ESPN mistreating 'MNF' reporters - The Orange Mane

Bronx33 · 02-13-2008, 09:30 PM

It just wasn't working ok Andrea....

Link

NBC's Andrea Kremer is in a shrinking club — NFL sideline reporters — and doesn't like the contraction.

With CBS having already dropped its NFL sideline reports, ESPN this week said that its Monday Night Football sideliners —Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya— will continue to go to game sites and likely appear in pregame and postgame coverage — but might not appear at all on games.

Says Kremer, who worked at ESPN for 17 years before joining NBC: "They were doing the role that ESPN asked them to do — more feature-ish stuff — and they were fired for it? If you don't like them in that role, change their role. Don't humiliate them like that. The way (ESPN) handled it was terrible, just disrespectful. … They treated two professionals in a completely non-professional way."

Responds ESPN's Mike Soltys: "Kolber and Tafoya remain an important part of Monday Night Football."

ESPN deploys various women — such as Pam Ward on football play-by-play and Doris Burke as a men's basketball game analyst — in on-air roles rarely, if ever, staffed by women anywhere else.

But Kremer suggests she's "offended" by ESPN's move because "it sets back women." Referring to herself, Kolber, Tafoya and Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver, she says "no one accused the four of us for being on television for our looks or figures. … This isn't five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines. We established ourselves as reporters, professionals. Now, you've completely minimized that. These women don't have to prove themselves anymore."

Fred Gaudelli, who now produces NBC's Sunday Night Football and worked with Kolber and Tafoya when he produced Monday Night Football when it was on ABC, suggests this is just ESPN's latest "mismanagement" of MNF. He says ESPN "could have" kept announcers Al Michaels and John Madden when MNF left ABC. But, he says, "I just don't think the people there making these decisions know how a live event gets put on television. They know studio shows. But the people making the decisions just don't understand live events. They're not equipped to make these decisions. If they left things to (producer) Jay Rothman, they'd be better off." (Rothman replaced Gaudelli as ESPN's NFL game producer, although Gaudelli was offered continued work at ESPN before leaving for NBC.)

With its three-man booth —Ron Jaworski, Tony Kornheiser and Mike Tirico— and the often-used Kolber and Tafoya as, well, celebs dropping by the booth to chat, MNF often got gabby. In her latest column, ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber writes, "it seems to me that all the complaints I received about MNF have one root: There is too much going on for viewers to feel they are experiencing a game."

But Kremer suggests trimming MNF's chorus shouldn't mean muting Kolber and Tafoya — "don't you think some people would be more interested in hearing what they have to say than some other people on that telecast?" — while Gaudelli puts it this way: "If you ranked MNF's five announcers on ability, Kolber and Tafoya would be in the top three. … But ESPN has a big bet on Kornheiser."

But if NFL TV sideliners are endangered, they don't appear headed for extinction. Fox Sports Chairman David Hill says reporter Oliver and Chris Myers are "absolutely" necessary — "you need up-to-the-moment information that can only be gotten by a journalist who digs" — and he "has no plans to drop either. Nor do I have any plans to put any personalities in the booth."

Fun to see TV sports divisions speak (occasionally) without resorting to bland corporatespeak.

Gophers on Fox: On Sunday, Fox for the first time will plant cameras in the track at a Daytona 500. The four so-called Gopher Cams, says Fox's Hill, will also get their own animated scrambling gopher to pop up onscreen to alert viewers. But don't bother writing protest letters to Fox: Hill hastens to add "no gophers will be harmed in the actual production."

Buried cameras, meant to shoot up, have been put in basketball courts, football fields, baseball diamonds, in ski-jump ramps — and on NASCAR tracks. But Fox's Gopher Cams, located inches inside the yellow boundary line, will be high-def and wired for sound. With a lens less than a half-inch in diameter, they'll have a protective cover rising less than a quarter-inch above the track surface. (Overall, Fox will use at least 77 cameras Sunday, including 24 manned cameras.) Also Sunday, Fox will debut a new theme song, NASCAR Love, whose lyrics include a "love" for "when they're making lots and lots of noise." Romantic.

Spice rack: CBS-owned CSTV, a college-sports channel in about 25 million households, is rechristened with the surprising new name: CBS College Sports Network. Go figure. … Before Roger Clemens was named as a steroid user in the Mitchell Report — a charge he denies — Disney-owned ESPN named him as an "athlete host" — and spokesman in TV ads — for "ESPN The Weekend" fan fest at Walt Disney World, held Feb. 29-March 2. ESPN pulled Clemens' TV ad, but he's still scheduled for the event. Will ESPN's marketing tie-in affect future news coverage of Clemens? Says ESPN's Soltys: "We're a multifaceted company with business relationships with leagues and individuals we cover aggressively every day. The news operation is in no way impacted." … During TNT's NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, its online TNT Overtime on nba.com will offer additional live video shots from cameras on backboards, the overhead scoreboard as well as from the Cable Cam zipping along sidelines. Also new this year: letting users vote online for players that will get cameras focused on them continually.

Dukes · 02-13-2008, 10:13 PM

They could put either Kolber or Tafoya in the booth in Kornhole's place and it would be a HUGE upgrade.

ESPN needs to trim the fat in the booth, not the sideline.

TexanBob · 02-13-2008, 10:35 PM

If the purpose of the sideline reporter is to report what is happening on the sidelines, (injuries, strategies, etc.) then why not stop all the fluff lead-ins and have them stick to hard news? If T.O. has pulled his hammy, I want to hear about it. If T.O. is just being a ham, I don't. Pretty simple standard, yes?

Bronx33 · 02-13-2008, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukes

They could put either Kolber or Tafoya in the booth in Kornhole's place and it would be a HUGE upgrade.

ESPN needs to trim the fat in the booth, not the sideline.

Just getting rid of cornhole would be an upgrade.

montrose · 02-13-2008, 11:02 PM

Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

Bronx33 · 02-13-2008, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montrose

Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

Iam wit ya dog.

That One Guy · 02-13-2008, 11:06 PM

There's two reasons I need a woman on the sidelines:

1. Keep me posted on in-game developments like injuries, gameplans, or the latest LT-Rivers blowup.

2. Eye Candy. Plain and simple. Get me that chick that someone was showing from like Brazilian soccer commentaries... WOW, I'd listen to anything that one had to say. Tafoya or Kolber.. not so much

There's no other reason for sideline reporters and if Tony'd just shut the hell up, Tirico or Jaws could keep us posted on the developments that could just be passed to the booth as they happen. Simple enough. Now, women, go get radio jobs.. you have the faces for it.

Knuckle Dragger · 02-13-2008, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montrose

Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

No you're not alone man. It's down right painful with the sound on.

Taco John · 02-13-2008, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea Kramer

"no one accused the four of us for being on television for our looks or figures. … This isn't five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines.

She's got a pretty valid point there. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone accuse Andrea Kramer of being eye candy.

As far as her "reports" go, I've never enjoyed anything she's ever done. I find her to be all around uninteresting. She always wants to get down to the emotion of a story, and frankly, I don't care about the emotions of Randy Moss. I couldn't imagine anything I could find less interesting if I tried. Maybe the chemical compositon of different types of paint thickeners. Who knows though. I might even find that cool in comparison. I mean, what kind of coverage is that going to give? Will I need two coats? Oh, Randy Moss's feelings? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

ro_50 · 02-13-2008, 11:59 PM

1. Get rid of Kornhole.

2. Stop letting idiot celebrities come to the booth.

maher_tyler · 02-13-2008, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montrose

Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

NFL network is even worse!

BTW..Fox needs to get rid of Tony serigousa!!

Vegas_Bronco · 02-14-2008, 01:26 AM

I think they should just have Brett Favre in the booth with all these nude Espn booth reporters on his every word and move- just like their relentless coverage of those very young boys and the little league world series.

lex · 02-14-2008, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montrose

Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

Wow, I do that too. Do you go home put on a wig, smear yourself in mashed bananas and then pour syrup on yourself? Me too.

broncofan2438 · 02-14-2008, 01:39 AM

Who cares

Tombstone RJ · 02-14-2008, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dukes

They could put either Kolber or Tafoya in the booth in Kornhole's place and it would be a HUGE upgrade.

ESPN needs to trim the fat in the booth, not the sideline.

I could not agree more. Kornhole is a distraction, nothing more. He brings absolutely nothing to the table as far as football analysis or commentary.

Kornhole great on PTI, but he sucks in the booth. I think Kolber would be a much better option in the booth than Kornhole. I bet she'd take the job alot more seriously than Kornhole and actually have an informed, educated opinion about the game, players, coaches, ownership and franchises in general than Kornhole.

Get rid of Kornhole and Tirico in the booth. Have Kolber and Jaws in the booth, and someone on the sideline (don't care, just as long as it's real news, not fluff crap).

Kolber, Jaws, one sideline person. That's it.

NW Bolt Fan · 02-14-2008, 01:42 AM

Good 'ole America. Land of the entitled. And if you don't get what you "deserve," you can always sue.

Hogan11 · 02-14-2008, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montrose

Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

If you have to watch ESPN (and MNF is the only real reason to), then the mute button is not an option....it's a necessity.

Killericon · 02-14-2008, 04:08 AM

Quote:

no one accused the four of us for being on television for our looks or figures. … This isn't five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines.

elsid13 · 02-14-2008, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexanBob

If the purpose of the sideline reporter is to report what is happening on the sidelines, (injuries, strategies, etc.) then why not stop all the fluff lead-ins and have them stick to hard news? If T.O. has pulled his hammy, I want to hear about it. If T.O. is just being a ham, I don't. Pretty simple standard, yes?

On the local sport radio they interviewed Vesser (the one from CBS) and she said that now NFL doesn't allow the side line reporters access to the any of that stuff anymore. In fact the injuries are reported directly to the booth via a NFL media person. So all the sideline reporter are doing is looking good and sitting on thier hands.

brncs_fan · 02-14-2008, 09:04 AM

I tend not to get as worked up about the people calling the game as much as others (Although the NFL network guys are horrible). But the thing that drives me off of the MNF broadcast is the guest celebrity that has to come in and ruin most of the third quarter with their endless bantering of their new show on ABC and how great it is going to be. That is usually about the time I turn it off and just check the score in the morning.

Beantown Bronco · 02-14-2008, 09:34 AM

They're simply making room for Favre's wife to take over all sideline reporting. It's the only way they could justify having the camera on her for half the game anyway.

broncosteven · 02-14-2008, 10:09 AM

It could be worse.

Dan Dierdorf could replace Cornhole and we would have to put up with the creepy Bob Sanders and Conrad Dobler Love fest for 3+ hours.

Smiling Assassin27 · 02-14-2008, 10:35 AM

Where have you gone Melissa Stark, Jill Arrington, and Bonnie Bernstein? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. (woo woo woo)

broncosteven · 02-14-2008, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling Assassin27

Where have you gone Melissa Stark, Jill Arrington, and Bonnie Bernstein? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. (woo woo woo)

I am still longing for Phylis George...

ElwayMD · 02-14-2008, 10:40 AM

Biggest problem is that sideline reporters don't give us anything that special. They can have a crew member get injury information up to the booth and most halftime interviews are pure rubbish and you know what the coach is going to say before the interview even starts. Goose is the worst excuse for a sideline reporter I have ever seen. Does anyone state the obvious more than him? He's worse than Madden.

02-13-2008, 09:30 PM	#1
Bronx33 lets go partner Rumpson Rocks Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Lakewood,Colo Posts: 41,221 Adopt-a-Bronco: Woodyard	ESPN mistreating 'MNF' reporters It just wasn't working ok Andrea.... Link NBC's Andrea Kremer is in a shrinking club — NFL sideline reporters — and doesn't like the contraction. With CBS having already dropped its NFL sideline reports, ESPN this week said that its Monday Night Football sideliners —Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya— will continue to go to game sites and likely appear in pregame and postgame coverage — but might not appear at all on games. Says Kremer, who worked at ESPN for 17 years before joining NBC: "They were doing the role that ESPN asked them to do — more feature-ish stuff — and they were fired for it? If you don't like them in that role, change their role. Don't humiliate them like that. The way (ESPN) handled it was terrible, just disrespectful. … They treated two professionals in a completely non-professional way." Responds ESPN's Mike Soltys: "Kolber and Tafoya remain an important part of Monday Night Football." ESPN deploys various women — such as Pam Ward on football play-by-play and Doris Burke as a men's basketball game analyst — in on-air roles rarely, if ever, staffed by women anywhere else. But Kremer suggests she's "offended" by ESPN's move because "it sets back women." Referring to herself, Kolber, Tafoya and Fox sideline reporter Pam Oliver, she says "no one accused the four of us for being on television for our looks or figures. … This isn't five years ago, with eye candy on the sidelines. We established ourselves as reporters, professionals. Now, you've completely minimized that. These women don't have to prove themselves anymore." Fred Gaudelli, who now produces NBC's Sunday Night Football and worked with Kolber and Tafoya when he produced Monday Night Football when it was on ABC, suggests this is just ESPN's latest "mismanagement" of MNF. He says ESPN "could have" kept announcers Al Michaels and John Madden when MNF left ABC. But, he says, "I just don't think the people there making these decisions know how a live event gets put on television. They know studio shows. But the people making the decisions just don't understand live events. They're not equipped to make these decisions. If they left things to (producer) Jay Rothman, they'd be better off." (Rothman replaced Gaudelli as ESPN's NFL game producer, although Gaudelli was offered continued work at ESPN before leaving for NBC.) With its three-man booth —Ron Jaworski, Tony Kornheiser and Mike Tirico— and the often-used Kolber and Tafoya as, well, celebs dropping by the booth to chat, MNF often got gabby. In her latest column, ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber writes, "it seems to me that all the complaints I received about MNF have one root: There is too much going on for viewers to feel they are experiencing a game." But Kremer suggests trimming MNF's chorus shouldn't mean muting Kolber and Tafoya — "don't you think some people would be more interested in hearing what they have to say than some other people on that telecast?" — while Gaudelli puts it this way: "If you ranked MNF's five announcers on ability, Kolber and Tafoya would be in the top three. … But ESPN has a big bet on Kornheiser." But if NFL TV sideliners are endangered, they don't appear headed for extinction. Fox Sports Chairman David Hill says reporter Oliver and Chris Myers are "absolutely" necessary — "you need up-to-the-moment information that can only be gotten by a journalist who digs" — and he "has no plans to drop either. Nor do I have any plans to put any personalities in the booth." Fun to see TV sports divisions speak (occasionally) without resorting to bland corporatespeak. Gophers on Fox: On Sunday, Fox for the first time will plant cameras in the track at a Daytona 500. The four so-called Gopher Cams, says Fox's Hill, will also get their own animated scrambling gopher to pop up onscreen to alert viewers. But don't bother writing protest letters to Fox: Hill hastens to add "no gophers will be harmed in the actual production." Buried cameras, meant to shoot up, have been put in basketball courts, football fields, baseball diamonds, in ski-jump ramps — and on NASCAR tracks. But Fox's Gopher Cams, located inches inside the yellow boundary line, will be high-def and wired for sound. With a lens less than a half-inch in diameter, they'll have a protective cover rising less than a quarter-inch above the track surface. (Overall, Fox will use at least 77 cameras Sunday, including 24 manned cameras.) Also Sunday, Fox will debut a new theme song, NASCAR Love, whose lyrics include a "love" for "when they're making lots and lots of noise." Romantic. Spice rack: CBS-owned CSTV, a college-sports channel in about 25 million households, is rechristened with the surprising new name: CBS College Sports Network. Go figure. … Before Roger Clemens was named as a steroid user in the Mitchell Report — a charge he denies — Disney-owned ESPN named him as an "athlete host" — and spokesman in TV ads — for "ESPN The Weekend" fan fest at Walt Disney World, held Feb. 29-March 2. ESPN pulled Clemens' TV ad, but he's still scheduled for the event. Will ESPN's marketing tie-in affect future news coverage of Clemens? Says ESPN's Soltys: "We're a multifaceted company with business relationships with leagues and individuals we cover aggressively every day. The news operation is in no way impacted." … During TNT's NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, its online TNT Overtime on nba.com will offer additional live video shots from cameras on backboards, the overhead scoreboard as well as from the Cable Cam zipping along sidelines. Also new this year: letting users vote online for players that will get cameras focused on them continually.

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02-13-2008, 10:13 PM	#2
Dukes Ring of Famer Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 6,317	They could put either Kolber or Tafoya in the booth in Kornhole's place and it would be a HUGE upgrade. ESPN needs to trim the fat in the booth, not the sideline.

02-13-2008, 10:35 PM	#3
TexanBob Don't Argue With Me You Know I'm Right Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 5,023 Adopt-a-Bronco: Darris Nash	If the purpose of the sideline reporter is to report what is happening on the sidelines, (injuries, strategies, etc.) then why not stop all the fluff lead-ins and have them stick to hard news? If T.O. has pulled his hammy, I want to hear about it. If T.O. is just being a ham, I don't. Pretty simple standard, yes?

02-13-2008, 11:02 PM	#5
montrose Ring of Famer Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 6,095 Adopt-a-Bronco: VP John Elway	Am I the only one who mutes MNF so I don't have to hear ESPN's commentary?

02-13-2008, 11:06 PM	#7
That One Guy Producer of Nonsense Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Sun and Beachville Posts: 14,042 Adopt-a-Bronco: None	There's two reasons I need a woman on the sidelines: 1. Keep me posted on in-game developments like injuries, gameplans, or the latest LT-Rivers blowup. 2. Eye Candy. Plain and simple. Get me that chick that someone was showing from like Brazilian soccer commentaries... WOW, I'd listen to anything that one had to say. Tafoya or Kolber.. not so much There's no other reason for sideline reporters and if Tony'd just shut the hell up, Tirico or Jaws could keep us posted on the developments that could just be passed to the booth as they happen. Simple enough. Now, women, go get radio jobs.. you have the faces for it.

02-13-2008, 11:59 PM	#10
ro_50 Ring of Famer Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Somewhere in Jersey Posts: 3,782	1. Get rid of Kornhole. 2. Stop letting idiot celebrities come to the booth.

02-14-2008, 01:26 AM	#12
Vegas_Bronco Ring of Famer Fear is a lack of preparation. Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: 63 Yards Out Posts: 4,028 Adopt-a-Bronco: 1 Elam 1	I think they should just have Brett Favre in the booth with all these nude Espn booth reporters on his every word and move- just like their *relentless coverage of those very young boys* and the little league world series**.

02-14-2008, 01:39 AM	#14
broncofan2438 Faneco this... LETS TAKE BACK THE AFC WEST Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: California Posts: 6,302 Adopt-a-Bronco: ERIC DECKER	Who cares

02-14-2008, 01:42 AM	#16
NW Bolt Fan Ring of Famer San Diego, AFC WEST CHAMPS Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 1,165	Good 'ole America. Land of the entitled. And if you don't get what you "deserve," you can always sue.

02-14-2008, 09:04 AM	#20
brncs_fan How about some Tapenade! Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: The Coaches Cradle...Eastern Illinois University Posts: 5,490 Adopt-a-Bronco: Manti Teo	I tend not to get as worked up about the people calling the game as much as others (Although the NFL network guys are horrible). But the thing that drives me off of the MNF broadcast is the guest celebrity that has to come in and ruin most of the third quarter with their endless bantering of their new show on ABC and how great it is going to be. That is usually about the time I turn it off and just check the score in the morning.

02-14-2008, 09:34 AM	#21
Beantown Bronco Athletic Supporter Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Mass Posts: 19,041 Adopt-a-Bronco: Matt Prater	They're simply making room for Favre's wife to take over all sideline reporting. It's the only way they could justify having the camera on her for half the game anyway.

02-14-2008, 10:09 AM	#22
broncosteven The Kranz Dictum MWA: Flight Director Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Tranquility Base Posts: 29,028 Adopt-a-Bronco: MONEYBALL #38	It could be worse. Dan Dierdorf could replace Cornhole and we would have to put up with the creepy Bob Sanders and Conrad Dobler Love fest for 3+ hours.

02-14-2008, 10:35 AM	#23
Smiling Assassin27 STOP! KIPER TIME! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: In a van down by the river Posts: 10,970 Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller	Where have you gone Melissa Stark, Jill Arrington, and Bonnie Bernstein? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. (woo woo woo)

02-14-2008, 10:40 AM	#25
ElwayMD It Stinks! Meet the New Boss... Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 2,509 Adopt-a-Bronco: Sammy Winder	Biggest problem is that sideline reporters don't give us anything that special. They can have a crew member get injury information up to the booth and most halftime interviews are pure rubbish and you know what the coach is going to say before the interview even starts. Goose is the worst excuse for a sideline reporter I have ever seen. Does anyone state the obvious more than him? He's worse than Madden.