Article: Good Broadcasting in Europe (SI)

Chanchai

Semi-Pro
I'll be surprised if nobody posted this yet. People can talk about grass being greener or maybe just "different is good" or "different is good... for awhile." I certainly wasn't envious of one of Sky's broadcast decisions last week (Henman match in favor over Federer-Agassi).

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/richard_deitsch/09/10/circus.0910/index.html

European style
Watching U.S. Open in Rome is surreal, albeit cool, experience

ROME -- This eternal city practically pushes you down the noisy Via dei Sabini to the world-famous Trevi Fountain, where legend has it that if you toss a coin over your shoulder, your return to Rome (along with various other wishes) will be assured. After watching Eurosport's coverage of the U.S. Open last week from my Rome hotel room, I wished I had been born in Berlin. The coverage was in German and despite my last name -- which essentially means German -- I don't speak the language. Ich bin ein Ignorant, I know.

There's something very surreal and cool (much like being a fan of The Real World at the age of 30) about watching coverage of a major sporting event in a foreign land. When not prancing around piazzas, relaxing over red wine at Campo de' Fiori, and contemplating Keats' fate on the Spanish Steps, I was inundated with Rainer Schuettler, Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer. Eurosport also showed plenty of Andre Agassi, but I'm convinced he received heavy airtime only because he's married to Steffi Graf.

While I may not understand German, I can recognize good broadcasting -- and Eurosport's coverage offered a nice contrast with the chat-happy folks at CBS and USA Network. Most noticeably, the Eurosport announcers rarely talk during points, after points or before points. In other words, they rarely talk. During one juncture in a match between Agassi and Germany's Florian Mayer, four points were played before the announcers said a word. And, no, the screen did not fade to black with a message that said aliens had taken over our planet.

Another great thing about Eurosport was the rare opportunity to see players who couldn't be picked out in a police lineup in the States. During one viewing stretch, I watched France's Sebastien Grosjean, Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Argentina's David Nalbandian. Thus, upon returning to the land of J-Cap and A-Rod, it was nice to hear USA Network picking up on the trend of showing a flavor of non-American players. My esteemed colleague Jon Wertheim, he of the entertaining Mailbag and clever writing, noted that USA Network's coverage adroitly offered fans a good sampling of foreign players. In his SI.com midweek grades last week, he gave the network an "A" for its first week of live coverage and raved, "Now that's how you broadcast a tennis tournament. A week of judicious coverage choices and entertaining commentating." Grazie, USA Network.

ODDS AND ENDS FROM A FOREIGN LAND

If there's a less beloved team than the bronze-medal winning U.S. men's basketball team, we haven't seen it. Asked for the Olympic Games' worst moment, Lawrence Donegan, writing in The (U.K) Guardian, picked the U.S. men's hoopsters and offered this stinging rebuke of the millionaires: "Half-hearted and surly (LeBron James excepted). A troupe of overpaid ponies finally revealed as the new Harlem Globetrotters." Tell us how you really feel, dude. ...

Here's how Corriere Dello Sport, Rome's sports daily newspaper, described Andy Roddick's record 152-mph serve: "Condito anche da un servizio a 244,7 chilometri, il piu veloce nella storia degli U.S. Open." ...

Finally, one piece of travel advice: before you die -- trust us on this -- you need to eat pistachio gellato from any eatery in Rome.

DONT MISS

Sept.11, 2:30 p.m., NBC, Michigan at Notre Dame

What though the odds be great or small. Old Notre Dame continues to fall. While her loyal sons are bumbling. Onward to less than five victories. Poor, Notre Dame. Irish coach Ty Willingham is 5-10 in his last 15 games and now faces a No. 8 Michigan team with the nation's best set of receivers.

Sept. 12, 8:30 p.m., ESPN, Chiefs at Broncos

The Chiefs scored 484 points last season, though it seemed most of them came in the first nine weeks. It's a massive opening week game for a pair of longtime AFC West rivals and as an added bonus, the game is being called by Pat Summerall, who is filling in for Mike Patrick as the lead broadcaster.

-Chanchai
 

jayserinos99

Hall of Fame
I remember going to Germany a while back and watching Eurosport. They had really good stuff on tv as far as tennis went. Loved watching the clay court events. And it was true that the commentators didn't speak much; one can really get into the match easier without the commentators.
 

pound cat

G.O.A.T.
Occasionaly we get the Brit commentary of eurosport in Canada. Very subdued and sticking to the point. I found USA network coverage terrific this USO...I felt that I had seen big parts of most matches, and all parts of big matches. Great coverage. Then we get the French-Canadian commentary of USA & CBS broadcast...ooh la la , do they have fun. We get the best of broadcasting worlds...oh yes, we also get the L. American ESPN with Jimmy Arris occasionally. but if the Americans don't get their act together and produce some good players soon, none of us N.Americans are going to get any TV tennis at all!
 
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