ON TV/RADIO
As the Finals begin, there’s no easing up on the issue of NBA stars resting.
Rest and relaxation continues to be an issue for the NBA, not that this should be an issue after the long layoff that preceded the NBA Finals between the Warriors and Cavaliers that at long last began Thursday night on ABC.
Next year, however, the topic again will rear its head regarding whether NBA teams are cheating fans by regularly sitting their superstars for assorted games throughout the regular season.
As older school NBA types, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that ABC/ESPN analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, who are calling their eighth NBA Finals with Mike Breen and sideline reporter Doris Burke, aren’t much on the notion of in-season relaxation.
“We market our star players,” Van Gundy said. “We ask our fans to watch games, to buy tickets to games, to pay astronomical sums of money to come and watch, and then we bait and switch them without any notice, and we expect it to be OK.
“I’ve read that many, including (NBA commissioner Adam Silver), have said it’s not a big problem. I’ve always been of the thought, when you get ripped off or when somebody gets ripped off, if it’s not you, it’s not a big problem. But if it’s you, it’s a big problem. … I think we’re treating (fans) very poorly when it comes to taking nights off that have nothing to do with injury.”
Prior to Game 1, Van Gundy said the Warriors were prohibitive favorites and have “more margin of error,” to withstand recent so-so shooting by Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala. Still, Van Gundy said he expects the Cavaliers to ensure that Thompson stays out of the flow of the scoring and to be more willing to concede shots to Draymond Green and Iguodala.
Looking across the series prior to Game 1, Jackson predicted the key for Cleveland, aside from the obvious presence of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, will be the play of Kevin Love.
“If he’s playing the way he’s played thus far, this is a Kevin Love that the Warriors have not seen outside of a Minnesota Timberwolves jersey,” Jackson said. “He’s playing similar to the way he played there — rebounding the basketball, knocking shots down, being more involved offensively. It’s another threat to add to LeBron and Kyrie.
From the Warriors standpoint, Van Gundy said, “I think the thing that I’m really looking forward to is watching Kevin Durant guard multiple positions. He’s been an outstanding defender this year. He’s got great length, and I’m going to absolutely cherish watching he and LeBron James, two of the best small forwards of all time, matching up.”
Neither is concerned, meanwhile, about the fact that the same two teams are playing for the third consecutive year in the Finals, although both would like to see a little more competition along the way.
”It’s great to have greatness,” Van Gundy said. “It would have been even better if that greatness had been pushed a little bit harder.”
Food with friends
You may recall that things got so boring during the Western Conference final that Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson veered off topic to such subjects as Jackson objecting to Van Gundy taking the last brownie at dinner one night in San Francisco.
With the NBA Finals back in the Bay Area, more dessert disputes are possible, although Van Gundy is optimistic.
“Hopefully they’ve cooked up
another batch,” Van Gundy said.
Food aside, it’s hard to believe that this will be Van Gundy’s 11th NBA Finals for ABC and Jackson’s ninth. When food isn’t an issue, clearly they get along well.
“It’s hard to separate for me how much I enjoy broadcasting from how much I enjoy broadcasting with great friends,” Van Gundy said “I’ve known Mike (Breen) and Mark and Doris (Burke) for well over half my life now, and I consider them exceptional friends, and I love working with them.”
In a business where colleagues aren’t always friends, Jackson said, “What you see with us during the telecast is the same thing you would see with us sitting at a dinner table or breakfast table. We really enjoy one another, and the feelings spread out on the telecast. And there is nothing but true love throughout this group.”
Tuning in
Word traveled fast regarding the Astros’ 11-run comeback against the Twins on Root Sports Southwest.
From 3:30 to 3:45 p.m. Monday, as the Astros were struggling to an 8-2 deficit, the game had a 2.7 Nielsen rating, which means it was being watched by about 66,000 households in the Houston area.
It ticked up a half-point in the next half-hour, as the Astros’ rally began, by seven-tenths in the next quarterhour and by another eight-tenths in the final 15 minutes of the telecast, which averaged about 110,000 households.
New baseball documentary to be shown in Houston
Filmmaker Gaspar Gonzalez will screen a new film titled “A Long Way from Home,” which details the stories of African-American and Afro-Latino players who followed Jackie Robinson into the minor leagues and Major League Baseball, on Wednesday, June 14, at the River Oaks Theater.
Local interview subjects, Gonzalez says, include Jimmy Wynn, Enos Cabell, J.R. Richard, Bobby Tolan and Deacon Jones.
Gonzalez said the film, completed with assistance of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will air later this year on TV One. A trailer and details can be found at longwayfromhomemovie. com, and details of the Houston screening are at houstonlongwayfromhomemovie.eventbrite.com.
Up, but still down
We noted recently that Astros flagship station KBME (790 AM) got a nice bump in the most recent Nielsen Audio ratings from the commencement of baseball season. In that vein, Talkers magazine notes that all but one of the MLB radio flagship stations reported a ratings bump for April.
Some of the ratings bumps were substantial, and the Talkers list as a whole reflects the strength of the sports radio format in those cities and the relative weakness of the format in Houston.
For example, of 20 MLB flagship stations that are all sports, eight rank in the top 10 of all stations in their markets for weeklong ratings among listeners age 6-plus. KBME ranked 23rd in Houston, and it was 18th in market share of the 20 flagship stations listed. Only the Marlins’ and Angels’ flagships had a smaller share in their respective markets.
Among all-sports stations, Tigers flagship WXYT-FM is the leader with a 6.3 audience share among 6-plus to rank second in its market. KDKA-FM in Pittsburgh is at 6.1 and WJ-FM in Baltimore is at 5.5, and both are top 10 stations in their cities.
Topping them all are news-talk KMOX in St. Louis, which has an 8.4 share and is the No. 1-rated station in the market, and WLW in Cincinnati, which has a 9.3 share and is ranked No. 2.
You can read the entire monthly report at the Talkers.com website.
Four DVRs, no waiting
ESPN will air the Sunday night game June 18 between the Astros and Red Sox from Minute Maid Park. … “College GameDay” analyst Lee Corso, college football analyst and former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard and basketball analyst Seth Greenberg have signed new agreements with ESPN. Chip Kelly also has signed on with the network as a college football analyst. … There was more unpleasant news for Disney stockholders from this week’s Nielsen Co. estimate of cable universe numbers. The median cable network had a 2.9 percent decline in subscribers, and ESPN and ESPN2 were down 3.8 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. When services such as Sling TV, Playstation Vue and DirecTV Now are included, pay TV homes were down 2 percent from May. Brian Wieser of Pivotal Communications estimates that those services now total about 1.3 million subscribers. … Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC produced a 2.85 Nielsen rating with just under five million viewers. Not surprisingly, interest in Houston was considerably muted; the Predators-Penguins game did a 1.6 rating on KPRC (Channel 2). … The justly unlamented “Battle of the Network Stars,” which aired on ABC for 13 years beginning in the mid-1970s, returns to ABC on June 29. Mike Greenberg and Joe Tessitore will host the 10-episode series. DeMarcus Ware and Ronda Rousey will be team captains. … CBS’ SEC schedule will include TCU-Arkansas on Sept. 9, Tennessee-Florida on Sept. 16, Georgia-Florida on Oct. 28, Missouri-Arkansas on Nov. 24 and doubleheaders on Nov. 4, Nov. 11 and Nov. 18. … ESPN’s college football schedule will begin with Ohio StateIndiana on Thursday, Aug. 31, and Utah State-Wisconsin on Friday, Sept. 1. Sept. 2 games include Michigan-Florida from Arlington on ABC and BYU-LSU from NRG Stadium on ESPN. The first three Saturday prime time games are Florida StateAlabama from Atlanta on Sept. 2, Oklahoma-Ohio State on Sept. 9 and Miami-Florida State on Sept. 16. … Soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are ranked No. 1 and 3, respectively, on ESPN’s annual list of the most famous athletes in the world, sandwiching No. 2 LeBron James. Roger Federer and Phil Mickelson also made the top five. … Alex Rodriguez will sign on as a contributor to ABC News, according to Variety. Rodriguez will continue working for Fox Sports as an MLB analyst, which means he isn’t likely to show up on Disney-owned ESPN.