Media Circus: NBC wins big along with Tiger Woods, Sara Walsh on her Fox debut, and more

“Have we ever seen anything like this in golf?!” said Dan Hicks, asking a question of which he already knew the answer. It was closing in on 6 p.m. ET and NBC’s cameras were picking up extraordinary images – hundreds, maybe thousands, of people swarming behind Tiger Woods as he made his way to the 18th green at the Tour Championship on Sunday.

Hicks, the lead voice of NBC’s golf coverage, called it the most improbable comeback in sports history — obviously, a subjective line that Andre Agassi, Ben Hogan, and Monica Seles fans might take issue with — but improbable it absolutely was given Woods was sitting at No. 1193 in the World Golf Rankings on Nov. 18, 2017. The winning putt dropped at 5:58 p.m. ET, a tap-in for the ages to end a 1,876-day drought for Woods between PGA Tour wins. “We thought we’d never see it and I don’t believe he thought it, either,” Hicks said after the ball dropped into history.

Last month, as Woods made his run at the PGA Championship, I wrote about one of the most fascinating questions for those who work in golf television production: How to navigate the multiple storylines when Woods is playing in a tournament. By virtue of his on-course greatness and self-inflicted drama, Woods alone is a story. Then there is the story of the tournament that Woods has entered. On Sunday, those storylines merged as Woods entered the day three shots ahead. How did NBC do? I thought they did very well.

“The bigger storyline was the FedEx Cup, the season-long race and the big prize for that but Tiger’s storyline trumped that,” said NBC Sports lead golf producer Tommy Roy, in an interview late Sunday night. “There was no issue here. People often say, ‘Did you show Tiger too much?’ Well, he was the leader all day long. There would be no valid criticism there today. If people want to critique whether we talked enough about the FedEx Cup, that can be debated. But I thought we had a perfect balance today.”

I have written this before: As a casual golf watcher, I want as much Woods as I can get. He’s one of the most compelling athletes of the last 20 years and the reason NBC is going to get a massive viewership number on Sunday. The final round of the PGA Championship — featuring Brooks Koepka holding off Woods — drew 8.47 million viewers for CBS, the best Sunday figure for that tournament since 2009. (By comparison: CBS drew 4.905 million for last year’s final round of the PGA Championship.) That is all Woods and NBC is going to get rewarded big when the final viewership numbers for the Tour Championship come out on Tuesday.

Though Woods led the entire final round, NBC did get some late drama when Woods hit the bunker on his second shot at No. 18 and Billy Horschel sitting in the clubhouse at two strokes back. But best of all for them, they got one of the most memorable gallery sequences we have ever seen, as captured here by the Golf Channel’s Twitter feed: 

THIS IS INCREDIBLE! pic.twitter.com/si9EaHq5RY

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 23, 2018

“That scene just unfolded before us and we captured it,” said Roy, who has been the lead golf producer since 2005 and has a trophy case of Sports Emmys featuring his work as a producer on Super Bowls, the Olympics, NBA Finals, Kentucky Derby, and the Daytona 500, among other events.  

“I don’t think the Tour planned on letting all the people rush the fairway. They typically don’t do it so we certainly did not have any idea it was going to happen but once it did, we stayed with it.”

Roy said he wanted his production to be able to put the win in perspective as well as Woods himself explaining what winning again would mean. (They had pre-produced and edited elements for both.) Similar to tennis coverage, live golf coverage tends to celebrate players, and the relationship between broadcasters and subjects is often less about journalism and more about camaraderie — see NBC course reporter Roger Maltbie’s first-bump of Woods following his win. But NBC delivered the right imagery in the moments that mattered. They also got an emotional Woods in the trophy ceremony answering questions from Hicks. Roy did say that Justin Rose’s speech for winning the overall FedEx Cup was unfortunately cut off early because they had a tight hit time (the time they needed to get off the air).

One major benefit to viewers on Sunday was NBC does not air any national commercials for the final nine holes of the Tour Championship. There are local breaks so it’s not completely commercial free, but as a spokesperson said, “when the leaders are on back nine on Sunday, we go very limited on commercials.” Most viewers got the last 90 minutes of the tournament uninterrupted. (I asked followers on Twitter to weigh in on how they viewed NBC’s coverage and you can read their comments here.)

Up next for Roy and NBC’s golf coverage is the Ryder Cup later this week from Paris, which will benefit heavily from Woods’ appearance and the publicity his win will generate this week.

“Today is right up there with the events that I’ve done,” Roy said. “Tiger won the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg and that had more drama coming down the stretch. It was crazy dramatic. From a drama standpoint, this doesn’t match that, but from a historical standpoint, I think it surpassed it. I was a real treat to get the opportunity to cover this and bring it to American viewers. We saw history.”

THE INK REPORT

1. Some NFL media notes from Week Three.

• Another great bit of foreshadowing by CBS analyst Tony Romo, who picked up in the first quarter that Minnesota had no safeties playing against Buffalo following the Bills getting a turnover deep in the Vikings end. Romo highlighted how tight Minnesota was playing to the line and said, “If you are Buffalo today, you have to be aggressive.” On the next play, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen found tight end Jason Croom wide open for a 26-yard touchdown and a 17-0 lead. Said Romo after the TD: “The way to beat Minnesota in Minnesota: Throw aggressively on early downs. Don’t wait for third downs.” Great sequence.
• The NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football telecast between the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets was the most-watched exclusive Thursday night game since December 2015. The game averaged 8.6 million viewers and peaked at 10.3 million viewers during the game’s final six minutes (11:30-11:36 p.m.) as Baker Mayfield led his team to victory in his NFL debut. The game was up 16 percent in viewership compared to NFL Network’s Week 3 Thursday Night Football game from 2017 (Los Angeles Rams-San Francisco).
• Entering the Sunday games, ratings for the entire NFL schedule was an 8.8 average household rating for all games, all networks, making it flat against 2017. Make of that what you wish. I’d call it a big win for the NFL.
• Nice work by Fox NFL Sunday producer Ross Tiernan on a piece that had Tiernan traveling to Pittsburgh to highlight some fantastically entertaining Steelers fans. Tiernan also put together Fox’s excellent opening tease for the NFL season. Many of Fox’s NFL features, specifically the ones featuring a talent interview of a player or coach, have a similar feel and tone and length, so it’s nice to see the pregame show breaking form.
• Cool note from the invaluable 506sports.com: The last time Joe Buck and Troy Aikman called the Browns or Jets before last Thursday? The Cowboys-Browns in 2008, and Bears-Jets in 2006.
• Great work by ESPN producer Jenna Contreras shooting and editing this piece on Dak Prescott and his relationship with Kendrell Daniels, who was born with no arms and started painting. Here’s Pete Thamel’s 2017 piece on the relationship.

2. Brad Nessler is now in his second year as the play-by-play broadcaster for the SEC on CBS, which has experienced a remarkably seamless transition from Verne Lundquist to Nessler on play-by-play and Allie LaForce to Jamie Erdahl on the sidelines. I emailed Nessler this week for his view of the transition after he called top-ranked Alabama’s 45-23 win over No. 22 Texas A&M on Saturday.

How would assess your comfort level at the moment calling the SEC on CBS and why?

I couldn’t be more comfortable, especially because of the crew that we have. I’m working with a partner in the booth that I’ve been with on two different occasions totaling 10 years so there’s a comfort level with Gary (Danielson) from all that experience together. We added Jamie (Erdahl), who fits right in and she immediately has become part of the family. And then there’s Craig (Silver). He was my producer 28 years ago during my first stint at CBS and he’s still my producer.

What SEC venue have you yet to call a game from that you would like to call a game from, and why?

That’s almost a trick question. I don’t think there’s a place in the SEC where I haven’t done a game, except maybe Kentucky. But I’ve called a lot of college basketball games at Rupp Arena. Does that count? I’ve been just about everywhere over the years. And outside the SEC, the only Power 5 school I can think of where I haven’t called a game is Notre Dame.

What would you say is the biggest difference between calling the NFL and the SEC, and why?

One of the biggest differences between calling NFL and college football games is the roster sizes and the number of names you need to know. College football rosters are a lot larger and there’s a chance that almost all of the players on each squad will be on the field at one point or another. Plus, in college, the players are constantly changing after three or four years.

What SEC coach have you found to be the most forthcoming in production meetings, and why?

To be honest with you, and you’re going to think I’m kidding, but if I had to choose only one, I’d say Nick Saban. A lot of people who don’t know him probably look at him one way but that’s not the case. We just spent a good portion of Friday with him. There’s a familiarity there that helps. The longer you know guys, the better chance you have of getting something in a production meeting that you maybe didn’t know before. I’ve known Nick since he was the defensive coordinator at Cleveland under Bill Belichick and through Michigan State, LSU, the Miami Dolphins, and now here at Alabama. We’ve known each other for a long time and I think he respects the job that we do.

2a. The Alabama-Texas A&M was the highest-rated college football game yesterday  — a 3.5 overnight rating on CBS. Some other CFB ratings:

• Stanford-Oregon (ABC): 3.0
• Georgia-Missouri (ESPN): 2.3
• Florida at Tennessee (ESPN): 1.5
• Arizona State at Washington (ESPN): 1.4

2b. NBC’s Round 3 coverage of the Tour Championship drew a 3.14 overnight rating, the highest-rated Tour Championship Round 3 telecast in 15 years and the highest-rated Tour Championship telecast overall since 2009.

3. Renee Young made history this month by being named as a full-time commentator on Monday Night Raw, the WWE’s flagship show. Young, a former broadcaster on The Score (Canada), is the first woman to hold the Raw commentator position fulltime. The announcement was big news in pro wrestling media (and beyond) given how many people watch Raw weekly — between 2.5 million and 4 million viewers depending on the time of the year.

“The higher brass at WWE has always been very good to me and listened when I have had things to say to them,” Young said. “Hunter (Paul Levesque, the executive vice president of talent, live events and creative whose stage name is Triple H), (WWE chief brand officer) Stephanie (McMahon), and Michael Cole (head of broadcasting and the WWE’s lead broadcaster) have been in my corner big-time leading up to this moment, even from the time I was calling NXT when I was really not ready to do commentary at that point of my career.”

Young said she is still trying to figure out how her Raw preparation and process will work on a weekly basis. But she did say she prefers to be in the dark about specific match activity. “I prefer to have a natural reaction to things and I think for what my role is on commentary I don’t think I need to know that stuff,” Young said. “I think that is more of a Michael Cole spot. So far I have been kept in the dark to have a natural reaction to things and I prefer to work that way in general.”

Episode 21 of the Sports Media Podcast features Young  discussing why her six-year run at WWE has worked out as well as it has; how she found about getting the Raw job from Michael Cole, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and Vince McMahon; what her process is like to prepare for Monday Night Raw; how much she is aware of specific match activity versus storyline/backstory;  how NXT helped develop her as an announcer; what her WWE audition was like; how her real-life will or will not impact what viewers will hear from her if Dean Ambrose (her real-life husband) is appearing on RAW; what makes Stephanie and Paul Heyman such great performers; how Heyman has helped her since her early days with WWE; which people in the company she hangs with while on the road; her newfound love of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights; why The Shield would beat the nWo; the dream WWE match she’d like to call, and much more.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and more.

PODCAST BREAKDOWN

1:00: Why things have worked out as well as they have for Young at WWE.

3:00: How Young found out she got the Raw job.

8:00: Her preparation for calling Raw.

11:00: How much she is aware of specific match activity.

14:00: What she did for her WWE audition.

19:10: The prospect of commentating on matches featuring her real-life husband – Dean Ambrose.

23:00: Why Heyman and Stephanie McMahon are great performers.

28:50: Who Young spends time with on the road when traveling for the WWE.

30:00: The support she has received after the announcement.

33:00: Her Vegas Golden Knights fandom.

36:30: The dream wrestling match she would like to call from any era.

4. Non-sports pieces of note:

• Twelve years ago, Amber Wyatt reported her rape. Few believed her. Her hometown turned against her. The authorities failed her. One of the best pieces I’ve read in 2018.
• From The Toronto Star’s Robert Cribb and Marco Chown Oved: We went undercover as ticket scalpers — and Ticketmaster offered to help us do business.
• Chevy Chase is sober and wants to work. The problem is no one wants to work with him. Brilliant profile from Geoff Edgers of The Washington Post.
• From Esquire, Inside the brilliant career and tragic death of Javier Valdez.
• Fantastic obit from The Washington Post: Freddie Oversteegen, Dutch resistance fighter who killed Nazis through seduction, dies at 92. 
• From The Daily Beast: Accused Sexual Harassers Thrived Under NBC News Chief Andy Lack.
• From Shannon Proudfoot of Macleans: This is what Alzheimer’s is like at 41.
• From Via the New York Times: The Brothel Empire and the Ex-Detective, Always One Step Ahead of the Law. 
• Of significant note to those serving have served: M.R.E. pizza, developed at an Army laboratory in Natick, Mass., is about to be part of combat field rations. Interesting story.
• From The New Yorker: The deliberate awfulness of social media.
• Via Robyn Doolittle of the Globe and Mail: Unfounded case ends with conviction 19 years after police dismissed a sexual-assault complaint.

Sports pieces of note:

• From Grigory Rodchenkov, writing for USA Today Sports: Decision to reinstate Russia would be catastrophic in the fight against doping. 
• From Michael Sokolove of The New York Times: Should a high school basketball star be prevented from playing college basketball because his father was accused of taking a bribe?
• NFL.com’s Marc Sessler on being hopelessly devoted to the Browns.
• The California Sunday Magazine’s Kit Rachlis interviewed Steve Kerr and Phil Jackson.

5. Worth watching is this two-part interview by ESPN’s Rachel Nichols of Mark Cuban about the NBA’s findings of sexual harassment inside the Mavericks organization. Part I and Part II. Terrific work by Nichols.

5a. Big numbers for Univision and Univision Deportes Network’s Champions League coverage: Liverpool’s 3-2 victory over Paris Saint-Germain averaged 672,000, the most-viewed group stage telecast in Champions League history regardless of language. Barcelona’s win over PSV Eindhoven drew 618,000, the second most-watched Group Stage telecast in Champions League history for Univision.

5b. Following an investigation Golf Digest editorial director Max Adler helped open, an Erie County (N.Y.) court vacated Valentino Dixon’s murder conviction after he had already served 27 years in jail. Here’s an NBC Sports piece on Dixon in 2013. 

5c. On Sunday, Sara Walsh worked as the sideline reporter for Fox’s broadcast of the New Orleans Saints-Atlanta Falcons, her first on-air assignment since Jan 22, 2017. Walsh was let go by ESPN as part mass layoffs last April while she was still on maternity leave. The interview I did with Walsh last week got a lot of feedback online so I wanted to follow up with her on how the assignment went.

How would you evaluate the experience?

It was better than I could have imagined. The amount of support I received in terms of people reaching out to say how happy they were to see me back completely blows my mind. I never would’ve expected that. I knew my close friends and family would be rooting for me, but the outpouring from colleagues at other networks, former networks, and people I’ve never even met means so much. Once the game kicked it was business as usual — if business had been halted for 20 months.

In those 20 months, I’ve pictured many returns, but I could never have pictured this: That my first moment back on television would be alongside my best friend on the planet in Charissa Thompson (on her NFL kickoff show). She’s been with me through the toughest times in my life, and might as well be there for one of the best. And my final moment on television today would end with me interviewing Drew Brees on the field. The last time I worked I was pregnant with twins. They were born early, and aside from all the scary health issues you’re dealing with, we didn’t have names for them. I had been randomly searching sports rosters for a last name I could use as a first name. My 20-month old son watched the game from home today. His name? Brees Buschmann.

What were you most satisfied with?

That I didn’t forget how to do television in the last 20 months. I mean, I’ve never been in the position where I’ve been out so long, so I wasn’t entirely sure if you pick up right where you left off. Turns out, you do. The second it was time to go, it felt like I had never left. It felt completely comfortable being out there. A lot of the credit for that goes to the Fox crew, who went out of their way to make it feel like I’ve been a part of their family all along. From the folks with me in Atlanta, to everyone back at Fox Studios in L.A., they were so welcoming. Fox also happened to hook me up with what turned out to be arguably the best game of the week. The Falcons-Saints more than lived up to the hype. When you’ve been sitting out so long, you’re ready to work extra, I appreciate them arranging an overtime game for me!

(Top photo: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports)