Earlier this week, the NFL announced changes to the the Pro Bowl, moving away from a traditional game and into a skills competition and flag football game. The league and ESPN will work in conjunction with Peyton Manning-owned Omaha Productions on new content. During an appearance on Afternoon Drive on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer said the NFL will probably see a hit in ratings for the marquee event.
“The truth is, if you put an actual game on TV, it’ll do better. I would argue that the promotion and the timeslot, the Pro Bowl has always had more favorable conditions when it comes to that stuff,” said Breer. “I don’t know. I remember watching the Quarterback Challenge as a kid and I thought that was awesome. There were certain things that maybe the casual fan didn’t watch but for the more avid fan are really great, cool things to see. And there’s more things they can do, creatively, to get people to watch. I don’t know that the numbers will be quite the same.”
Breer also pointed out that the NFL was more concerned with the quality of the event and the television product than the revenue and profitability of the event.
“For once, I think the NFL tried to look at this from a prestige standpoint instead of a revenue standpoint. I think they were a little embarrassed with the product,” Breer continued. “And I think they felt like this product shouldn’t be associated with what NFL football is. I think it’s sort of the same train of thought they had with preseason games. People expect a certain level of excellence of the product that we’re putting out and we’re not giving it to them on TV here, and if you take the premise of it being a game out of it and make it just a fun event, you don’t have to worry about that at all.”
The 2023 Pro Bowl Games is currently scheduled for the week beginning Monday, January 30th in Las Vegas.
Hurricane Ian made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida Wednesday, but didn’t directly hit the Tampa Bay, where the Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to play on Sunday Night Football this weekend. ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio, a Football Night in America contributor for NBC, said the network’s ability to get their equipment to an alternate location as well as Tampa factors into the decision on whether the game will be moved.
“All the NBC equipment needs to get to the place where the game is going to be played and televised on Sunday Night Football,” Florio said to The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. “They think they can wait as long as Friday, and I assume that NBC can get the trucks up and everything in place and ready to televise the game Sunday night. They will wait as long as they have to see if we play the game in Tampa. I suspect the Buccaneers don’t want to pull the plug on playing in Tampa until the last possible minute.”
The NFL has said if the game cannot be played in Tampa, it will be moved to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, after also considering the Superdome in New Orleans as a potential location.
ESPN Radio’s morning show has found its groove according to host Jay Williams. He told Jason Barrett that Keyshawn, JWill and Max took some time to gel, but now feels like it is something listeners want to hear each day.
Williams is the guest on the new episode of The Jason Barrett Podcastthis week. Barrett asked him when the show got to the point that the three hosts felt like they had taken a step forward. He pointed to the comfort that he now has with Keyshawn Johnson and Max Kellerman.
“First off, it comes with time, right? Time spent working together,” Williams said. “Understanding cadences, themes, and narratives we can drive.”
The two-time national player of the year for college basketball pointed to a familiar environment as a model for what he wants to achieve. Jay Williams said that his goal is to give listeners the chance to eavesdrop on the kind of conversations that happen inside of a locker room. That means learning what sets each member of the KJM cast off.
The Chargers’ starting quarterback has become a favorite target of Williams’s because he knows how Max Kellerman feels about him.
“Max hears Justin Herbert, he’s going on a soliloquy. He’s on a diatribe and I’m like ‘oh, got him!’.”
Jay Williams said that everyone on the show had to learn that it is okay to be the butt of a joke and had to be comfortable with not being the star of every segment. They do not approach the show as a monolith. That means everyone will get a chance to shine throughout the morning.
“It’s gonna be a series of ebbs and flows, right? We have four hour shows that we produce,” he said. “It’s not like you’re on TV for four hours. No, from 6 to 7 is a show. From 7 to 8 is a completely different show with a completely different audience. Same with 8 to 9. Now all of the sudden, we’re focused on New York City and things that happen in the city. From 9 to 10, it changes demographically, so you get a chance to repeat some of the same topics, but the way we go about it changes each time.”
Talk radio host Howie Carr blasted several media outlets for using Hurricane Ian as an opportunity to advance their political narratives against Gov. Ron DeSantis.
During his show Wednesday, Carr stated that the media tried to “test out their routine” on DeSantis during a nightly news conference.
“This reporter was probably from one of the busted newspapers there,” said Carr. “They have all these newspapers there that used to be pretty decent.”
According to Townhall, a Politico reporter misrepresented a statement made by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell about the state’s readiness.
“Woah, woah, woah. Give me a break! That is nonsense. Stop politicizing it,” said DeSantis. “You’re trying to attack me, I get. But like, you’re attacking these other people who have worked very hard. So that’s totally false.”
“The media hates DeSantis,” said Carr. “That’s their pathway to return to profitability and respectability. It’s a losing game.”
In a press conference at the White House Tuesday, Criswell said she was concerned that the Gulf region of Florida had not experienced a direct hit by an intense hurricane in a long time.
Florida native and syndicated radio host Joe Pags discussed Tuesday his days as a news reporter covering severe storms in South Florida.
Pags was raised in Lake Worth, Florida and attended Santaluces Community High School in Lantana. He began his radio career in Palm Beach.
He was reacting to the news of Hurricane Ian which reportedly made landfall Wednesday afternoon near Cayo Costa State Park just north of Sanibel and Captiva Islands.
“As you know I grew up in Florida, we faced hurricanes all the time, and I covered hurricanes on television and radio,” Pags said.
In 2004, Pags covered Hurricane Charley which made landfall at 150 mph. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm cost the State of Florida an estimated $13.5 billion in damage.
“I know a lot about hurricanes and lived through them with my family and lived through them in my adult life covering them for the news,” he said.
Pags said social media adds another dynamic to hurricane coverage. He said he’s seen many posts where people are calling Hurricane Ian karma for Florida Ron DeSantis sending illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
“It’s not a couple of people, it’s a lot of people,” said Pags. What bothers me is that they just don’t have any humanity or they’re not smart enough to know that that is completely inappropriate. I want everybody in Florida left, right, or middle to be fine.”
“If we can’t be more human about this, who are we?” This is what social media has done to us,” he added.
How did WWE make Renee Paquette a better interviewer? What was her goal for her career and how close was she to working with Colin Cowherd nearly a decade sooner than she actually did?
He’s one of the more versatile play-by-play announcers around. Sean McDonough has been working professionally since 1982. He was the play-by-play announcer for the Syracuse Chiefs of the International League and hasn’t stopped since. McDonough has seemingly called every sport imaginable. Last year he went back to an NHL booth, being named the lead broadcaster for ESPN’s coverage of hockey. He’s getting ready for year two.
A native of Boston, McDonough graduated cum laude from Syracuse University in 1984 with a degree in broadcast journalism. In May 2007, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Southern Vermont College in recognition of his career, community service and personal achievements. He was also the Commencement Speaker at the graduation ceremony.
McDonough was named to the Hall of Fame for WAER in 2014, Syracuse University’s noncommercial radio station where he began his sports broadcasting career as a student. The Sports Media Center at Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications also honored McDonough with the Marty Glickman Award in 2016. He received the highest alumni honor given out by Syracuse, ‘The George Arents Award’, the highest alumni honor bestowed by Syracuse University in 2019. McDonough was selected for induction into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Quite a resume.
ROAD TO ESPN/NHL
In 1988, McDonough started broadcasting Boston Red Sox games on television. He teamed there with the late Jerry Remy. McDonough stayed with the Red Sox through the 2004 season and was not brought back. He was replaced by Don Orsillo. McDonough blamed his firing on his salary and his candor regarding the team. Interestingly enough, he would return to the Red Sox in 2019, doing 30 some odd games as a part-time radio play-by-play announcer.
Concurrent to his work with the Red Sox, McDonough worked varying assignments for CBS Sports starting in 1990. At CBS, he called college basketball, working 10 NCAA Tournaments, college football, the NFL, US Open Tennis, the Winter Olympics and contributed to the Masters coverage.
In 1992, he took over as the lead voice of CBS’s Major League Baseball telecasts. He was only 30 years old and became the youngest person to call a national broadcast of the World Series. Strangely enough, that record would be broken 4-years later by Joe Buck, who would replace McDonough in the booth.
While on the baseball coverage, McDonough had several memorable calls. Perhaps the most famous was in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates. When Atlanta’s Francisco Cabrera came up with the game winning hit.
‘Line-drive and a base-hit! Justice has scored the tying run, Bream to the plate…and he is SAFE! Safe at the plate! The Braves go to the World Series! The unlikeliest of heroes wins the National League Championship Series for the Atlanta Braves. Francisco Cabrera, who had only ten at-bats in the major leagues during the regular season, singled through the left side, scoring Sid Bream from second base with the winning run. Bream, who’s had five knee operations in his lifetime, just beat the tag from his ex-mate Mike LaValliere and Atlanta pulls out Game 7 with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. This place is bedlam. There will be no second nightmare for Bobby Cox. Final score in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series: The Braves 3 and the Pirates 2.’
He also called the final play of the subsequent 1992 World Series, in which the Blue Jays became the first non-American based team to win the Major League Baseball’s world championship:
“Nixon bunts! Timlin on it! Throws to first . . . For the first time in history, the world championship banner will fly north of the border! The Toronto Blue Jays are baseball’s best in 1992!”
A year later, McDonough called Joe Carter’s dramatic 1993 World Series ending home run off Mitch Williams of the Phillies:
“Well-hit down the left-field line! Way back and GONE! Joe Carter with a three-run homer! The winners and still world champions, the Toronto Blue Jays!”
Since 2000, McDonough has worked for ESPN/ABC, working again, pretty much every sport that the network has broadcast rights to. College hoops, College football, US Open golf, British Open golf, Monday Night Football and now the NHL on ESPN/ABC. Before last year, McDonough hadn’t called an NHL game since 2004.
BACK TO THE ICE
McDonough grew up a hockey fan and relished his role as a play-by-play announcer the first time ESPN had the NHL contract. He goes way back with the sport and seemed to really miss it when not calling hockey.
“It was really the first thing I did when I got out of Syracuse University and started at NESN (New England Sports Network). My first assignment was college hockey, and I did a lot of NHL back in the day. I was hoping that we’d get it back.” he recently told The Athletic. “I’ve told this story before, but I was in the stands at the TD Garden in 2019 watching the Bruins play the Blues in Game 7. I looked over where Mike Emrick was and said to my buddies, ‘Boy, it would be great to do this someday.’ The atmosphere is just incredible.”
McDonough had to reacclimate himself to the game itself, which wasn’t the same one he covered before. “One of the things that stood out to me immediately is the game is a lot faster than it was 17 or 18 years ago, which was the last time I was doing the NHL,” McDonough told The Athletic. “You used to be able to put your head down and look for a note or if you weren’t quite sure of what number a player was, you could look down and the guy was probably still lugging the puck through the neutral zone. You don’t have time to do any of that now. If you don’t show up to the game having all the names and numbers completely memorized and you have to look down, you’re in trouble because the puck is going to go somewhere else very quickly, and it may wind up in the net while you’re looking down. I have an appreciation for how good hockey broadcasters are because it’s not easy.”
McDonough worked at it and re-watched some games to see how he could interact with Ray Ferraro more, especially when the latter was at ice level and the former at the top of the stadium. He and Ferraro developed an excellent chemistry as the season wore on and they were clicking on all cylinders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final.
WHY IS HE SO GOOD?
McDonough is a big-time announcer. He has certainly carved out a niche for himself with a style that, to me, is all his own. There’s something about his cadence and delivery that makes him stand out. He has a distinctive voice that lends itself to big games. McDonough is unique, in a good way, in how he presents big moments in big games. It’s hard to put into words how he ramps up from description to excitement without missing a beat. It’s different but it works and has done so for a long time.
Versatility is a word thrown around a lot in the broadcasting industry. There are very few announcers around that have called Monday Night Football, the World Series and the Stanley Cup Final. Think about all the milestone moments he’s had the pleasure of calling. Think also about how many of those moments came in different sports and stages.
It’s a tribute to an announcer that has risen to the occasion for many a big event. McDonough doesn’t get the notoriety that perhaps he deserves. Whether or not his opinionated style has hurt him at times, there is no arguing he is among the best to ever do what he does.
On Monday, Nashville sports radio listeners will have a brand new afternoon program to listen to. The McFarland Show with Darren and Justin will air 2-4p on Nashville Sports Radio WNSR-AM 560, FM 95.9, FM 107.9 and WNSR.com.
Darren McFarland has been on the air in Nashville for 25 years, including eleven years at 102.5 FMthe Game. He was also the Nashville Predators radio studio host since 2013.
Justin McFarland is an award-nominated morning reporter for FOX 17 News who is currently working his second stint at the television station.
“It’s great having two such talented, experienced and wonderful people joining our crew,” WNSR general manager Ted Johnson said. “Darren and Justin will make a great team listeners will gravitate to and enjoy. They’ll be a great complement to our daily lineup.”
Darren McFarland left 102.5 FMthe Game in July but will continue to work with the Predators as the co-host of a player radio show with Hal Gill and he will also host the Predators’ Official Podcast.
“Thanks to Ted and (WNSR operations manager) Adam Johnson for this wonderful opportunity to continue my radio career in Nashville, a place where my family and I call home,” Darren McFarland said. “I’m excited to be launching this show with Justin, who I met while working in 1998 on a remote broadcast for WNSR. We’ve been good friends ever since.”
Justin McFarland has been familiar with Nashville since moving their with his family when he was 11. He began his journalism career as a sports reporter for the Tennessee Tribune in Nashville.
“I’m appreciative to both FOX 17 and WNSR Radio for affording me this great opportunity,” Justin McFarland said. “I hope the show will be both entertaining and informative. We want to talk about and engage the listeners not only with the topics of the day, but also have some fun talking about a lot of different topics concerning our great city.”
The New York Yankees, Amazon and YES Network are looking at the posibility of moving the Friday night Yankees-Orioles game from Amazon to YES Network.
The New York Post reports that the situation is “in flux”. The game is scheduled to be on Amazon Prime Video as part of deal that gives the subscription service 21 Yankees broadcasts this season. YES is partly owned by Amazon.
There remains the possibility that Amazon and YES could both broadcast the game. Amazon uses YES’ announcers which means Michael Kay would lead their regular broadcast team regardless of where the game gets broadcast.
