FOX HORSING AROUND AGAIN; NETWORK WILL BRING AUDIO, VISUAL CHANGES TO SANTA ANITA TELECAST.Byline: TOM HOFFARTH The Media A horse is a horse; a horse, of course. And no one can talk to a horse, of course. That is, of course, unless the horse is hooked up with a microphone by the famous Fox Network. OK, so even Fox can't make a equine whine on cue. But sew a wireless mike into the pants of a jockey and run a transmitter out of his boot heel, and you're bound to hear one of those 2-ton thoroughbreds careening The careening of a sailing vessel is laying her up on a calm beach at high tide in order to expose one side or another of the ship's hull for maintenance below the water line when the tide goes out. around the final turn of the Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $750,000. at least grit its teeth. That's just part of the gamble that viewers will likely see pay off when the buck-the-trend network saddles up for its first network horse race Saturday (2-3 p.m.). The morning-line odds are in Fox's favor. Although Fox has its own Mr. Ed Mr. Ed the talking horse. [TV: Terrace, II, 116–117] See : Horse in charge - innovative executive producer Ed Goren - there are no plans for putting a blue glow halo around the head of the lead horse to make him easier to follow, or fitting a catcher-cam on Chris McCarron Christopher John "Chris" McCarron (b. March 27 1955, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame retired jockey. He was introduced to the sport of thoroughbred racing by his older brother, jockey Gregg McCarron. just to see what it looks like when dirt chunks from another horse come flying 89 mph at a jockey's face. But Fox also has enough veteran TV horse racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with folk on the show to give this production a traditional foundation but also a sneak peek at how it can be tweaked for the future. ``You know Fox loves to experiment, especially with production,'' said director Bill Webb, who worked for five years on ABC's Triple Crown coverage. ``They're adventurous. But you can only go so far.'' Meaning, you can lead a horse to a microphone, but you can't make him talk. ``You just have to try out things that add to the viewers' perspective,'' Webb said. ``In a recent meeting we had with Ed Goren and (Fox Sports president) David Hill David Hill may refer to one of a number of people with this name:
``There are elements of a race you'll always have to show, but the whole objective is to make it viewer-friendly and not just another horse race.'' The stationary cameras will come from Santa Anita's in-house setup, but Fox will add a few more angles to form a 15-camera assault. The main addition is a camera along the backstretch back·stretch n. The part of an oval racecourse farthest from the spectators and opposite the homestretch. to avoid the sometimes high, shaky shot from across the track, plus isolation shots of the horses as they come out of the starting gate. Graphically, Fox plans to use a 3D-image pop-up device based on analysis of their on-course experts. There will also be a version of the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga ``Foxbox'' on the screen - Fox has electronically tapped into the Santa Anita infield toteboard and will post on screen the numbers of the first four horses in order, just like the spectators see at the track. Ratings for horse racing aren't anything special these days, and the people running the Santa Anita Derby, carried in the past on tape delay by ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. or live by ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network , would like to think it's being progressive in its presentation. The Fox-Santa Anita relationship already started with Fox Sports West's coverage of Santa Anita events. Joe Buck, better known at Fox Sports for his lead play-by-play on major-league baseball as well as the NFL, has been given the host assignment for this event. He admits his horse racing knowledge might not be up there with an Al Michaels, but he's got a feel for it. His father, baseball Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Jack Buck, is involved with owning race horses. He once had a hopeful named Almighty Buck who ran in some allowance races at Arlington and Fairmont. When Joe tagged along with his father during St. Louis Cardinals For the National Football League team that played in St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, see . The St. Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards" or "the Redbirds") are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. spring-training games, they'd visit the local race tracks and place a few bets. In a way, Buck agrees Fox could do for horse racing what it is attempting to do for baseball, another sport skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data toward older males: Create an infusion of younger fans to keep it a viable TV product. ``Just by Fox's nature, you know this will look and sound different than any other horse race,'' said Buck, who did the Cardinals-Dodgers game for St. Louis television on Thursday before coming west. ``I'm thrilled to be involved with this and I want to pull it off, because I know people can spot a phony. This is a real challenge for me. I'll be up to speed by Saturday. My job will be to help get more people under the tent.'' And, if possible, get a horse to talk. Now there's a freak show. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH ESPN has coverage this weekend of the U.S. Davis Cup matches against Russia in Atlanta using Cliff Drysdale, Fred Stolle and Patrick McEnroe to call the shots. ``I was fearful about the United States' chances until I saw (singles player) Andre Agassi play the last couple of weeks,'' Drysdale said. ``Considering Agassi's play of late and Jim Courier's Davis Cup record, I give the U.S. a slight edge.'' . . . Bob Varsha and Danny Sullivan shout above the engines' roar on ESPN's coverage of Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach live at 1 p.m. Jack Arute, Gary Gerould and Jon Beekhuis are in the pits. It's the first of nine CART-series telecasts on ESPN. They'll be back for the CART Championships Series 500 from California Raceway in Fontana on Nov. 1. . . . On Major League Soccer coverage, sideline reporters for ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will be permitted to interview coaches during the game - a first in live TV broadcasts. . . . Classic Sports fills Sunday with a 10-hour special on the Masters (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.), airing the official Masters film recaps of 10 tournaments. It starts with 1960 (Arnold Palmer beats Ken Venturi by one stroke) and concludes with 1997 (Tiger Woods' triumph). It also includes Jack Nicklaus' 1986 victory at age 46 (3:15 p.m.). . . . Jim Simpson, who in more than 50 years in sportscasting has worked at ABC, CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. , NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. , ESPN and TNT TNT: see trinitrotoluene. TNT in full trinitrotoluene Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (−NO2) groups to toluene. , will be given a lifetime-achievement award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
SOUND BYTES WHAT SMOKES Michelle Mees, whose husband, ESPN ``SportsCenter'' anchor and NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there play-by-play man (ub)Tom Mees drowned last year in their backyard swimming pool, taped an ESPN-produced public service announcement Thursday on water safety. The PSAs with Michelle Mees, who is also the Red Cross national spokeswoman for swimming and water safety, will run on ESPN during its NHL playoff coverage. ``I've been doing well,'' said Mees, mother of daughters 9 and 6 and an employee in the NHL's New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of offices promoting the NHL.com Web site. ``ESPN and the NHL have been so wonderful to me since this happened. I am happy to help with these PSAs.'' CBS' NCAA Tournament coverage, despite the announced sub-20.0 rating of 17.8 for the Utah-Kentucky final. (ub)Billy Packer has it right. If interest in the sport is at an all-time high, the Arbitron figures don't make any sense. Until they start monitoring viewership in sports bars, those numbers don't mean much. WHAT CHOKES Joe McDonnell's latest April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day First day of April, named for the custom of playing practical jokes on that date. Though it has been observed for centuries in several countries, including France and Britain, its origin is unknown. prank. In past years, the radio sports talk host would cleverly report bogus trades, getting players like (ub)Chuck Finley and (ub)Eric Karros to play along until they finally let the audience in on the prank. Wednesday, McDonnell decided to have AM-1150 report at 3 p.m., when he was to come on, that his voice had gone out on him again (a serious infection kept him out for two weeks recently) and have (ub)Vic Jacobs report that McDonnell's health had taken a turn for the worse and he was no longer going to work at the station. When callers began to voice serious concern about McDonnell's well-being - one asked to what hospital he could send flowers - McDonnell popped on to reveal the joke. Hardy-har-har. Was that impartial Disney employee (ub)Chris Berman hosting the pregame festivities fes·tiv·i·ty n. pl. fes·tiv·i·ties 1. A joyous feast, holiday, or celebration; a festival. 2. The pleasure, joy, and gaiety of a festival or celebration. 3. at the Disney-owned Angels' home opener on Wednesday? Or did he simply wander out of the ESPN booth minutes before he was to do the play-by-play for the cable network and prompt applause by telling the Angels fans their team ``could. . . go. . . all. . . the. . . way!'' in 1998? CAPTION(S): Box Box: SOUND BYTES (See Text) |
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