Sports is television`s perfect product.
Nothing else-not the dramas, sitcoms, variety shows, chat fests, made-for-TV movies, Home Shopping Network, ”Howard Stern Show” or news-can match sports` variety or its inherent combination of familiarity, spontaneity, surprise, joy, anguish, pain and suspense.
And there is nothing like a spirited NBA championship series, starring the Bulls, to remind us what a large part sports plays not only in the hearts and minds of Chicagoans but also in the fabric of the newscasts presented on the local TV stations.
”Sports has traditionally been viewed as the toy department,” said one local producer. ”But when a story of this magnitude comes along-a story that dominates conversation in the city-I think it reminds people, not the least of whom are the guys who run the stations, that sports is not trivia.”
What this TV BullsFest also has done is raise for me some questions about local TV sports coverage-its methods, its mission and its future.
This comes at a time when local news operations are, or certainly should be, reassessing their roles in the face of increased competition, budget crunching and technological advances.
A few months ago, in an article arguing that local nightly newscasts had become inconsequential, I suggested that the shows devote the bulk of their 30 minutes each night to one story-of-the-day, whether it be breaking news, an investigative piece or sports.
None of that has come to pass. But over the last week WMAQ-Ch. 5, with the advantage of having the NBA Finals carried on NBC, has been using its resources in the same cover-the-waterfront fashion as if dealing with an election or a water-logged Loop, transforming its nightly newscasts-at least on game days-into Bulls specials.
It`s hard to blame the station for its zeal, or to fault any of the other local outlets, which have been scrambling after every available Bulls crumb, even to the point of sending anchor-reporters such as Diann Burns (WLS-Ch. 7) and Jay Levine (WBBM-Ch. 2) into the fray for fluff.
But such blanket coverage tends to overshadow the failings of the day-to- day sports operations, which, like the news broadcasts of which they are a part, are locked into old-fashioned and increasingly skimpy formats.
On most evenings, the sports on the 10 p.m.-or, in the case of WFLD-Ch. 32 and WGN-Ch. 9, the 9 p.m.-newscasts are squeezed into a few minutes that fail to satisfy even the casual fan. It`s a score here and a score there, usually followed by a cliche or some video oddity. The shows are driven by personality rather than information.
What station bosses fail to realize is that the cable boom, by choking the dial with sports, has whetted the fans` appetite for stories behind the scores. It has created a more sophisticated, knowledgeable and ravenous fan.
From the local TV sports segments, these fans get nothing comparable to the stat-filled, video-rich, rumor-ready and feature-packed coverage available on ESPN`s hourlong ”SportsCenter” or its ”Baseball Tonight,” the half-hour ”CNN Sports,” and on various SportsChannel shows.
Burdened by bosses whose eyes are fixed on the bottom line, local sportscasts are in danger of becoming mere snacks in a town that likes its sports` plates heaping.
Some people think that`s already happening in some places.
In an April 27 story, Tribune sports-media columnist Steve Nidetz addressed this matter by quoting Keith Olbermann, who quit his sports director-anchor job at the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles to work for
”SportsCenter.” Among Olbermann`s comments:
– ”Nobody watches local news for sports on the West Coast anymore.”
– Highlight shows on cable and local independents ”are all steaks and the local (network affiliates) are supplying hot dogs on their newscasts. It just does not have a future.”
Those statements infuriated a group of Chicago sports anchors, who gathered for a luncheon panel discussion a few weeks ago.
”Nonsense,” said Tim Weigel of WLS. ”It ignores the passion Chicago`s people have for sports.”
The others present-Johnny Morris (WBBM), Mark Giangreco (WMAQ), Dan Roan
(WGN) and Bruce Wolf (WFLD)-agreed. And, lest you think they were just fluffing their own pillows, I agree with them, to a point.
Chicago is unique. Unlike Los Angeles, where the entertainment industry dominates, or New York, where business is the big noise, Chicago remains the nation`s most ardent sports town.
The late, great Bill Veeck put it nicely when he wrote: ”Professional sports add something to the spirit and vitality of a city. They are a reflection of the city`s image of itself. I don`t simply believe that; I know it. A winning team can bring a city together, and even a losing team can provide a bond of common misery.”
Nowhere is this truer than in Chicago and, as a result, we have given our local TV sportscasters a celebrity unrivaled by their counterparts in other climes.
But with this comes a responsibility. The sportscasters appear to realize this better than their bosses, many of whom seem stuck in the we`re-the-only-game-in-town past, viewing sports as an element of the newscasts slightly more important than the weather.
They must start regarding sports with greater respect. Chicago sportscasters should no longer be made to play the roles of boosters-mere purveyors of scores, game clips and a few sweaty, and unchallenged, locker-room sound bites.
If the local nightly sportscast is to be a necessary part of viewers`
lives, it has to be given more time, not only for expanded scores and highlights but also for commentary, analysis, feature stories, hard-edged reporting and investigations.
There used to be a TV time when sports was deemed serious and a TV scoop was not uncommon. But that was when the local TV news was the only place-aside from newspapers and radio-where one could get sports information. (Even on the expanded sports shows on Sunday evening, there`s too much fatuous banter and boosterism).
With increased competition and more accessible video, the local sportscasts started to rely on playfulness and shtick.
The most egregious examples were Morris` ”Hocus-Focus” segments, an inane video feature in which the news anchors were asked to guess which item of sports equipment was being captured in closeup camera angles.
Morris recently moved from his full-time slot to a position with the preposterous title of sports director emeritus. But the remaining
sportscasters represent a fairly solid crowd that would be eager, in many cases, for expanded roles.
Weigel, the most experienced in town, is as bright and energetic a person as there is on local TV. Giangreco has a pleasant skepticism about the hype and hoopla of the sports scene. WBBM`s Corey McPherrin appears a little too hyperactive, but in fairness, we`ll have to see what he does when he`s out of Morris` shadow. Wolf is a clever wordsmith, and Roan is capable.
Most of these men take their jobs seriously, while still understanding that sports is basically an entertainment. Are their stations as committed?
I think not. Only WLS has as many as four full-time sports anchor-reporters; the rest make do with fewer, which is not enough.
Pat O`Brien once worked as a reporter for WBBM before moving to the sports division of the CBS network. Last year, writer Charles Siebert, in The New York Times, asked him about the move from news to sports.
”It`s no problem,” he said. ”A good story`s a good story.”
But as long as local news directors and general managers continue to view sports as the ”toy department,” local sportscasts will seem increasingly insubstantial.
And that`s a shame.
Sports has a way of binding a town, providing a common denominator for the masses. If you had visited most any Chicago-area saloon or living room Wednesday night you would have witnessed this phenomenon in the crowds of people gathered about Bulls-blaring TV sets like primitives around a campfire. The local sportscasters` place in all this has traditionally been to stand next to the flame-conspicuous and admiring. But as the cable sports programs continue to offer the viewer more substantial alternatives and as sports stories often become news stories, the local sportscasters should be allowed the freedom to step away from the fire; to throw water on it if need be; to begin acting the journalist, rather than the fan.
”Sports is the most successful programming on American television,”
critic Ron Powers once wrote, ”because it has all the elements of drama, of storytelling.”
It`s time that local sportscasters be allowed to start telling us the whole stories instead of just shouting out the last lines.
