climbing fences and get to victory lane?
what the hell kind of a restart is that???
cluster you-know-what restart
WOW! DEI bad luck strikes again.
JJ the leader again...PLEASE NO.
What a mess...Martin didn't know 11 was out of gas. :(
Wo! What a camera shot. ouch
Does the flag man have any power to wave OFF the start..you could tell there was trouble coming towards him.:(
I believe ABC's world news can start as late as 6:30. we should be okay.
SophiaZ123 said...
Does the flag man have any power to wave OFF the start..you could tell there was trouble coming towards him.:(
October 28, 2007 6:03 PM
the flag man cannot control that...he does what NASCAR control tells him too.
QWhats gonna happen to those cars that passed on left before start/finish line. Tail end of longest line?
You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel
Wow Jimmie wins. What a crazy finish! Boy broadcast was actually better than in previous weeks.
what a weird last few laps....ESPN did well today.
I'm sure ABC isn't happy right now. Johnson doing tons of burnouts instead of going to victory lane.
Carl Edwards = anger management
and good finish
a lot of interviews in this post race show...
see? we saw the end on ABC
Broadcast much better today. 1 thru the field to 15th. Gave rundown of finishing order after that bizzare ending. Still concentranted too much on the front 3 or chasers but overall much better. Is it because they were trying or because it was a 1 1/2 mile track. Time will tell.
Justin said...
I'm sure ABC isn't happy right now. Johnson doing tons of burnouts instead of going to victory lane.
October 28, 2007 6:11 PM
ABC can't be too mad... I believe they can wait until 6:30, but they may end sooner.
What time on Sunday Jerry?
He never gets it.
A professional broadcaster would know the times by heart. Jerry you're over the hill.
WOuld have liked to see interview with Reed Sorenson he finished 3rd but at least we saw a post race unlike the Busch race
Newracefan said...
Is it because they were trying or because it was a 1 1/2 mile track. Time will tell.
October 28, 2007 6:14 PM
the larger tracks tend to be easier to cover, but they can take some of what they learned today and use it on short tracks...
Honestly what the hell is it with ESPN having 3 hours of pre-race coverage and just 10 min of post race? I don't give a rats ass what people 'think' will happen. I'd rather they talk to people after the race.
Nice to see his winnings and matches by others going to Southern California Red Cross. My company's headquarter is in San Diego and we have all been working hard to help out those folks.
anon@6:13
"a lot of interviews". Give it up. You aren't even funny anymore, just pathetic.
By the way, why don't you ever sign your posts?
Makiki
Great job by ABC for running long with the post race.
Anonymous said...
What time on Sunday Jerry?
He never gets it.
A professional broadcaster would know the times by heart. Jerry you're over the hill.
October 28, 2007 6:15 PM
that is uncalled for... Jerry has been in the business for years... lets see how you preform in the booth for 5 hours.
anon@6:13
"a lot of interviews". Give it up. You aren't even funny anymore, just pathetic.
By the way, why don't you ever sign your posts?
Makiki
apologies for the multiple posts. My mistake.
Makiki
This was the best Cup broadcast ESPN has done so far this year. There is still room for improvement, but they did do much better.
They still need to get rid of Suzy and Brent, they add nothing to the effort, in fact the entire Infield Studio needs to go bye bye. Still too much "added content" during green flag racing, even with the split screen.
Rusty was better and not as domineering, Andy was good as usual, Punch even showed a little excitement. But they still need a little more prep work before the race starts.
Great job by ABC for running long with the post race.
No, "adequate" job. Fox would have done much more.
They could have filled to the bottom of the hour. Fox would have.
Go tell your bosses at ESPN you need more material if they want you to keep posting here.
Anonymous said...
anon@6:13
"a lot of interviews". Give it up. You aren't even funny anymore, just pathetic.
By the way, why don't you ever sign your posts?
Makiki
October 28, 2007 6:17 PM
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? there were more interviews than yesterday!!! Look, I have stock in FOX, not ESPN. so I should be against ESPN. but when I see that there were more interviews than yesterday I should not be shot, killed, and stomped on for it.
there were more interviews than yesterday!!!
Which isn't saying much.
Rick said...
This was the best Cup broadcast ESPN has done so far this year. There is still room for improvement, but they did do much better.
They still need to get rid of Suzy and Brent, they add nothing to the effort, in fact the entire Infield Studio needs to go bye bye. Still too much "added content" during green flag racing, even with the split screen.
Rusty was better and not as domineering, Andy was good as usual, Punch even showed a little excitement. But they still need a little more prep work before the race starts.
October 28, 2007 6:20 PM
I agree with everything above.
quote:
that is uncalled for... Jerry has been in the business for years... lets see how you preform in the booth for 5 hours.
--------------------------------
You know, they don't put me in the booth because I would look like an idiot. They put Jerry or Mike Joy or Allen Bestwick or even Bill wEBER THERE TO TALK FOR MANY HOUIRS AND not LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT and they all seem to talk coherently except for Punch. He misspeaks constantly.
ANOTHER ESPN APOLOGIST. enough already ERIK.
Jerry also said in beginning that all drivers were statistically still in the championship, which may be statistically true but is so untrue in real life.
Anonymous said...
Jerry also said in beginning that all drivers were statistically still in the championship, which may be statistically true but is so untrue in real life.
October 28, 2007 6:24 PM
I you seriously going to bring Dr. punch down because of that? that's why he said statistically. Also, I'm getting tired of being compared to Erik and others. I have critiqued ESPN on many occasions, but when I see improvement I will say so.
Jerry has been in the business for years... lets see how you preform in the booth for 5 hours.
Oh, no, you don't. Jerry is paid a lot of money NOT to make mistakes like he has this year.
If i did my job as badly as he's been doing his, I'd be in deep trouble.
Anonymous said...
You know, they don't put me in the booth because I would look like an idiot. They put Jerry or Mike Joy or Allen Bestwick or even Bill wEBER THERE TO TALK FOR MANY HOUIRS AND not LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT and they all seem to talk coherently except for Punch. He misspeaks constantly.
October 28, 2007 6:24 PM
wait...if you read that word for word, it does not make sense.
What was with Rusty and the constant slurping of DEI? Preparing for the Busch Series next year?
Pretty much same old coverage from ESPN/ABC. Jerry still seems tired and lost at times. Rusty is still Rusty. Andy is doing as well as he can seeing as he's a rookie paired with Rusty and Jerry who aren't helping him out much.
Still lame pit reporting. No follow ups after cautions/wrecks. No resetting the field after pit stops. Not telling us who the Lucky Dog was. Little and Massaro asking stupid questions.
And I'm still waiting for ESPN/ABC to explain to me why we need Suzy, Brad and Musburger. None of them bring ANYTHING to the broadcast. Let's see them come back from commercial on MNF to a "host" who knows nothing about football. It's lame and I don't know why they do it.
Not many interviews after the race. No updating on Jr's condition. That was a hard hit. But we must get to the local news! Phooie!
All Chase all the time. No coverage of non-chase drivers. Same ole, same ole.
All in all, a weak effort from the ESPN/ABC gang again. This is like a broken record.....
If your driver was in the chase, you may have been able to keep track of him on ESPN.
If your driver was one of the other 31, you were out of luck...unless he crashed.
Vince:
You've summed it up well!
Makiki
I thought DILNER was going to show a Jr clip? Instead it was Hamlin and then Dilner said they had tech difficulties and did not have the Denny soundbite????
Did I get that wrong? glitches at SPEED again. I wanted to HEAR how Jr was doing after being out of the race YET again.
Vince
I second your post. I have yet to run my tape back to see what happened to Labonte during the race...might just wait and see it on VL or INC.
I know things are bad when I have STOPPED WATCHING ESPN during the race, yesterday and today.
Why do we keep hoping things will get better. :(
Also, we are getting some snide comments here that we never used to get...oh, well.
and I wish folks would just ignore the you know whats as they love stirring up things.
Did Speed send anyone to Memphis. No David interview when reviewed Busch race how sad. What would have happened if Carl clinched championship I guess an interview from Atlanta :(
I only have a few complaints about the coverage:
- the obvious ones of course: Kolber, Musburger, Sportscenter Minutes, etc.
- they compltely ignored the Lucky Dogs, as usual... except of course for the only caution where the Lucky Dog was one of the "Magic 13" of drivers ESPN cares about (Dale Jr.)
- they didn't have to opportunity to miss any drivers falling out of the race as they usually do, but that's only because every driver that fell out had obvious problems that caused cautions so I'm not going to praise them for that
- As usual the pre-race show provided no news, which completely baffles me. I did love the Alan Kulwicki piece. Much like the Bobby Allison piece at Pocono, ESPN did a fantastic job of bringing the story of a legend from the past to the new viewers that probably don't know anything about their story. Other than that the pre-race was a waste of time.. especially when they had Suzy leave the booth to do the "featured interview". Isn't that what the pit reporters are for???
- It was hilarious to see Mark Martin ask Mike Massaro "what kind of question was that?" Mark was the last person I would expect that kind of reaction from.
Other than that I didn't hate this coverage as much as I usually do. I don't think they missed any restarts, they brought back the "all drivers" version of Through the Field, and I didn't notice any other glaring issues. Things are getting better it would appear, slowly but surely.
Did anyone find out what happened to JJ Yeley? Or Dave Blaney? What about those "tire issues"? I never saw an update on how the tire wear was. Yet more incomplete coverage of a race. This coverage is not changing this year. Maybe it will next year. Maybe....
Speed report said there was a possibility of water in the gas for Blaney and possibly a few others, maybe Biffle (sorry forgot who else) but John Darby was over at the pumps.
If you're not doing so yet, I highly recommend listening to MRN or PRN radio's race call while watching ESPN's video.
They are very comprehensive and you will learn a lot more about what's happening and to whom than by relying on ESPN to tell you--because they don't.
I don't think they missed any restarts
Are you kidding? They actually missed one because they were replaying tape of a pit stop!
There were so many stories that ABC could have covered after this race
1. the 41 best fin.
2. 83 fin 9 after not making last two races
3. 55 with a 11th place fin. after the year he has had
All of these drivers could have been interviewed and should have been interviewed but ABC would rather cut from Jeff G. to J.J. to the news.
I didn't hate this coverage as much as I usually do.
ESPN's new slogan for Cup coverage...
"You won't hate it as much as you used to!"
Today seemed like a totally different ESPN. IT was not picture perfect, but ehre are some things I noticed.
-No Draft Tracker
-No Commercials during the last 40 laps or so
-Post Race Interviews even though they ran past 6:00 PM ET
-They talked about guys like Dale Jarret and Bill Elliot. Also in their "Up to Speed" they talked about drivers other than just chasers.
I still think they could talk about some non-chasers a little more often. But I think today ESPN had a vast improvement. Kudos to them.
No Draft Tracker
I wish! They used it today, unfortunately.
First, the chase became an artificial scheme to create excitement. Now, we have artificial races, where the roulette wheel spins with 5 laps (or so) to go, and the winner crosses the line well under 100 MPH. I find this quite sad, as it is not racing.
Does that have to do with TV?
It has been reported on SpeedTV.com and mentioned on Victory Lane by Denny Hamlin that water was found in both Hamlin's and Blaney's fuel cells during the race. It is also suspected that water was in Biffle's fuel cell.
NASCAR is investigating how the water could have gotten in the systems and ways to prevent it in the future.
ok, just read gas tanks were free of water. Duh, shoulda read Jayski link first. FYI
on INC, No Schrader. Michael, Greg and Vickers.
:(
ESPN's new slogan for Cup coverage...
"You won't hate it as much as you used to!"
October 28, 2007 8:08 PM
hahaha!
I only saw the green-white-checker finish today so I can't comment on the rest of the broadcast. The big thing that struck me was that ESPN on ABC didn't go to a commercial after the checkered flag. It always drives me crazy when the winning driver has to sit in his car in victory lane and wait for the network to come back from a commercial before he can get out and celebrate his win. I can't recall from previous races if ESPN usually goes to a commercial break before victory lane or not. Maybe because the race ran long they just wanted to end the coverage without another set of commercials. But whatever the reason it was nice to notice today.
By the way, this is the first Cup race I intentionally haven't watched from start to finish since the 2001 Daytona 500. After skimming through everyone's comments though it looks like ESPN made some progress with today's race. I haven't decided if I'll watch Texas or not. Guess I'll wait to read Mr. Daly's column first before I reprogram my DVR.
I am glad some saw improvements. With all my recent rantings over the abrupt ending yesterday after sweet Reutimann finally won (THANKS for the links online to see a short speech with him) and the HH bizarre split shift showing, I thought today, I would just tape part of the race.
Left for a bit and came back after listening on radio. Though PRn are NO MRN, they were more informative than the TV.
It would be nice to see all the racers but I think at this point, ANY COVERAGE would be focusing on the jimmy and jeff show, sadly. Though let's face it, ESPN does like to hype it's drama.
The ending was just too bizarre the more I saw it replayed on SPEED REPORT and VL (Also was Jr ever interviewed on tv? I read on another site he thought things were not "tightened properly")
I still wondered if anybody saw SPEED. I thought that Dilner was throwing to a Jr clip that ended up to be a Denny cip, only to come back to Dilner, to throw to a Denny clip.
somebody must have told DILNER clip wasn't available or something. They went back to Barbie in the studio and they did not say what the glitch was or if I WAS The dumb one?
Still, it continues to be a season of wild and wacky endings.
I am sorry I did not see the tribute to Alan on the prerace show and sorry that a certain commentators emotional reaction drew such cruel comments. I hope to see a replay of this video online or somewhere since it was the only good thing about Countdown.
It seemed before I turned off the race, they guys in the booth were in a better mood and I thought I heard Rusty comment that he knew the answer to some question because so and so told him last night.
Gave me the impression HE is trying harder to do homework? Well, that's progress.
Also I noticed at one time, towards or after the end of the race, Punch seemed to have great difficulty getting some sentences out. I wondered if somebody wasn't talking too much into his earpiece and confusing him ? ?
If production was better, and camera action better, these guys may be able to react better and RELAX?
I hope the poster who anon posted yesterday that ESPN is truly going to make changes was honest.
Most of us are still shocked NASCAR hasn't rattled some cages to get their act together.
Thanks for the comment section, JD, and for keeping an eye on the place while on the road.
I still wondered if anybody saw SPEED. I thought that Dilner was throwing to a Jr clip that ended up to be a Denny cip, only to come back to Dilner, to throw to a Denny clip.
Yes, we saw it. It happens in live TV sometimes. Not a big deal.
Thanks
I know this happens a lot in LIVE TV..>i was just curious to see Jr's reaction to another DNQ and wondered what happened to his soundbite.
I read on one site he didnt' seem pleased something was not tightened up.
Maybe we will learn something on INC or sometime next week on speed.
Thanks
I know this happens a lot in LIVE TV..>i was just curious to see Jr's reaction to another DNQ and wondered what happened to his soundbite.
I read on one site he didnt' seem pleased something was not tightened up.
Maybe we will learn something on INC or sometime next week on speed.
Sophiaz123:
Here is a URL to the video of the Kulwicki tribute that ABC/ESPN ran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uERcwUEyLIU
It does not show Rusty being tear-eyed immediately after the piece.
After reading all the comments, I'll agree that the booth did a somewhat better job with fewer annoyances. However, there was still too many things missed or ignored by ESPN. As I watched the race I kept noticing more and more cars with body damage visible, yet no hint of issues from the talking trio. I got so disgusted I turned off the TV for the first time in 25 years of following NASCAR.
I'll finish watching this season, but I'm going to question myself about 2008 - why start following the sport, if the hassles from ESPN are going to ruin the ending?
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