SPORTS MEDIA: FIVE WHO GET IT (COSTAS), FIVE WHO DON’T (NBC, ESPN)
A weekly analysis of the best/worst in media from a multimedia content prince — thousands of columns, TV debates, radio shows, podcasts — who receives angry DMs from media burner accounts
THEY GET IT
“Back On The Record,” HBO — The only concern about Bob Costas, at age 69, is whether he could generate 2021 relevance with Botox, hair dye and, um, that curious pink eye episode. In his return to a prominent sports programming platform, he more than bridged any generational gap with his outsized intelligence and fearless commentary. Costas did what never was possible as NBC’s prime-time Olympics host — assail the noxious goons at the International Olympic Committee — while conducting an incisive interview with Aly Raisman about the gymnastics sex abuse scandals and the Tokyo plight of Simone Biles. Charles Barkley might have been a too-obvious first guest, but with Costas grilling, Chuck said he’ll keep speaking his mind and insulting people no matter how his Turner Sports bosses feel. Then he turned wistful, a side rarely seen, about his failed friendship with Michael Jordan. It also helps to have a fired-up Bomani Jones — Costas should engage him in fierce debate rather than let him ramble during roundtable discussions. Already, after one airing, it’s evident this is the show so sorely needed in the vapid, reckless world of sports talking-head-dom. He’s no fan of hot-take artists and force-fed opinions, telling Variety, “It doesn’t mean all of them are convincing, intelligent or insightful or in a nuanced fashion. There is a lot of herd mentality on one side or another. We have hopes of offering something that, if we do it right, will differentiate us from that.” The show runs quarterly. Why not monthly? Weekly?
The Athletic exodus line — Obviously now, a site that was supposed to save sports journalism must concentrate on saving itself. The names of those leaving The Athletic are known for distinguished careers — hockey writer Scott Burnside, author Molly Knight, New Orleans columnist Jeff Duncan — and their departures cast more doubt about the future of the five-year-old tech project. The site seems to be emphasizing team/league beats and information over edge and style — not the way to stop the subscription renewal slide — and could use a leadership overhaul after failing in merger attempts with Axios and the New York Times. Is it possible those who leave will be better off for the long term? Rather than napalm the two founders for over-hiring and underperforming, now-former-staffers are playing nice on social media. Duncan announced his return to local news leader NOLA.com immediately after tweeting, “It's been an incredible two years, and I am beyond grateful for the experience, working alongside some of the finest sports journalists in the profession. Every day I felt fortunate.’’ Burnside should find work as a pucks columnist, and Knight already has launched at Substack, joining me and the likes of NBA expert Marc Stein at a writer’s site where the audience is a level smarter. When I left my most visible column-writing gig — on my own accord, handing back $1 million — I saw it as my journalistic duty to explain the ills of the Chicago Sun-Times. Today, sportswriters are loyal only to career survival. Why burn a bridge, I suppose, when you can walk over it?
Fox Sports — If the Murdochs once tried to turn their battle with ESPN into Godzilla vs. Kong, that pipedream faded long ago. What Fox does well is maximize the properties it does have — such as NFL coverage, which will include appealing upgrades this season. As ESPN continues to struggle with its “Monday Night Football’’ team, Fox will turn loose promising analyst Greg Olsen, who works the No. 2 booth (with Kevin Burkhardt) as a potential heir to Troy Aikman. The excitable Gus Johnson is joining Aqib Talib, equally excitable, on select assignments. And don’t underplay the periodic presence of Joe Davis, who, as I’ve suggested, might succeed Joe Buck some distant day as face of the sports division. I’d rather be Fox right now than NBC, which has no certain winner in a future Mike Tirico-Drew Brees duo, or ESPN, which signed Peyton Manning for a frivolous “MNF’’ gig with brother Eli but can’t convince him to sit in the main booth.
Magic Johnson, exploiter — “The Last Dance’’ was appealing because it exposed how a maniacal tyrant (Michael Jordan) won six NBA titles despite the devious interference of The Jerrys, the brooding ego of Scottie Pippen, the self-destruction of Dennis Rodman and the 24-7 pressures of life as a global phenomenon. Also, Jordan controlled a video vault that augmented the narrative. This was a sociopolitical drama as much as an all-time sports story, still unique a quarter-century later. Wisely, Johnson is seizing the docuseries craze by hawking his story — compelling, but not nearly as riveting as the Jordan Bulls — for a reported $25 million. Someone will buy it, likely the Peacock streaming app forced upon us during NBC’s Olympic coverage, but that doesn’t guarantee much audience for a 20th-century tale that might not have legs. The Lakers have been through celebrated phases since Magic and “Showtime’’ — from Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, paired in desperation mode with Russell Westbrook. Does the world need a four-decade-old rehash? Besides, isn’t HBO doing its own “Showtime’’ project, based on Jeff Pearlman’s book, and isn’t team boss Jeanie Buss countering with her own in-house-produced doc? I’d express caution, but it’s impossible to control the wild whims of TV sports executives. Johnson knows this and is merrily cashing in.
Mike Golic Jr., ESPN Radio — Not fond of lazy, jealous prattle that Young Golic has benefited from nepotism, I listened myself for a month. Would you believe he’s better than his dad, who dominated morning radio with Mike Greenberg for 17 years? His deep knowledge of the current sports scene is staggering, and his delivery is fast-paced and infectious. I’d love to argue with him, except it would be difficult to beat him — he’s that informed and connected on all topics. Mike Sr. left the network on bad terms and wasn’t treated too well by Greenberg, who ran away to TV stardom. I hope the radio bosses treat Golic Jr. as his own man and not as the son of an ESPN-disgruntled parent.
THEY DON’T GET IT
NBC — Even when there’s a rare reason to watch the least-interesting Summer Olympics of my life, the network hasn’t made it easy to dial up a particular broadcast. This has contributed to a full-blown ratings crash and the sounding of alarms at 30 Rock, where the network has lost 40 percent of the audience since the 2016 Games and almost half since 2012. Only part of the decline is about time-zone differences, the pandemic and an absence of spectators at Tokyo venues. Say people wanted to watch Simone Biles return from her emotional turmoil and try to win one last gold medal in the balance-beam event. How many Americans were aware they’d have to sign up for a Peacock streaming app to watch live in the wee hours of Tuesday morning? Same goes for the NBA Olympians, whose victory over Spain was on Peacock — but who knew unless you worked hard to find the info? NBC prioritized the marketing of its pay app over the simple accessibility of turning on the big network for free live coverage at any time of day. The network says it sold a fair share of subscriptions, but how much consumer goodwill was lost? Jeff Shell, NBC/Universal’s chief executive, blames “bad luck’’ for the ratings crash and says the Games will turn a profit. But that’s only because advertisers bought into the Olympic mystique, which has faded considerably these two weeks. NBC shares in the blame for not convincing America that the Games were a must-see. There was an overriding sense, in watching, that everyone was trying to make a quick buck and get the hell out of Tokyo. In the haste, there was little evidence of sweeping communal pride, which this country could use right now.
Burke Magnus, ESPN — I’ve written it before. I’ll write it again: This is no time for network sports executives to screw around with the public trust. Magnus was pinpointed by Bob Bowlsby, the jilted and lawsuit-threatening Big 12 commissioner, as the greed beast who lured Oklahoma and Texas to ESPN’s exclusive alliance with the Southeastern Conference. In tandem with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and other related clout influences, Magnus is accused of forming a superleague at the expense of college football as a whole. Yeah, let’s just ruin a cool sport by creating a Chick-fil-A monopoly. ESPN denies “wrongful conduct,’’ but if you haven’t noticed, parent company Disney is ruthless these days (ask actress Scarlett Johansson) and all but daring rival lawyers to sue. Bowlsby told the Associated Press, ‘‘This whole thing has been a complete articulation of deception. I have absolute certainty that (ESPN has) been involved in manipulating other conferences to go after our members,’’ adding that the raid “reaffirms that these plans have been in the works with ongoing discussions between the parties and television partner for some time.’’ Magnus was the one who wanted to join programming hands with Barstool Sports even as the site’s founder, Dave Portnoy, was raunchily saying of ESPN host Samantha Ponder in 2017: “No person who watches GameDay wants to see a picture of her and her ugly kid. Nobody cares, Sam Ponder. We want to see you sex it up and be slutty and not be some prude fucking jerk who everybody hates.’’ Let’s hope the Big 12 litigates, while pursuing discussions with the Pac-12, and forces ESPN to answer depositions.
John Skipper, Meadowlark Media — As time passes, it’s clear Skipper has done more to change sports and sports media — for the worse — than any power player beyond the pro and collegiate hierarchies. If you’ve wondered, for instance, how college football mushroomed from a fun, equitable, nationwide happening into a Southern-tilted, multi-billion-dollar megablob, Skipper was the ESPN boss centrally involved in the beginnings of the transformation. Almost four years after leaving the network, he is able to talk freely about how Bristol operates. Appearing on Dan Le Batard’s podcast as part of their Meadowlark collaboration, Skipper was asked, “Is this all the instigation of ESPN? Is this all your fault?” He responded, “I’d like to take the fifth. Do I have rights?’’ He was kidding, but not really. “I doubt all of that is unrelated.” he said. “I would not assume that this is just happening, that one day the Texas and Oklahoma guys woke up, I would guess that it’s a logical sequence of events that ESPN now has all of the SEC, now they bring Texas and Oklahoma in. Think of all the good games you get.” By melding Big Sports and Big Media, Skipper minimized the now-more-than-ever need for Big Media to investigate Big Sports. He also pushed ESPN into an entertainment-and-wokeness mode, from which the network is still recovering.
Jalen Rose, ESPN — Why must everything revolve around race, Jalen? Is it possible that some critical analysis about Biles, after she withdrew from gymnastics competition last week, was rooted in how athletes through time have forged legacies by fighting through emotional pain and physical fears? I, for one, pointed out how Suni Lee — who wound up winning the all-around event abandoned by Biles — was dealing with her own daunting obstacles and persevered nonetheless. But Rose is convinced that Biles’ critics are racists, saying on the Breakfast Club radio show, “So a lot of those people and about 75 percent of those people think January 6th at the Capitol was a picnic. A lot of those people — there’s nothing I can say into this mic for 450 years that’s gonna even compute to them that we’re more than athletes, we’re more than jocks, we’re not going to shut up and dribble.’’ And a lot of us are simply thinking of brave athletes, of all races, who’ve conquered demons to win glory — as Biles eventually did in winning bronze in her final individual event.
Arizona Bowl — The steam lid is off college football, with star players being paid lucrative sums as conferences and broadcast networks do the dirty revenue-squeeze dance. But the sport still is played by kids in their teens and 20s. So it’s gross to see Barstool Sports invite a gambling feeding frenzy by sponsoring this game, taking over broadcast distribution and planning on betting kiosks outside a campus stadium in Tucson. Dave Portnoy will be rambling in the booth, I’m sure, which suggests a foolfest of obnoxious and expletive-laced commentary. Note to athletic directors: If your program is invited, just say no to Penn National, the gaming company that owns a chunk of Barstool. Don’t blame me when your quarterback lays money on the game, or is caught with Portnoy at a strip club.
Jay Mariotti, called “the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes a weekly media column for Barrett Sports Media and regular sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts in production today. He’s an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and radio talk host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects. Compensation for this column is donated to the Chicago Sun-Times Charity Trust.