The ESPN boys had all winter to lick their wounds and recover from the thumping they took in the media and with the fans about the TV coverage of both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series down the stretch last season.
Now, instead of making changes in the broadcast line-up, the only news is that Rusty Wallace's TV contract has been extended through 2014. That is the current end of ESPN's NASCAR agreement to cover the sport. The fact that Ray Evernham quietly stepped away wasn't even a blip on the radar.
In ESPN's world, everything is always fine. In reality, it certainly is not. Marty Reid struggled with the sport and his play-by-play down the stretch was off-balance. He returns to this role today with the Nationwide Series race from Daytona.
Alongside of Reid are Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. It should be interesting to see if Jarrett takes this role and expresses his opinion or continues to be just a bit too polite and far too politically correct. Jarrett still has tremendous credibility and he could be the key to returning ESPN to a position of authority in the sport.
Consistency has defined Andy Petree but the faces around him have continually changed. He started with Rusty Wallace alongside, then the next season Jerry Punch left and Reid came aboard. His original producer is gone and this year he again is cast in the role of the third guy in the booth.
Allen Bestwick will lead the Infield Pit Studio group. Wallace and Brad Daugherty are alongside and assuming their normal roles. Wallace gets agitated and intense, while Daugherty speaks in broad and general terms about any topic in the sport. While Bestwick is the best in the business on TV right now, he is surrounded by a less than stellar cast but still makes the best of it.
There really is nothing to say about Tim Brewer and the Tech Garage. He is cast in the role of making guesses about incidents on the track and is often completely incorrect. His updates on the very basics of the sport make fans feel stupid. In his fifth season in this role, it should be interesting to see how he is presented.
Jamie Shiftan is the new ESPN producer. He is popular with the crew, a homegrown production veteran and maintains good relationships with almost everyone in the sport. The reaction when he was named to this position was overwhelmingly positive. Now, it is his turn to make the TV donuts beginning with the biggest race of the Nationwide Series season.
This blog will host your TV-related comments as we watch the pre-race and race coverage from Daytona. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time today to stop by The Daly Planet.
265 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 265 of 265Missed the entire Stewart interview due to no audio.
they lost the whole interview...or was it just my comcast?
Espn lost the audio during Tony's interview! Perfect guys!
The audio stopped when the camera went to Tony when he got out of the car. I thought it was my problem.
Took them long enough.
From an ESPN audio tech:
"We are having major issues. Trucks are trying to figure it out."
But you can hear the commercials quite clearly. Ah, ESPN certainly knows its priorities...
Oh yeah...real nice...audio drops and the WINNER cannot be heard....Oh well....another year of this TRIPE...Imma switchin' to NHRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TW NO sound HD or regular. Way tos t art the season.
As if the STINKING camera work isn't enough. You lose sound on a PERFECTLY NICE DAY.
No excuse. NONE. I will delete DVR since I missed nothing but WANTED to HEAR from Tony with close win.
UNPROFESSIONAL
Idon't beleive it.couldn't hear the winning interview.Guess they wanted to make sure they were off by 4o'clock.
i lost it on ATTUverse too. So it's ESPN's problem.
Imagine that?
Same here, DirecTV also cut the audio at Stewart's interview, ESPN has explaining to do.
Completely lost all audio unfreakinbelievable!!!!!!!!
No acknowledgement of what was obviously a technical glitch on the part of ESPN. >:-(
Hello, is this thing on?
Are they going to interview anybody else?????
ESPN will replay the Tony Stewart interview in a moment.
Wait . . . so AB is hosting this SportsCenter . . . and Craven is there!
Of course they say sorry, but don't replay the interview. BTW How many more times are they gonna have Brewer explain things everyone knows. If ESPN want to play with the toys go out to the sandbox
What are they doing? Give us the victory lane interview that you lost!!!! NOW!!!!!!!!
At the risk of beating the Danica thing today to death, isn't it interesting to hear the difference between what we heard on Danica's radio and what Terry Blount, Jamie Little and others said?
As opposed to these 4 guys in the booth feeding their egos, how about replaying Smoke's interveiw?
NOW!!!!!! I did not tune for a pre race for tomorrow!!!!
Woops sorry JD I posted on the wrong article. But seriously, the coverage today was abysmal
Alrighty then, I'm out, cant take another hour of the Krusty and Brad lovefest
You would think the jerks would
as least replay Tony's interview
and see what Bowwow had to say
about the attempted block.
Pathetic!!! All they want to do
is follow their script.
Pathetic post race to start off the season.
The first half of the coverage was fantastic for all but Marty. Then ESPN crumbled as usual.
I hear that BSPN is pulling off their antics again
tim richmond 30/30 is on abc right now. he was before my time, was he as good as what they are saying?
I think this race and everything associated with it is history to ESPN
Give me the interview! Why talk about tomorrow now? This is absolutely amazing to me. Pathetic.
People miss the interview and ESPN cant get 'off track' and replay it first thing. Hey NASCAR, Brian France, have you figured out why ratings are down the toilet yet?!
Where's the REPLAY? Carrier pigeon?
Morse code? WFT
I hate they way they transition to the Sports Center post race show. They totally leave the Nationwide race hanging. How about some more interviews. Bowyer's reaction, Cassill? Horrendous. What a failure in broadcasting.. On what planet to these people think they're doing a good job. Unreal!
ESPN is stuck on stupid!
Miserable technical ending to an embarrassing booth day with a fustercluck director's day with an abysmal race. At least Danica is honest.
Four words:
Worst post-race ever.
its possible that espn truck didn't catch the interview either depending on the problem, they can't replay what they couldn't record
Really? Really? No interview of anyone? Really? You can not make up how much of a slap in the face this is to the nationwide series. Absolutely disgusting.
Cheese and Crackers how long they gonna makek us wait? I WOULD NOT be waiting but Stewarts one of my faves.
My cat is named after he & jimmy stewart for crying out loud.
STOP the blathering for tomorrow. Don't care won't be watching it until I hear the audio today.
FUNNY ESPN NEVER talks about FOX races but when they SCREW UP & gyp us out of end of race, they are talking of Cup Race.
How CONVENIENT!!! Church lady voice =:-/
@Dave:
You didn't get the word? According to the all-so-wise gentleman who brought us "Digger the Retarded Rat" the reason that ratings are down is because the races are too long...
If the truck doesn't have any audio on the interview with Tony, they should get some Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers and whatever else Nabisco wants to sell and get Tony in the pit studio right now.
Why doesn't NASCAR adopt the Giants mentality: "Talk is cheap, play the game!"?
If i was a fan i would be calling ESPN and chewing out their ears. Or better yet I would go to ESPN headquarters tossing stuff and smashing heads.
Pathetic 4 years now in year 5.
sad just sad that we keep giving many chances to someone who is not willing to change.
SBTF
A really POed ex NASCAR fan in Penna.
This is getting ridiculous. Gotta get in those commericals before the interview?! ESPN's priorities are obvious. Money over sport and fans, PERIOD. I usually dont hate on ESPN this much but come on!
Is this a pre recorded sportscenter? It has to be because they have not said one word about the race that ended 15 minutes ago. Did they even give a full field run down? Interview anyone? What can they be thinking? I have never... Ever ... Seen anything as unbelievable as this.
if they had not replayed that post race interview I was going to start a boycott of Espn
I'm shaking my head at the TV.
ESPN should be ashamed.
Sabotage ??
rich
I avoid ESPN if at all possible
Hearing ESPN had a big tech failure during that interview that took a while to fix.
Talk about bad timing!
Thanks again everyone for stopping by. See you tomorrow for the big boys!
JD
Their tech failure was just the bow on the day's package of fail....
Somtime around 02 or 03 people hated nbc and wanted espn back......i kept telling people espn is diff than they used to be.....nobody believed me hahahahaha......i was so sad when i heard the nbc/tnt package was being replaced cause i knew this type of coverage was coming.....seriously nascar step in or the NW series will be forgotten
ESPN is as arrogant as FOX in their know it all mentality but I Bet you FOX guys in the booth would've replayed it quicker or ACKNOWLEDGED it sooner...who knows. HOnestly one of these BSPN booth guys gets on my nerves so badly can't believe he's back this year (Not naming names)
Abysmal camera work made me shut off & keep up on twitter the race, tuned in for last few laps and missed CRITICAL interview.
Meanwhile the MIKE BROWN of NASCAR (Brian France) is smiling all the way to the bank CLUELESS that the putrid telecasts & LOUSY cam choice is KILLING THE SPORT
Also I agree the SPORTSCENTER seemed pre taped since NO mention of such a major mustercluck of no interview was mentioned nor hinted at.
What else do you expect from a subsidiary of Disney?
I think we can certainly call
today's pesentation "Mickey Mouse".
I was watching but doing chores so I didn't log in -- so I am catching up now on the comments.
The stupid graphic showing the "battle for X position" was driving me crazy since it wasn't relevant with the 2 car draft.
Listening to the usual Danica silliness made me wonder why esp since apparently she didn't think she was going to ever have to switch and PUSH. Probably figured whoever would just push her to the win and be happy to do it.
Lost the sound on the winner's interview - not that I care really since well, it was a Cup driver anyway -- if it had been Cassill - I'd have been more excited.
Overall grade on the broadcast - C+ - since the booth monkeys made me crazy most of the time with useless drivel and bad PXP.
I'm sure this is what we will see tomorrow too except that the focus will continue to be on Dale Jr or Waltrip because of the 10th anniversary deal - they just won't be able to restrain themselves. Don't get me wrong -- although I was not a Dale Earnhardt fan - I do miss him and wonder how different things would be in NASCAR if he were still around to kick butt and take names. I'm betting he'd have ripped BZF a new one for some of the dumb things that the fans hate.
Let's see if I understand. NASCAR will overlook accidents on the last lap, but won't overlook drivers going below the yellow line.
How'm I doing?
I still can't understand why everyone hates Tim Brewer. I think he's in a tough spot. Not all of us are shade-tree mechanics with a garage full of Haynes guides on a shelf. When you open a vein, not all of us bleed 30-weight. I remember why I stopped reading this blog all the time. You folks behave as if NASCAR is your own private club and that there's no such thing as a casual fan.
Not only did ESPN have technical failure when it came to interviewing Tony but Speed also had the same thing happen causing about a 3 minute blackout after the race on their show. Satellite problems at the track? Interesting
There was one very nice thing about this broadcast.......NO DW!!
Not only was this one of the most disasterous NASCAR telecasts of the modern day, but this one has me boiling mad to the point that makes me want to write a complaint to ESPN. I would greatly appreciate someone giving me a useful e-mail address. I'll see tomorrow if I can get through to this self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader in Sports".
OK so in 3 of 4 NASCAR races on TV so far this week, TV does NOT interview the 2nd place finisher (Regan Smith, Elliott Sadler, Bowyer). Heck, "technically," they didn't interview ANYBODY today since the audio went out in VL.
ESPN...just admit it...you're mailing it in. Gotta get back to Sportscenter (and who give a flip WHERE they tape it???) and Sears Bracketbusters.
I don't hate Tim Brewer at all. i'm ok with his bits. Long as it isn't over GFlag racing.
It's the decisions from the Truck picking videos I detest. No individual seems to be responsible for that nor does anybody have the spine to admit Thats a key issue!!!.
I detest feelings to whomever "is behind the curtain" forcing such dreck "To be passed for races" to people at home. Thus ROBBING us of the racing enjoyment. Not only is it a flow killer on the eyes the CONSTANT camera jarring but sound, too. The in car cams sound like junk compared to the sound of the cars in a PACK..or tandem or whatever it is they do now.
Course BFrance thinks it's all about points, changing rules, etc --re: ratings & giving fans what they want--when the ONLY thing that needs fixing never gets fixed.
I've yet to hear from a NASCAR Power that Be Address the camera problems
Is it still too much to ask .....
cAN WE please have a few minutes
every now and then ...WHEN THE
ANNOUNCERS JUST SHUT UP ???
For example ..ON RE STARTS !!!!!!
let em go 2 or 3 laps. thank you
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