Sunday, November 15, 2020

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2020

Once again, I tracked the number of strokes that CBS televised per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 10am ET with players grouped in threesomes starting on both nines and the leaders already on the course. I counted a total of 395 televised strokes up through the final putt which worked out to an average of 1.35 strokes per minute. This was way up over the rate from the 2020 US Open, but down slightly from the 2019 Masters.

CBS covered the final 63 strokes from winner Dustin Johnson, showing every shot he made once the telecast joined the leaders in progress on hole 2. Sungjae Im was also featured for 63 shots while fellow co-runner-up Cameron Smith was covered for 58 shots. CBS focused primarily on the final two pairings plus Rory McIlroy with those seven players receiving 84% of all televised strokes.  

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Corey Conners who tied for 10th. CBS televised strokes from 22 players during the Sunday round with nine golfers getting coverage for at least 11 shots. Regrettably, CBS spent 16 shots on Tiger Woods who was well out of contention (between 11 and 20 strokes behind during each of his televised shots). 

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. The 13th and 18th were featured the most (32  strokes each). CBS didn't show a single stroke from hole #1 as the leaders were on the 2nd hole when the telecast began. Of the remaining holes, #2 was seen fewest at 17 shots.

This is the seventh year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to other majors, see the summary table which contains links to all of these charts since 2014. 

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
  
Dustin Johnson6311
Sungjae Im63T21
Cameron Smith58T22
Dylan Frittelli50T52
Rory McIlroy38T54
Abraham Ancer35T131
Justin Thomas2542
Tiger Woods16T388
Brooks Koepka13T74
Jon Rahm5T73
Bryson DeChambeau5T3412
Andy Ogletree4T3414
Jordan Spieth4T4619
Patrick Reed3T103
Tommy Fleetwood3T194
Sebastian Munoz2T193
Bernhard Langer2T2912
Phil Mickelson2T5519
CT Pan 1T77
Webb Simpson1T107
Hideki Matsuyama1T135
John Augenstein1T5517
Corey Conners0T106
others0 
    
total395 


Hole numberTelevised shots
10
217
321
419
522
618
720
822
930
1024
1124
1221
1332
1422
1529
1621
1721
1832

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Shot chart from NBC Sunday US Open telecast - 2020

Once again, I tracked the shots that NBC televised during the Sunday round of the US Open. The final pairing teed off at 1:30pm ET, so I started tracking at 1:00 to provide a reasonable comparison to the other majors I have monitored.

I counted 327 shots during the tracking period. This total includes 30 shots that NBC aired on its Playing Through split screen feature during seven of the commercial breaks. The final putt was holed at 5:59 resulting in a rate of only 1.09 strokes per minute. This was one of the lowest rates since I have been doing this tracking. It was down from the 1.17 shown by Fox during the 2019 US Open and way down from the 1.69 by CBS from the 2020 PGA Championship

NBC showed 65 strokes from winner Bryson DeChambeau skipping only tap-ins on the 2nd and 3rd holes. NBC aired 73 from runner-up Matthew Wolff covering all but tap-ins on holes 8 and 13. The top five finishers (all shown 30+ times) received 75% of the televised shots. NBC showed 19 golfers playing strokes during this period with nine players getting coverage for at least 11 shots. The highest finisher not shown during the period was Tony Finau who tied for 8th.

For much of the round, DeChambeau and Wolff were the only ones in serious contention so NBC spent a lot of time showing them preparing for shots and engaging in some caddy-player strategy discussions. Since they were paired together, NBC frequently stayed on the twosome to show both players live rather than being able to bounce around when the top contenders are in different groupings. 

NBC went commercial-free for the final 66 minutes of play, but seemed to show a huge volume of commercials during the rest of the monitoring period.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. The 1st hole was featured most often (35 strokes) with the 18th shown second most at 30. Hole 3 received the fewest televised shots (12).

This is the seventh year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
  
Matthew Wolff73 (of 75)21
Bryson DeChambeau65 (of 67)11
Louis Oosthuizen4532
Xander Schauffele3353
Harris English3043
Rory McIlroy23T84
Justin Thomas13T810
Zach Johnson12T84
Hideki Matsuyama11T172
Dustin Johnson6T611
Webb Simpson4T87
Viktor Hovland2T135
Patrick Reed2T138
Joaquin Niemann2T237
Jon Rahm2T2317
Adam Long1T139
Will Zalatoris1T69
Bubba Watson1T3113
Daniel Berger1T3416
Tony Finau0T812
others0 
    
total327 

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole numberTelevised shots
135
217
312
419
517
616
716
817
919
1019
1115
1221
1313
1414
1514
1617
1716
1830

Monday, August 10, 2020

Shot chart from CBS Sunday PGA Championship telecast - 2020

Once again, I tracked the strokes televised by CBS during the Sunday round of the PGA Championship. I started the tracking at 4pm ET and counted 496 televised strokes from the final round. This total includes 33 shots that CBS aired on its Eye On The Course split screen feature during seven of the commercial breaks. I stopped the tracking when the final group putted out. This resulted in an average of 1.69 strokes per minute which is by far the highest I have ever recorded for any golf major since starting this tracking in 2014. The previous high was 1.41 for the 2017 Masters. For comparison, the 2019 PGA had only 1.14 shots per minute.

With no paying spectators in attendance, CBS focused on golf rather than fan reactions. With so many players in contention, CBS moved around constantly and showed between 48 and 57 strokes for seven different players. Eleven players received coverage for at least 10 shots. Overall, CBS showed 27 different golfers playing strokes during the tracking period, but 13 of those players only got three shots or fewer. The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Brendan Todd who tied for 17th.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. The 18th was featured the most (42 strokes) with the par 5 10th getting 41. The 3rd hole was shown the least (18 televised strokes). 

It will be interesting to see the televised shot rates for the upcoming majors which will also be played without fans. 

This is the seventh year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to other majors, see the summary table which contains links to all of these charts since 2014. 

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
  
Dustin Johnson57 T21
Scottie Scheffler55T41
Bryson DeChambeau54T44
Collin Morikawa5212
Tony Finau52T44
Paul Casey49T23
Cameron Champ48T102
Jason Day33T45
Matthew Wolff23T48
Brooks Koepka17T293
Justin Rose1095
Xander Schauffele8T108
Justin Thomas7T3718
Rory McIlroy7T3324
Harold Varner III3T2913
Patrick Reed3T1313
Daniel Berger3T136
Tommy Fleetwood2T296
Jon Rahm2T1312
Haotong Li2T179
Denny McCarthy2T5820
Mike Lorenzo-Vera2T4310
Adam Scott1T2217
Joel Dahmen1T107
Si Woo Kim1T137
Harris English1T1918
Lanto Griffin1T1914
Brendan Todd0T1715
others0 
    
total496 

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 = final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole numberTelevised shots
134
223
318
426
526
622
728
819
929
1041
1125
1233
1332
1426
1521
1629
1722
1842

Thursday, December 5, 2019

The first college basketball game on ESPN was not the often cited Dick Vitale debut

40 years ago today, Dick Vitale made his debut on ESPN as the analyst on the 12/5/1979 Wisconsin @ DePaul game with Joe Boyle on play-by-play. Over the years, many sources have cited this as the first-ever college basketball telecast on ESPN which was launched three months earlier. But was it really the first?



For example, a Sarasota Herald Tribune article from 2018 stated:
On December 5, 1979, ESPN broadcast its first college basketball game, DePaul versus Wisconsin, and Vitale, fired a month earlier as head coach of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, provided the color.
A story on the Detroit Titans official site discussing the court named after Vitale said:
Vitale sat courtside for ESPN’s first-ever NCAA basketball game – Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979
Even the bio on Vitale's own website makes this incorrect claim:
Vitale called ESPN’s first-ever NCAA basketball game – Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979 (a 90-77 DePaul win)
I have to admit that this blog relied on such sources and made the same claim in 2012.

However, the Vitale TV debut was not the first college basketball game on ESPN. I found a 12/3/1979 article from the New York Times archives which reviewed some of the programming from the prior weekend on the new cable network and showed that ESPN televised at least five college basketball contests before the 12/5 Vitale appearance:

11/30

St. John's vs Oral Roberts
Michigan St. vs Princeton (this was a semifinal doubleheader from the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament)

12/1

Valparaiso @ Notre Dame
St. John's vs Michigan St. (Lapchick Tournament final)
Yale @ Connecticut

Some references to the Wisconsin @ DePaul game claim that it was the first "major" college basketball telecast on ESPN. Here is an ESPN bio of Vitale
Vitale called ESPN’s first-ever major NCAA basketball game—Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979
However, the 12/1 Lapchick Tournament title game featured #16 ranked St. John's against reigning national champion Michigan St., so that claim of first "major" seems faulty.
I also found an interestingly worded reference in the 2015 book Every Town is a Sports Town by former ESPN president George Bodenheimer:
Dick Vitale did the very first national basketball game that ever aired on ESPN (a DePaul victory over Wisconsin).
I'm not sure what to make of the "national" qualifier on this statement as I believe all ESPN programming at that time was "national" (at least across the subset of cable system that actually carried the network at that time).

According to my research, the only college basketball game during the 1979-80 season which took place prior to 11/30 was the Hall of Fame Tipoff Classic which was televised by TVS. So that fact combined with the above NY Times article appears to confirm that the St. John's vs Oral Roberts matchup (which opened the Lapchick doubleheader) was the first-ever ESPN college basketball telecast.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Shot chart from NBC Sunday Open Championship telecast - 2019

I tracked the strokes televised by NBC during the Sunday round of the Open Championship. I started tracking at 8am ET to provide a comparable time period to the other majors I have tracked. NBC televised 389 strokes during the tracking period. This total includes 46 shots that NBC aired as part of its Playing Through feature during 13 of the commercial breaks. The last putt dropped at 1:09pm resulting in a rate of 1.26 strokes per minute which was down slightly from the 2018 Open, but was up over the previous two 2019 majors.

NBC showed strokes from 23 different players during the tracking period with eight golfers being covered for at least 23 strokes. Those eight accounted for 85% of the televised shots. NBC televised every stroke from winner Shane Lowry and all but one from runner-up Tommy Fleetwood (skipping only a tap-in on hole 11). That final pairing accounted for 45% of all televised strokes. Third place finisher Tony Finau was only covered for eight strokes. The highest finisher not shown during this period was Robert MacIntyre who was part of a tie for 6th.

I also counted the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. Hole #1 (43 strokes) was featured most frequently by far as no other hole received more than 27 shots. On the flipside, the 15th hole was covered for just 10 televised srokes.

This is the sixth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all of my shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Tommy Fleetwood73 (of 74)21
Shane Lowry72 (of 72)11
Brooks Koepka41T42
Rickie Fowler38T63
Justin Thomas28T1111
Lee Westwood27T44
Jordan Spieth26T206
JB Holmes23T672
Jon Rahm10T115
Danny Willett9T64
Henrik Stenson9T206
Tony Finau835
Justin Rose8T203
Patrick Reed31011
Matt Kuchar3T417
Matthew Fitzpatrick2T2012
Stewart Cink2T2025
Dustin Johnson2T5118
Tyrell Hatton1T613
Ryan Fox1T1623
Ernie Els1T3221
Dylan Frittelli1T328
Mikko Korhonen1T6318
Robert MacIntyre0T617
others0
total389

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 = final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole numberTelevised shots
143
222
314
419
522
616
723
822
914
1027
1123
1227
1318
1416
1510
1621
1725
1826

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2019

Once again, I tracked the shots that Fox televised during the Sunday round of the US Open. The final pairing teed off at 5:30pm ET, so I started tracking at 5:00 to provide a reasonable comparison to the other majors I have monitored.

I counted 317 shots during the tracking period. The final putt was holed at 9:31 resulting in a rate of 1.17 strokes per minute. This was down from the 1.24 shown by Fox during the 2018 US Open.

Fox showed 68 strokes from winner Gary Woodland skipping only a tap-in on #13. Fox aired 66 from runner-up Brooks Koepka, covering all but tap-ins on holes 7 and 16. Justin Rose had the most televised strokes (70). That trio accounted for 64 percent of all the televised shots during the tracking period. Fox showed 21 golfers playing strokes during this period with seven players getting coverage for at least 10 shots. The highest finishers not shown during the period were Matthew Fitzpatrick and Danny Willett who were part of the tie for 12th.

Fox went commercial-free for the final 49 minutes of play.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. The 18th was featured most often (34 strokes) by a sizable margin. Hole 3 received the fewest televised shots (11).

This is the sixth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Justin Rose70 (of 74)T31
Gary Woodland68 (of 69)11
Brooks Koepka66 (of 68)22
Louis Oosthuizen28T73
Rory McIlroy21T93
Xander Schauffele11T38
Adam Scott10T78
Chez Reavie8T32
Viktor Hovland7T1216
Tiger Woods5T2115
Jon Rahm4T36
Dustin Johnson4T3510
Henrik Stenson3T96
Matt Kuchar2T164
Graeme McDowell2T165
Francesco Molinari2T1611
Jordan Spieth2T6520
Chesson Hadley1T94
Matt Wallace1T127
Patrick Reed1T3224
Brandon Wu1T3510
Fitzpatrick/Willett0T12
others0
total317


Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.


Hole numberTelevised shots
121
221
311
418
515
620
716
819
916
1017
1115
1221
1315
1418
1514
1613
1713
1834

Sunday, May 19, 2019

Shot chart from CBS Sunday PGA Championship telecast - 2019

I tracked the strokes televised by CBS during the Sunday round of the PGA Championship. I counted 321 televised strokes from the 4th round. This total includes nine shots that CBS aired on its Eye On The Course split screen feature during four of the commercial breaks. This resulted in an average of 1.14 strokes per minute which was much lower than the 2017 PGA, but the same rate as the 2016 telecast.

CBS televised 73 strokes by winner Brooks Koepka, skipping only a tap-in putt on hole 7. The network aired 67 strokes from runner-up Dustin Johnson, bypassing his tap-ins on the first two holes. Jazz Janewottananond received the next most frequent coverage (39 strokes) but was not shown after hole 13.

Nine players received coverage for at least 10 shots. Late in the round with so few players in contention, CBS shifted into a mode of primarily showing just Koepka and DJ. Overall, CBS showed 20 different golfers playing strokes, but eight of these were for a single shot. The highest finishers not shown at all by CBS were four of the six players who tied for 8th (Matt Kuchar, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, and Gary Woodland).

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. The 12th was featured the most (25 strokes) with holes 3 and 11 receiving coverage for 24 shots each. CBS devoted the fewest televised strokes to the 14th and 16th holes (only 10 shots each).

CBS made a very questionable decision to interview DJ while Koepka was hitting an important layup shot on the 18th from what appeared to be a tricky lie. CBS also made a blunder after the final group completed hole 5 when it displayed a scorecard graphic for Harold Varner III showing him making a bogey on hole 6 (which he had not yet started!) and showing his overall score at E when he was still at -1. Jim Nantz, apparently reading from the incorrect graphic, rattled off Varner's run of poor scores including the phantom score from the 6th hole.

This is the sixth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to other majors, see the summary table which contains links to all of these charts since 2014. (Note: I was busy during the Sunday round of the 2018 PGA and never compiled that chart, but I have a DVR copy of that telecast and may get to it eventually.)

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finishers not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Brooks Koepka7311
Dustin Johnson6723
Jazz Janewattananond39T142
Harold Varner III34T361
Matt Wallace23T34
Jordan Spieth22T36
Hideki Matsuyama17T163
Patrick Cantlay16T35
Rory McIlroy10T816
Luke List662
Jason Day3T2315
Rickie Fowler3T367
Sung Kang177
Erik Van Rooyen1T86
Lucas Bjerregaard1T169
Lucas Glover1T169
Webb Simpson1T2921
Kiradech Aphinbarnrat1T4114
Francesco Molinari1T4822
Zach Johnson1T5422
Kuchar/Lowry/Scott/Woodland0T8
others0
total321

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.


Hole numberTelevised shots
122
221
324
421
520
612
713
812
919
1023
1124
1225
1316
1410
1514
1610
1714
1821

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2019

For the sixth time, I tracked the number of strokes that CBS televised per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 9am ET (after tee times were moved earlier to beat the storms) with players grouped in threesomes. I counted a total of 450 televised strokes. The final putt dropped at 2:27 resulting in an average of 1.38 strokes per minute which was slightly less than the rate of the 2018 Masters, but still the third highest of all major tournaments I have tracked since 2014.

CBS covered 69 of the 70 strokes from winner Tiger Woods (skipping only a tap-in putt on hole #1). Francesco Molinari actually received coverage for 70 shots. His final score of 74 included two penalty strokes, so CBS only bypassed two of his shots (a layup on 15 and his tee shot on 17). Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau were spotlighted for 59 shots each. Those four players accounted for 57% of the televised shots.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Aaron Wise who finished 17th. CBS televised strokes from 26 players during the Sunday round and 11 golfers were covered for at least 10 shots.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. Once again, the 18th was featured the most (38 strokes). Hole #5 was featured second most often (33 strokes) while the 14th hole received the fewest televised strokes as CBS only aired 14 shots there.

This is the sixth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Francesco Molinari70 (of 72*)T51
Tiger Woods69 (of 70)11
Brooks Koepka59T22
Tony Finau59T51
Xander Schauffele36T23
Ian Poulter28T122
Patrick Cantlay24T95
Webb Simpson14T52
Rickie Fowler12T94
Dustin Johnson10T24
Jason Day10T57
Phil Mickelson8T186
Jon Rahm7T96
Matt Kuchar7T123
Bubba Watson7T127
Jordan Spieth7T218
Alvaro Ortiz4T3616
Justin Harding3T123
Justin Thomas3T126
Rory McIlroy3T2114
Louis Oosthuizen3T294
Viktor Hovland3T3212
Thorbjorn Olesen1T215
Bryson DeChambeau1T2913
Patrick Reed1T3617
Alex Noren1T6222
Aaron Wise01711
others0
total450

* Molinari took 72 "shots" plus two penalty strokes for a score of 74

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.


Hole numberTelevised shots
123
229
321
423
533
622
723
827
928
1022
1119
1222
1318
1414
1531
1626
1731
1838

Thursday, January 10, 2019

Unusual Fox announcer assignment for NFL playoffs (not seen since 1980)

The network which has the late Sunday afternoon window on NFL Divisional Playoff weekend almost always sends its #1 announcer crew to that game. This time slot traditionally obtains the highest ratings of any NFL playoff weekend and networks typically assign their top broadcast team to the game expected to draw the best TV rating.

However, this weekend, Fox has the late Sunday slot (Eagles-Saints), but is not using its #1 team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on that game. Instead, Fox is sending its #2 announcer team of Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis to New Orleans. Fox is using Buck and Aikman on the Saturday prime time Cowboys-Rams game despite the fact that Eagles-Saints will almost certainly garner a much higher rating due to its favorable time slot.

The last time a network which had the late Sunday afternoon window chose to send its top announcers to a different divisional playoff game was during the 1980 playoffs when CBS sent its #1 team of Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier to call the early Saturday Vikings-Eagles game and assigned the #2 crew of Vin Scully and George Allen to the late Sunday Cowboys-Falcons matchup.

So the Fox announcer assignments for this weekend represent a situation that hasn't happened in 38 years - and has only occurred three previous times since the 1970 merger.

Here is a summary of the rare cases where a network which had the late Sunday divisional playoff window sent its #1 announcer crew to a different game (all years refer to the NFL season, even when the playoff games were played in January):

2018 - Fox - described above

1980 - CBS - described above

1978 - CBS - #1 team of Summerall and Brookshier called Falcons-Cowboys (late Saturday)
                         #2 team of Scully, Allen, and Jim Brown called Vikings-Rams (late Sunday)

1972 - NBC - #1 team of Curt Gowdy and Al Derogatis called Raiders-Steelers "immaculate reception" (early Saturday)
                          #2 team of Jim Simpson and Kyle Rote called Browns-Dolphins (late Sunday)

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Shot chart from NBC Sunday Open Championship telecast - 2018

I monitored the strokes televised by NBC during the final round of the Open Championship. I started tracking at 9am ET to provide a comparable time period to the other majors I have tracked. NBC televised 383 strokes during the tracking period. This total includes 30 shots that NBC aired as part of its Playing Through feature during 10 of the commercial breaks. With the final putt dropping at 1:57pm, the rate worked out to 1.29 strokes per minute.

NBC showed strokes from 21 different players during the tracking period with seven golfers being covered for at least 22 strokes. Those seven accounted for 84% of the televised shots. NBC televised 45 strokes from winner Francesco Molinari which was only the fourth highest total. NBC devoted air time to 65 strokes from Tiger Woods and spotlighted the final pairing of Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele for 58 and 55 shots respectively. The highest finishers not shown during this period were three of the players who were part of a tie for 12th.

I also recorded the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. The 18th was featured most frequently (39 strokes) followed by hole #1 (35 shots). On the other extreme, the 9th hole received only nine televised shots.

This is the fifth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all such shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finishers not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:

PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Tiger Woods65 (of 71)T63
Jordan Spieth58T91
Xander Schauffele55T21
Francesco Molinari4513
Kevin Kisner40T22
Rory McIlroy35T25
Kevin Chappell22T62
Tommy Fleetwood10T126
Justin Rose9T27
Matt Kuchar7T95
Phil Mickelson7T2419
Eddie Pepperell5T619
Tony Finau4T99
Webb Simpson4T124
Alex Noren4T174
Zach Johnson4T176
Erik Van Rooyen4T1710
Jason Day2T1727
Bernhard Langer1T2418
Julian Suri1T2823
Sean Crocker1T4715
Cantlay/Moore/Olesen0T12
others0
total383

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 = final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole numberTelevised shots
135
220
320
418
523
624
719
812
99
1016
1119
1219
1321
1426
1519
1619
1725
1839

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2018

I tracked the shots televised by Fox during the Sunday round of the US Open. The final pairing teed off at 2:24pm ET, so I started the tracking at 2:00 to provide a fair comparison to the other majors I have monitored.

Fox showed 345 shots during the tracking period. Play concluded at 6:39 which worked out to a rate of 1.24 strokes per minute. This was down from the 1.30 shown by Fox during the 2017 US Open.

Fox showed 65 strokes from Dustin Johnson and 64 by winner Brooks Koepka. Patrick Reed was featured for 58 strokes. The final pairing of Tony Finau and Daniel Berger checked in at 44 and 29 respectively. Runner-up Tommy Fleetwood (who was already on the 10th hole when the tracking period started) was covered for 25. Fox showed only 18 golfers playing strokes during this period with eight players getting coverage for at least 12 shots. The highest finisher not shown during the period was Zach Johnson who tied for 12th.

A few notes on the TV coverage:

  • Fox went commercial-free for the final 52 minutes of play.
  • I noticed two different occasions when the Fox on-screen scoreboard gave away a result of a shot that Fox was about to show. With D Johnson facing a rather short par putt on 7, Fox cut to show Fleetwood at 18. While there, the on-screen leaderboard updated to show Johnson dropping a shot on 7 and sliding down the board. Then Fox cut back to 7 and aired Johnson missing the putt. Similarly, Fox showed Fitzpatrick's approach to 18, but before it went back there to televise his birdie putt, the on-screen scroll showed Fitzpatrick's final score, again giving away the result.
  • When D Johnson was hitting a layup shot on 16, Fox was showing Koepka standing in the fairway. You could hear the club strike the ball and then a camera picked up the ball and showed it land. I chose to count this as a televised stroke.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole during the tracking period. The 18th was featured the most (39 strokes) by a wide margin. Hole 7 received the fewest televised shots (12).

This is the fifth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown during the tracking period) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Dustin Johnson65 (of 70)32
Brooks Koepka64 (of 68)12
Patrick Reed5844
Tony Finau4451
Daniel Berger29T61
Tommy Fleetwood25214
Justin Rose20T103
Henrik Stenson12T63
Matthew Fitzpatrick9T1211
Webb Simpson6T109
Kiradech Aphinbarnrat3154
Xander Schauffele3T610
Matt Parziale2T4818
Tyrell Hatton1T66
Russell Knox1T1213
Brian Gay1T205
Ian Poulter1T257
Luis Gagne1T4823
Zach Johnson0T129
others0
total345


Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.


Hole numberTelevised shots
121
217
318
415
519
613
712
813
913
1020
1124
1225
1321
1417
1517
1623
1718
1839

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2018

I tracked the number of strokes that CBS aired per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 2pm ET and I counted a total of 387 televised strokes. The final putt dropped at 6:38 which worked out to an average of 1.39 strokes per minute, a slight decrease over the rate from the 2017 Masters, but still the second highest of all major tournaments I have tracked since 2014.

CBS covered all 71 strokes from winner Patrick Reed. Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were spotlighted for 58 shots each. Runner-up Rickie Fowler and third place finisher Jordan Spieth also received significant coverage. Overall those five players accounted for over 74% of the televised shots. Early in the telecast, CBS went overboard on the well out-of-contention Tiger Woods who was shown for 18 strokes (two of which were taped highlights from prior to airtime) which wound up being the sixth most of any player. CBS also included a 3-stroke highlight package of Phil Mickelson who had already completed his round.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Marc Leishman who wound up 9th (after being featured prominently on Saturday). CBS televised strokes from just 22 players during the Sunday round.

I also tracked the number of televised strokes by hole. The 18th was featured the most (36 strokes). I was a bit surprised at a few other results from this tracking. Hole #1 was seen second most often (29 strokes). And the iconic par-3 12th received the fewest televised stokes as CBS only showed 10 shots from that hole.

This is the fifth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast) followed by the hole-by-hole breakdown:


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Patrick Reed71 (of 71)11
Jon Rahm5842
Rory McIlroy58T51
Rickie Fowler5422
Jordan Spieth4835
Tiger Woods18T3220
Henrik Stenson17T53
Paul Casey17T1515
Justin Thomas11T175
Bubba Watson8T54
Webb Simpson5T2018
Cameron Smith4T56
Dustin Johnson4T106
Tony Finau3T1010
Phil Mickelson3T3625
Fred Couples2T3819
Justin Rose1T127
Charley Hoffman1T1210
Jimmy Walker 1T209
Jason Day1T208
Branden Grace1T2421
Doug Ghim1T5024
Marc Leishman094
others0
total387

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Hole numberTelevised shots
129
228
316
415
519
615
717
823
922
1020
1120
1210
1326
1415
1528
1621
1727
1836


Sunday, February 18, 2018

Howard Cosell - Black Hat in the Booth

If you are searching for a villain in the world of sports TV broadcasting, one figure jumps quickly to mind. That would be the man who wrote the following in his 1973 self-titled autobiography:
Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a show-off. I have been called all of these. Of course, I am.
The writer was none other than Howard Cosell.

When ABC launched the Monday Night Football package in 1970, executive producer Roone Arledge unveiled a unique three-man booth. Arledge inserted Cosell into the mix to supplement the traditional roles of a play-by-announcer (Keith Jackson) and analyst (Don Meredith). And the pivotal member of that commentary team was clearly Cosell.

Meredith, who was new to broadcasting, was so apprehensive as the season opener approached that he considered backing out of his contract to call the games. Cosell told Meredith: You'll wear the white hat, I'll wear the black hat. By casting himself in such a role and exhibiting all of the characteristics he outlined in the above book quote, Cosell turned Meredith into a hero to viewers who loved the way that Dandy Don would needle Humble Howard. Ratings surged as fans were drawn to the weekly banter between Meredith and Cosell. Meredith even earned an Emmy Award from that first season.

After the first game, Cosell became a villain in the minds of advertisers, most notably Henry Ford II of the Ford Motor Company who felt that Cosell detracted from his enjoyment of the telecast. He threatened to withdraw the Ford sponsorship of the prime time series unless ABC removed Cosell from the booth. After early season ratings proved stronger than expected, Ford backed off from the threat and Cosell remained a prominent member of the ABC NFL package for its first 14 years.

A key feature of this prime-time series was the halftime highlights segment which was narrated by Cosell. ABC would show select plays from subset of the Sunday games using NFL Films footage. Here, Cosell became the villain to many fans who would blame him if their favorite team wasn't shown on the highlight package. A bar in Denver actually conducted a weekly drawing with the winner getting to throw a brick at an old black & white TV when Cosell appeared on the screen.

Cosell always seemed to relish his role as the announcer that viewers loved to hate. He took the same approach in the way he portrayed himself in movies and guest appearances on sitcoms such as The Odd Couple.

In 1978, TV Guide conducted a survey to determine which TV sports announcers were the most liked and least liked by viewers. Cosell famously finished first in both categories! Of course, in the polling for least liked, the margin was overwhelming.

Cosell surfaced as a prominent villain in other sports as well. ABC acquired Major League Baseball rights in 1976, but suffered disappointing ratings for its first season of Monday Night Baseball and received poor reviews for its initial lead announcer team. As the postseason approached, the network performed a major overhaul of its broadcasters and unveiled plans to install Cosell for the ALCS. MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn strongly objected because of comments by Cosell in recent years about how dull baseball had become. But Arledge held the trump card as the contract he had signed with MLB gave ABC the final say over announcers. So Cosell worked the playoffs and became a regular member of Monday Night Baseball the next season.

When ABC first bid for the TV rights to the 1976 Summer Olympics, the Montreal Olympic Committee tried to make the bid conditional on ABC not using Cosell on the telecasts. Again, Arledge won out as ABC got the rights and Cosell was ringside at the boxing venue.

Cosell called most of the key boxing matches on ABC during the 1970s. In 1982, he was at the mic for the Larry Holmes title fight against Randall "Tex" Cobb. The bout was extremely one-sided and Cosell, via his on-air commentary, implored the referee to stop the fight and expressed disgust that the match was allowed to go the distance.

Soon afterwards, Cosell declared that he was done with professional boxing and called for its abolition. Of course, he was lambasted by many in the press who viewed his stance as hypocritical since boxing was the sport where he first rose to prominence in the 1960s. He never worked another pro fight (although he did call amateur bouts during the 1984 Olympics).

Being a villain to the print media was nothing new for Cosell. He had a longstanding feud with sportswriter Dick Young of the New York Daily News who frequently attacked Cosell in his columns. He was also harshly criticized by Sports Illustrated for an interview he conducted with USA track coach Stan Wright during the 1972 Munich Olympics after a time schedule foulup caused two top USA sprinters to be disqualified.

In 1983, Cosell became a villain to the press once again when he used the phrase "little monkey" while praising Redskins wide receiver Alvin Garrett during a MNF telecast - which some perceived as racist. Later in that game, Cosell made the situation worse by issuing an on-air denial that he had used such a term. Despite the fact that Cosell had been a longtime supporter of civil rights, he was the subject of countless negative newspaper headlines over this incident.

Cosell was notorious for consuming alcohol before and during his telecasts. He famously left a Monday Night Football  telecast mid-game in Philadephia in 1970 after being drunk on the air and vomiting on Meredith's boots. His heavy drinking during the 1984 baseball playoffs also caused a major rift with Al Michaels.

Cosell became the villain yet again, this time to his entire industry, with the publication of I Never Played The Game in 1985. In the book, he blasted several of his former TV colleagues including Frank Gifford, OJ Simpson, and Meredith. Less than two weeks before the start of the 1985 World Series, ABC removed Cosell from its planned Fall Classic telecast team.

Also, in that book, Cosell wrote that in 1984, he received a call from Vince McMahon, chairman of the World Wrestling Federation. It turned out that McMahon wanted to hire Cosell to be the primary announcer for WWF wrestling telecasts. Cosell turned him down, but I find it intriguing to envision Cosell (the ultimate villain announcer) calling staged matches for McMahon's company at a time when professional wrestling was about to boom in popularity. McMahon went on to successfully feature many villain announcers of his own such as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

Howard Cosell was an absolute giant in the sportscasting industry. He dominated virtually any telecast in which he appeared and had the ability to elevate the perceived importance of each event. But, throughout his career, Cosell was seen as a villain by numerous entities - viewers, advertisers, league commissioners, sportswriters, and broadcasting colleagues - a true black hat in the booth.

This post is part of a Classic TV Villain Blogathon hosted by Classic Film and TV Cafe. Please check out the complete schedule of blog posts for this event.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The myth about the Fair Hooker comment attributed to Don Meredith

In 1970, ABC introduced Monday Night Football and placed the colorful Don Meredith in the booth alongside Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell. Meredith became known for his irreverent style and classic one-liners. Perhaps the most famous quote attributed to Meredith took place in the debut regular season edition of this prime time series. Late in the second quarter of that telecast, Meredith commented about the intriguing name of Browns wide receiver Fair Hooker. According to a frequently cited legend, Dandy Don uttered a follow-up remark along the lines of "I haven't met one yet."

I've long wondered how this commentary sounded on-air (more on that later). First, let's take a look at several versions of this tale which have appeared in print.

Meredith died in 2010 and his obituary in the New York Times contained this statement:

Mr. Meredith offered a taste of his breezy, even risqué, humor in that first broadcast. In talking about the Cleveland Browns receiver Fair Hooker, Mr. Meredith said, “Fair Hooker — I haven’t met one yet.”

Upon Meredith's passing, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel recounted the story this way:

Perhaps the greatest line of them all came in the first Monday night game between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns.
Cleveland receiver Fair Hooker had just caught a pass, which really got Meredith going.
"Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?" he asked.
Keith Jackson said nothing and for once Cosell was speechless.
Meredith then added, "Fair Hooker . . . I haven't met one yet."

Another variation appeared in this 1978 Washington Post article:

Or the time he said of Fair Hooker (the Cleveland wide receiver), "Now there's a name. Fair Hooker. I ain't never met one yet."

The 1988 book Monday Night Mayhem, a detailed history of ABC's Monday Night Football, offered this version:

"Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?" Meredith asked, with the implications hanging.
"I pass," Jackson said.
Cosell, perhaps reluctant to hear what might come next, said nothing.
Meredith went on anyway. "Fair Hooker", he mused. "I haven't met one yet."

Obviously some of the details on the exact wording and the reactions of Jackson and Cosell are inconsistent in these renditions. But the essence of the story is that during this Jets-Browns telecast, Meredith commented about the name Fair Hooker and then followed up with a classic line about never having met one. And numerous other newspapers, magazines, and books over the years have described the incident along those lines. However, there is one major problem with this tale. The famous alleged on-air follow-up statement never happened!

A full copy of this 9/21/70 telecast recently surfaced on YouTube. I located the exchange in question starting around the 1:23:21 mark as Meredith analyzes the previous play:

Meredith: Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?
Cosell: <after a slight pause> I pass.
Jackson: 3rd down and about 42 yards to go

And that was the extent of it. No follow-up remark of "I haven't met one yet" or anything resembling it. I wondered whether Meredith may have made that kind of statement later in the telecast. But I listened to the remainder of the video and found no such comment.

So where did this famous story come from? I have no idea. I suppose that once it appeared in print, other publications assumed it was true without attempting to verify it and simply ran with it. But that doesn't explain how it got printed that way in the first place. Perhaps Meredith was later interviewed about his "great name" comment and added the "haven't met one yet" quip at that time.

It seems that this often quoted Meredith line was really too good to be true.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Shot chart from CBS Sunday PGA Championship telecast - 2017

I tracked the strokes televised by CBS during the final round of the PGA Championship. On Sunday, CBS showed 401 strokes from the 4th round. This worked out to an average of 1.32 strokes per minute - which was much higher than the previous three PGA Championship Sunday telecasts I have tracked.

CBS televised 55 strokes by winner Justin Thomas. Playing partner Hideki Matsuyama who was in stronger contention early in the round was seen most often (68). Along with third round leader Kevin Kisner (64) and Chris Stroud (52), the final two pairings accounted for 60% of the televised shots.

At one point during the round, eight golfers were within two shots of the lead. CBS bounced around frequently to show key shots from the many contenders. A whopping eight players received coverage for at least 25 shots. CBS devoted 87% of the televised strokes to those eight players. Overall, CBS showed 23 different golfers playing strokes. The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Justin Smith (T9).

I have compiled these televised shot charts since 2014. For comparison to other majors, see the summary table which contains links to all of these charts. (Note: I was busy during the Sunday round of the 2017 Open Championship and never compiled that chart, but I have a DVR copy of that telecast and may get to it some day).

Here is the complete shot chart:

PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Hideki Matsuyama68 (of 71*)T52
Kevin Kisner64 (of 72**)T71
Justin Thomas5512
Chris Stroud52T91
Patrick Reed30T24
Louis Oosthuizen28T23
Francesco Molinari28T26
Rickie Fowler25T58
Jordan Spieth14T2821
Graham DaLaet6T74
Jason Day5T99
Grayson Murray4T223
Ian Poulter4T2221
Sung Kang3T447
Jon Rahm3T5822
Matt Kuchar2T915
Brooks Koepka2T1318
Dustin Johnson2T1327
Gary Woodland2T225
Jason Kokrak2T3326
Marc Leishman1T1324
Chez Reavie1T226
Jordan Smith0T915
others0
total401

* Matsuyama took 71 "shots" plus one penalty stroke for a score of 72
* Kisner took 72 "shots" plus two penalty strokes for a score of 74

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Shot chart from Fox Sunday US Open telecast - 2017

I tracked the shots televised by Fox during the final round of the US Open. With the leaders teeing off around 4pm ET, I started the tracking at 3:30 to provide a similar timeframe to the other majors I have monitored.

Fox showed 366 strokes during the tracking period. The final putt dropped at 8:12 which resulted in a rate of 1.30 strokes per minute. This marked a significant increase over the 1.12 and 1.18 shown by Fox during its last two US Open telecasts, but trailed the 1.41 rate from the 2017 Masters on CBS.

Fox showed all but four shots from both winner Brooks Koepka and Brian Harman who tied for second. Rickie Fowler had 58 strokes televised and Tommy Fleetwood received coverage for 56. During the tracking period, Fox devoted 67% of its televised strokes to those four players. Fox showed 23 golfers playing strokes with eight players getting coverage for at least 12 shots. The highest finishers not shown during the period were three in the group who tied for 16th.

Also notable: Fox went commercial-free for the last 46 minutes of play.

This is the fourth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finishers not shown during the tracking period):

PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Brian Harman68 (of 72)T21
Brooks Koepka63 (of 67)12
Rickie Fowler58T53
Tommy Fleetwood5642
Justin Thomas30T91
Hideki Matsuyama21T28
Si Woo Kim14T133
Charley Hoffman1285
Xander Schauffele6T57
Brandt Snedeker6T96
Patrick Reed5T134
Russell Henley5T274
Cameron Champ5T3212
Steve Stricker4T1615
Bill Haas2T55
JB Holmes2128
Matt Kuchar2T1618
Sergio Garcia2T2110
Trey Mullinax1T99
Brendan Steele1T136
David Lingmerth1T2115
Jim Furyk1T2314
Scottie Scheffler1T2717
Bernd Wiesberger0T167
Eddie Pepperell0T1610
Chez Reavie0T1611
others0
total366

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Shot chart from CBS Sunday Masters telecast - 2017

I tracked the number of strokes that CBS aired per player during the Sunday round of the Masters. The telecast began at 2pm ET and I counted a total of 430 strokes televised by CBS during regulation. The final putt in regulation was holed at 7:05 which worked out to an average of 1.41 strokes per minute - not only an increase over the rate from the 2016 Masters, but a new record high for all major tournaments I have tracked since 2014.

Note: CBS televised all eight shots from the playoff, but I did not count these in the table in order to provide a fairer comparison to the tracking for other tournaments.

CBS covered 66 regulation strokes from both winner Sergio Garcia (skipping two tap-ins) and runner-up Justin Rose (skipping two layups and a tap-in). Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth were featured next most frequently. Those four players (comprising the final two pairings) accounted for slightly more than half of all televised shots. Early in the telecast, CBS seemed quite consumed with the competition for low amateur honors and wound up devoting a total of 17 strokes to the two amateurs who made the cut.

The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Kevin Chappell who tied for 7th. CBS televised strokes from 27 different players. 13 players were covered for at least 10 shots.

This is the fourth year that I have compiled these televised shot charts. For comparison to prior majors, see this summary table which contains links to all shot charts since 2014.

Here is the complete shot chart (including the highest finisher not shown on the telecast):


PlayerShots shownFinishPairing
Sergio Garcia66 (of 68*)11
Justin Rose66 (of 69)21
Rickie Fowler50T112
Jordan Spieth35T112
Charl Schwartzel3134
Paul Casey2566
Charley Hoffman23T223
Thomas Pieters22T45
Adam Scott19T94
Matt Kuchar11T47
Ryan Moore11T93
Phil Mickelson11T2213
Stewart Hagestad10T3618
Fred Couples9T1810
Lee Westwood8T185
Curtis Luck7T4624
Rory McIlroy7T77
Martin Kaymer6T1616
Russell Henley3T1112
Jason Day2T2214
Jon Rahm2T278
Hideki Matsuyama1T1115
Jimmy Walker1T189
William McGirt1T228
Justin Thomas1T2214
Daniel Berger1T2718
Marc Leishman1T4326
Kevin Chappell0T79
others0
total430

* Garcia took 68 "shots" plus one penalty stroke for a score of 69

Note: The Pairing column reflects the tee time groupings in reverse order, so 1 =  final pairing, 2 = next-to-last, etc.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Rundown of Dick Vitale's college basketball TV partners

This week, ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale is scheduled to call a game with Karl Ravech for the first time. Ravech will become the sixth play-by-play announcer this season to receive a first-ever TV pairing with Dickie V.

After noticing a recent flurry of such first-time pairings, I wondered how many different play-by-play partners have shared the broadcast table with Vitale over the years. So I attempted to compile a list of all play-by-play announcers who have worked with Vitale on college basketball. (Note: I am almost certainly missing some announcers from the early ESPN years as these the hardest to research.)

Vitale called the first college basketball game ever on ESPN back in December 1979 alongside Joe Boyle. Eventually, ESPN paired him regularly with Jim Simpson. In subsequent years, his most common ESPN partners included Mike Patrick, Tim Brando, Brad Nessler, and Dan Shulman. When ABC started carrying college games, he frequently worked with Keith Jackson and later Brent Musburger.

The list is a mix of prestigious broadcasters and lesser-known voices. One interesting name (perhaps surprising to some) is Al Michaels who worked a single time with Vitale (the 1989 Pac-10 championship game on ABC).

I find the pattern intriguing. Starting from the late 1980s, Vitale was acquiring about two new partners per year. Then after 1997, Vitale went without any new partners until 2005 and only picked up three additions to this list from through 2013. However, a few years ago, ESPN installed Jay Bilas as its top analyst to work with Shulman on the highest profile games. This move has resulted in Vitale working with a wide variety of first-time partners in recent seasons (10 since 2014).

Here is the list that my research uncovered (with calendar year of the first such telecast for which I found evidence). Again, note that I am very likely to be missing some names from the first decade.
  1. Joe Boyle - 1979
  2. Jim Simpson - 1980 
  3. Jim Thacker - 1982
  4. Fred White - 1982
  5. Bob Ley - 1983
  6. John Sanders- 1983
  7. Kevin Slaten - 1983
  8. Mike Patrick - 1983
  9. Sam Rosen - 1984
  10. Rich Winter - 1984
  11. Tim Brando - 1985
  12. Jim Kelly - 1986
  13. Andy McWilliams - 1986
  14. Bob Rathbun - 1986
  15. John Saunders - 1987
  16. Keith Jackson - 1987
  17. Gary Bender - 1988
  18. Al Michaels - 1989
  19. Roger Twibell - 1989
  20. Barry Tompkins - 1989
  21. Ron Franklin - 1990
  22. Bob Carpenter - 1990
  23. Wayne Larrivee - 1991
  24. Gary Thorne - 1991
  25. Sean McDonough - 1992
  26. Brent Musburger - 1992
  27. Brad Nessler - 1992
  28. Joel Meyers - 1993
  29. Dave Sims - 1995
  30. Dan Shulman - 1995
  31. Dave Barnett - 1996
  32. Mike Tirico - 1997
  33. Mark Jones - 1997
  34. Dave Pasch - 2005
  35. Dave O'Brien - 2007
  36. Jon Sciambi - 2011
  37. Bob Wischusen - 2014
  38. Rich Hollenburg - 2014
  39. Adam Amin 2015
  40. Rece Davis - 2016
  41. Mike Morgan - 2016
  42. Jason Benetti - 2016
  43. Dave Flemming - 2016
  44. Doug Sherman - 2016
  45. Tom Hart - 2017
  46. Karl Ravech - 2017

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Rare case - Network #1 announcer team calling early game of NFL doubleheader

During the NFL regular season, Fox and CBS share the Sunday afternoon TV rights. Each week, one network gets doubleheader rights and can show both an early and late afternoon game in most markets. The other network gets rights to show just a single game to each market. Typically, the network with the doubleheader features its most attractive game in the late afternoon (4:25 pm ET) time slot and usually assigns its top announcer team to that game.

Because Christmas Day is on Sunday this year, the NFL moved the bulk of its schedule to Saturday for week 16. This weekend, Fox has the NFL doubleheader TV rights, but is sending its #1 team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to call Vikings-Packers at 1pm ET instead of a 4:25 game. How rare is such an assignment? This is only the fourth time since 2004 that a network sent its top announcer crew to an early afternoon game on a day when that network owned the doubleheader rights.

Here are the only such instances in the past 12 seasons where the top team on the doubleheader network called a game in the early window:

  • 2013 week 17 - CBS placed Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on Ravens-Bengals in the early window. Note: Since 2006, the NFL has allowed both CBS and Fox to televise a doubleheader on the final Sunday of the regular season. So the week 17 late doubleheader window is not exclusive to one network like it is for a typical NFL Sunday. 
  • 2011 week 17 - Fox assigned Buck and Aikman to Panthers-Saints at 1:00.
  • 2008 week 12 - Fox sent Buck and Aikman to call 49ers-Cowboys in the early slot despite having rights to the late doubleheader slot (then at 4:15). 

So the 2008 instance is the actually the only time since 2004 that a network holding exclusive doubleheader rights put its top team on an early game. For comparison, I found 23 cases of this between 1994 and 2004, so the relative rarity in recent years helps illustrate how important the late afternoon doubleheader window has become to the TV networks.

Another interesting aspect about the upcoming weekend is that CBS is sending its #1 team of Nantz/Simms to call a late afternoon game (Colts-Raiders) despite the fact that CBS has the singleheader. The 4:05 games tend to get limited regional distribution as they are aired against the featured 4:25 contest, so generally, the top crew gets assigned to an early game on a singleheader weekend.

But how unusual is this combination? Only twice since the 1998 season has the DH network assigned its top team to an early game while the singleheader network put its #1 crew on a late game that same day.

  • 2004 week 14 - Fox had the doubleheader but sent Buck and Aikman to call Seahawks-Vikings while CBS placed Nantz and Simms on a late singleheader game (Jets-Steelers)
  • 2002 week 11 - On this CBS doubleheader day, the #1 team of Greg Gumbel and Simms handled Bills-Chiefs early while Fox assigned its top team of Buck, Aikman, and Cris Collinsworth to call 49ers-Chargers in the late singleheader window.

For completeness, I found four other cases of this odd combination between 1994 and 1998.