To Say Redskins or Not Say Redskins ... That Is the Question.

The controversy surrounding the Washington Redskins team nickname is the sports controversy that just won’t die and with good reason. The name is offensive. There’s no denying it. If you deny it I have to question your intentions. There’s no denying it because the term “Redskin” by definition is a racial slur.

Go on, look it up in the dictionary, both dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster.com have the word defined as “offensive” and “disparaging.” The same words you’ll see if you also look up the word “nigger” in the same dictionaries.

Nobody in their right mind would defend a team nicknamed the N-words, so why do so many attempt to defend the Redskins nickname?

Some are taking a stand against the offensive team nickname. In an Associated Press article on Monday (August 18), CBS NFL analyst Phil Simms, who will cover almost twice as many NFL broadcasts as the next guy this season thanks to CBS’ partnership with the NFL Network on Thursday Night Football, and NBC’s NFL commentator Tony Dungy both said that they were certainly leaning toward not using the nickname on telecasts this season due to its offensiveness.

Simms and Dungy would join a growing list of media opting not to use the Washington nickname. Among others refusing to use it are ESPN’s Keith Olbermann (who’s gone on many a crusade against the name on his ESPN2 show), Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, NBC’s Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and MMQB.com’s Peter King. Entire media publications like Slate.com, San Francisco Chronicle and Kansas City Star have banned the nickname, as well.

Then there are those journalists like Simms’ CBS broadcasting partner Jim Nantz, Fox’s Troy Aikman and CBS’ Solomon Wilcots who will continue to refer to the team as the Redskins because it’s the team’s name and it’s not their business to take a stance on. Nantz was quoted directly as saying “it’s not my job to take a stance.”

I understand the stances of both sides here.

In fact, the decision to use the word “Redskins” in both print and on my sports podcast, Basement Sports, is one that I’ve thought of a few times recently, even though like Simms who was quoted as saying, “I never really thought about it, and then it came up and it made me think about it. There are a lot of things that can come up in a broadcast, and I am sensitive to this” it’s something until recently I hadn’t put too much thought into either.

I believe the word “Redskins” is offensive. As I said earlier, you really can’t deny this by its very definition. So, this makes me want to side with Simms, Olbermann, Costas and others.

But, I also see Nantz’s point when he says it’s not his job as an objective and unbiased broadcaster to take a stance on the team’s name.

It’s probably something I’m going to have to take a little longer to think about before making a decision on the Washington team name for myself, but I will say that’s with each and every passing day I’m leaning toward a boycott of the team name, despite the fact that it inserts my opinion on the name into whatever it is I’m doing.

I think the Redskins nickname is one that is probably eventually going to change, but I don’t believe it’s going to be anytime soon. Change is a slow movement, and for some reason it always seems just a little slower when it involves the NFL.

To Spoil or Not To Spoil

The biggest controversy from the first few days of the 2012 London Summer Olympics has been the tape delayed coverage given to Americans by NBC. NBC has chosen not to show some of the bigger events (mostly swimming and gymnastics) live on any of its television networks and instead hold them until primetime when there’s a bigger audience.

This decision by NBC, which almost everybody seems to agree is poor, has led to many viewers finding out the results of these events prior to the airing on television through news outlets like ESPN and social media outlets like Twitter.

You really can’t blame news outlets like ESPN because one of the biggest goals and responsibilities of journalists are to break the news when the news breaks. So, if Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte win swimming medals in London when it’s early or mid-morning in the United States the news will report it when it happens, as they should. It’s not the American media’s responsibility to wait until Americans have had the chance to see it to announce the results. However, NBC News giving the results before its own broadcast is another story.

This poses a major issue for me that I struggled with for the first few days of the Olympics. What should I do about my Facebook fanpage for my sports podcast Basement Sports?

Typically when sports news breaks I publish it immediately upon seeing or hearing it on the podcast’s fanpage (because I view it as a form of media). However, some of these updates are a few hours old before I get the chance to post them, because of my day job that does not include access to a computer throughout the afternoon hours five days a week.

The 2012 London Summer Olympics are the first Olympic games during my podcast’s tenure and so I found myself having to deal with something new in attempting to cover a sporting event (the largest one at that) on such a time difference.

My journalistic experience and instincts tell me to publish the results of the events when they occur or at least when I see or hear about them. However, I’ve refrained from doing that thus far and have made the decision to keep doing so until the events have completed on American television. Here’s why …

I’ve long believed and told people that I didn’t think spoilers affected my feelings about movies or television shows and I honestly believe that to be the case. Does knowing Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father prior to watching the “Star Wars” trilogy affect the movie’s greatness? No. Knowing a surprise twist or ending to a film or TV show ultimately doesn’t change whether or not a movie is good and it shouldn’t have any result on whether or not you enjoy it either.

However, when it comes to sports spoilers are everything. Because the sole intention of sports is to win or lose knowing the outcome of the event really takes all of the fun and excitement out of watching it. Sure, many people will still watch the event despite knowing the results just to see exactly how it happened, as NBC’s Olympic ratings have suggested, but it just isn’t the same.

Unfortunately I’ve known almost every single major result before it aired on primetime. I just can’t manage to stay unplugged long enough not to find out the results even accidentally. For this reason the Olympics simply haven’t been nearly as fun or exciting as I anticipated.

I know that my not posting Olympics results until after they air on NBC on the Basement Sports podcast fanpage is likely not going to make a whole lot of difference for most sports fans, who like me probably already know the results anyway. But, I don’t want to spoil the fun and the excitement of the Olympics for those intentionally staying away from the results, because I know how much that sucks.  

NBC Idiotically Spoils Own Olympic Coverage

Seventeen year old U.S. Olympian swimmer Missy Franklin won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London early on Monday. The event wouldn’t be shown until hours later during NBC’s Olympic primetime coverage on tape delay, meaning viewers would have to successfully avoid Internet spoilers and watching sports networks like ESPN all afternoon and early evening.

NBC has been ripped by viewers and critics alike for holding the perceived most important or popular Olympic events until primetime without ever showing them live earlier in the day on television. It only makes sense for the network to show the events in primetime, but it’s inexcusable not to also show them live and then replay them in primetime. It’s something that’s no doubt hurt the experience for fans that accidentally view or hear spoilers, but hasn’t been a hindrance to the network’s ratings.

However, what NBC did on Monday night during their primetime Olympic coverage was just stupidity at its highest level. Just a handful of minutes before the network was going to air the 100-meter backstroke, which Franklin won, the network aired a promo for Tuesday morning’s “Today” episode in which it mentioned the gold medalist would be reunited with her parents for the first time during the games. Thus by showing this promo NBC spoiled their OWN EVENT.

This wasn’t the first time during the opening days of the Olympics that NBC has spoiled one of its own primetime events either, though it is the first time it’s done so during its actual primetime showing. On the opening day of the Olympics on Saturday NBC’s Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who’s generally one of the best around, idiotically gave the final results to the highly-anticipated Ryan Lochte/Michael Phelps event in the men’s 400 IM, which the network later aired in primetime.

It’s hard enough for fans to go almost an entire day without seeing or hearing who won certain events via television or the Internet, but hearing the news on NBC’s own coverage is just irresponsible and bad business on the part of NBC. It also goes against everything NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas said during the opening night of the events when he told the audience that the events they’d be seeing were previously recorded, but that they wouldn’t be spoiled on the air. The commentators haven’t done the spoiling, but the network certainly has.

NBC really should be ashamed of their coverage thus far during the Olympics, but I’d almost guarantee that they don’t and won’t care, because they’re shattering records according to EW.com.   

Despite IOC, Costas to Properly Memorialize Munich Massacre Victims

The 2012 London Olympics mark the 40^th anniversary of what is likely the most tragic and disturbing event in the history of the games and sports, in general. It marks the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes at coaches died at the hands of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. 

Despite the anniversary the International Olympic Committee (or IOC) has repeatedly said that they have no plans to pay tribute to the murdered Israeli athletes, which has angered many around the world, especially those in Israel.

I think the decision by the IOC shows a distinct lack of class on their part, but they don’t want to play politics and potentially anger other nations. However, I’m happy to say that NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas doesn’t give a damn about what the IOC has to say on the subject. Costas has told media outlets that he plans to honor the fallen athletes and coaches from 40 years ago with an on-air tribute during Friday night’s Opening Ceremonies on NBC Sports with a moment of silence. Not only will Costas memorialize the Israeli athletes, but he said he also intends to note the “baffling denial” by the IOC during the event.

I’ve always given Bob Costas a hard time in the past, because I’ve often felt like he thinks he’s the show more so than the sporting events that he covers. However, I’ve got to say that I’m very pleased with his intentions for the Opening Ceremonies. The IOC has chosen to do the wrong thing, in my opinion, and Costas is doing his little part to right that. Good for him because the tragedy that occurred in Munich in 1972 is something that should never be forgotten for if it is it might repeat itself.  

CBS disrespects PGA Tour, golf fans by switching coverage

I’m sure some of you might remember a few months back when I berated NBC for forcing the PGA Tour to move up starts times so that they could finish a round of a tournament before the start of a Notre Dame college football game. I viewed NBC’s move as disrespectful to the PGA Tour and the sport of golf. 

Well, now CBS joins NBC in the growing pool of TV networks that are disrespecting the sport. During the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open on CBS on Sunday, Kyle Stanley below a huge 6-stroke lead over Brandt Snedeker and the two were going to have to finish in a playoff, which is always an exciting finish to a golf tournament. However, CBS decided to switch coverage of the tournament over to the Golf Channel, which far fewer people across the country have, for the playoff because “60 Minutes” was starting.

Thus, many people enraptured in a great and close tournament missed the ending because of the network’s dumb and disrespectful decision. It’s is ludicrous for CBS to move the coverage of the tournament to another network for the start of a show that can easily be pushed back, by the way “60 Minutes” is pushed back almost every week during the NFL season when NFL games run long. The network shouldn’t treat the sport of golf any differently than it does the NFL, even though I’m obviously aware the NFL draws many more viewers than the PGA Tour. CBS should have a little more respect for the PGA Tour and more respect for those fans not fortunate enough to have the Golf Channel who they turned their backs on Sunday afternoon.

Long road lies ahead for new NBC Sports Network

Attention sports fans! A new 24/7 sports network is debuting this afternoon. The NBC Sports Network, which was formerly known as Versus, is set to launch today. The network was set to launch at 3 p.m. following the NHL Winter Classic hockey match between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers on NBC, but that match has been pushed back two hours due to weather conditions. There is no word on whether or not the network will launch at 3 p.m. as expected or wait until following the game. The network was supposed to begin with a recap show of the Winter Classic. 

The start of a new 24/7 sports network is really quite a big deal as ESPN, which started in 1979 with one network and has expanded to many since then, has basically owned the landscape. There are other successful sports programming networks like the NFL Network and MLB Network, but they’re dedicated to one specific sport as their names imply. NBC Sports Network knows that it’s a long road ahead and for the time being there really is no way to compete with ESPN, but they hope to be strict competitors in the future. NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus says that the NBC Sport Network is on a five-year plan to start out slowly and gain viewers by hopefully attracting big time sports leagues.

ESPN launched in 1979, most of which you can learn about indepthly through James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ great 2010 book “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN,” and didn’t have any big time sports at the time, but grew slowly, but surely over the years. Now over 32 years later, ESPN is the king of televised sports and there doesn’t seem to be anything that can compete with it. 

This is where NBC Sports Network really has a tough task ahead of it. In 1979 there wasn’t any competition to deal with as far as sports cable programming so ESPN could take its time to build. That opportunity might not exist in 2012, especially with most sports viewers opting for the behemoth ESPN for their sports news. 

The fact that the NBC Sports Network doesn’t have any big time sports upon its launch, and doesn’t look like they will for the first couple to few years is also a big negative in its corner. The network doesn’t have live game coverage of the NFL, NBA or MLB or even other popular sports like NASCAR. ESPN has all of those, as well as a few other networks. The biggest attraction that the NBC Sports Network has is the NHL. Other sports that the network will carry in its first year include college football, basketball and hockey (though many of the college football and basketball games aren’t noteworthy), Major League Soccer (a clear fringe sport), the IndyCar Series (struggling in ratings and will only get worse now that Danica Patrick has left for NASCAR), the Tour de France (good luck) and the Olympics (possibly the network’s saving grace in 2012). 

Hockey via the NHL is going to be the network’s biggest draw throughout its first year and probably further into its run. In 2012 alone the network will air 90 regular season games and a whopping 50 playoff games. This week alone the network will air four games, including the San Jose Sharks at the Vancouver Canucks tonight on its first night of programming. The one thing really going for this startup network is that for the first few years it’ll probably be a hockey fan’s dream, as the sport has been almost completely neglected by other networks.

Other programming that will be spread throughout the network’s debut week includes original shows like “NFL Turning Point,” “NHL 36,” “NHL Overtime” and “SportsBiz: Game On,” as well as coverage of the motorsport Dakar Rally, snowboarding, skiing and assorted fishing programming. The network will also debut new original documentaries like “Cold War on Ice: Summit Series ‘72” and “NBC Sports: A Storied Journey.” 

The biggest original debut for the network will come at 5 p.m. on Monday (if it’s not affected by the time change of the Winter Classic) when it debuts its “NBC SportsTalk” Monday through Friday weekday show that will basically be the network’s answer to ESPN’s “SportsCenter”(note the lack of space between both titles). “NBC SportsTalk” (it’s already evident they should shorten it to just ‘SportsTalk’) is supposedly going to be more conversational than “SportsCenter.” It should be interesting to see how the show compares and does against “SportsCenter” as it airs at the same time as the early evening “SportsCenter” telecast.  

Hockey and the other fringe sports might keep the network afloat, but they certainly won’t bring in big ratings. The network will have to be a big player in the negotiating rights for the NFL, MLB, NBA or even NASCAR when those packages become available in the next few years. The NBC Sports Network might have actually hurt itself somewhat from the get go as they plan on cutting back on some of the old Versus fare like bullriding and MMA. The cutting of MMA is one that might especially hurt, as it’s a sport that’s clearly growing in popularity in the country. 

The biggest break for the NBC Sports Network is that it’s launching in a year in which NBC’s broadcasting the London Summer Olympics. The network will likely carry much of NBC’s Olympics slate, as in the past the network has spread its programming over its other networks like USA, which don’t typically show sports programming. The London Olympics should really boost the network’s ratings in its first year on the air. 

As for the on-air talent the network is adding mostly new faces to the forefront, but will also make use of some of its already well-known commentators like Bob Costas and Dan Patrick. The fresh faces look might be a risky start for the network, as bigger names headlining the programming could have lead to a bigger viewership right from the start. 

More sports programming on television is something that’s always going to be a plus for sports fans and it wouldn’t hurt for ESPN to have some competition, but the NBC Sports Network will definitely have a long haul ahead of them without a big sports league and their competition being so huge. However, if they get off to a decent start, in a few years they might be a pretty big player in sports television. Though, that’s a pretty good-sized if.