Complaining about Notre Dame
Billy Tubbs, watching the game at home, just called our man John Rohde in the pressbox. Rohde and Tubbs are radio partners on WKY. Tubbs had a mission for Rohde. “Go up there and kick Bob Davie’s butt,” Tubbs told Rohde.
Tubbs was miffed that Davie was talking about Notre Dame, and Lou Holtz phoned in and talked about the Irish, too, and ESPN showed the Notre Dame schedule. Tubbs has a pet peeve about announcers not talking about the game they’re watching. Some games, I don’t blame them. But this one is pretty entertaining. It’s not a rout yet.
Better yet, while I was writing this very blog, my cell phone rang. An Oklahoma City reader, Don Smith, who described himself as a 50-year season-ticker holder, called to complain ABOUT THE VERY SAME THING. Talk about karma. Smith said ESPN spent an inordinate amount of time talking about Notre Dame, then shifted to Arkansas, which at least ties into to TU offensive coordinator Guz Malzahn, who coached in Fayetteville last year.
Now, if this score is 63-21 in the late third quarter, I don’t care if ESPN talks to Beano Cook about Slippery Rock. But when it’s 21-14, 28-14, and both teams are moving the ball, save the Irish and the Hogs for GameDay Saturday morning.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
Nobody – except Regis and the Pope – give a rats “hoot” about the bottom feeders aka Notre Dame, this year.
absolutely agree. we had a thread on the boards with a link to complain to ESPN. horrible coverage. and even worse they wait until the 4th quarter to talk to Dennis Byrd, a real story, yet they spend most of the 2nd quarter and part of halftime on ND.
Greetings Barry,
The ramblings of Holtz and the ESPN boys may have been good for a sports show, but this was a nationally televised game between two excellent schools. Their ramblings were totally disrespectful for both of these schools as they opted to focus on the failings of Notre Dame. Had Notre Dame been playing and OU on a bad winning streak do you think their conversation would have been reversed with Switzer’s face plastered on half the screen most of the first half? I think not. Lets call a spade a spade. The bias against mid-America Big XII remains rampant and you should so state, emphatically.
I’m not a rabid fanatic sitting in front of my TV with my face painted half red and half white with a schooner hat on, though I am a grad. I’m a 65 year old geezer that is convinced the media has no love for Big XII sports.
Now, write a piece on this, tell it like it is and maybe I’ll take you to lunch. Otherwise keep up the good reporting.
Regarding OU-Tulsa game on ESPN2 Friday night – the worst announcing of an OU game I’ve ever witnessed. Spielman, the short bald guy and Bob Davie did not know a thing about what was happening on the field. At one point in the broadcast they spent over 10 minutes hashing and rehashing about Notre Dame. OU passed for a first down, there were 2 penalties and it was 1st & 25 but not one of the announcers mentioned a thing about the penalties, the plays – they were too busy trying to impress everyone with their insights on a losing team that most likely won’t be in the top 50 by year-end. At one point one of them made the astute observation that “if the penalty stands” it will be an OU first down – if they had been paying any attention they would know TU had jumped offsides and that it was going to an OU first down regardless of the penalty. All of the broadcasters could have been at home saving ESPN some money and they could have broadcast the game in slience and it would have been better. I turned the sound off just so I could enjoy the game.
If my mom weren’t in Dallas watching the game with us she would have gone up there and kicked Davie’s butt. The worst part is that they kept showing the crew talking about ND while the game was going on below–not even video to know what the penalty call was. Sheesh!