JOHN MADDEN, Johnny Miller, Jeromy Burnitz. How’s that for a something-in-common trio?
In 2002 the Mets re-acquired Burnitz with $18 million left on his contract. Just before the season began, Fran Healy had Burnitz in a sit-down TV interview. Burnitz said that he was excited to be with the Mets.
After noting that Burnitz lives near San Diego, Healy asked if he’d someday like to play for the Padres. Burnitz brightened and, as I recall, said something close to, “That would be great.”
Though Burnitz was innocently honest, he hadn’t yet played for the 2002 Mets, and he already allowed their fans to surmise he’d rather be with the Padres.
Last week, Johnny Miller reminded us of Burnitz, only worse. Having just re-upped with NBC, the network that, since 1990, has facilitated his TV stardom, Miller said he actually kinda, sorta had been looking toward CBS.
“To be totally honest, the lure of doing the Masters [a CBS event],” he said, “was bouncing around in my head.”
Plus, Miller said, CBS’ golf schedule would have minimized his travel, seeing how he lives in the West.
“CBS doing a lot of West Coast tournaments was alluring,” Miller added.
Yep, CBS would have meant the Masters and convenience, too. But what the heck, Miller will gut it out and stay with NBC.
Ya see, if I’m the King of NBC and one of my highly paid, high-visibility employees – a guy my network nurtured until he became its lead golf analyst – openly states that he was even thinking about hooking up with a competing network, I’d give him that opportunity. Instantly.
I’d fire the insubordinate ingrate in a heartbeat.
But there’s more to this than just that.
Miller’s “totally honest” claim that he’s attracted to broadcasting the Masters hardly rhymes with a mostly forgotten stir he created at the 1996 U.S. Open, when Miller, to the press, declared the Masters unworthy of being considered a major.
“The Masters,” he said, the day before NBC’s Open coverage began, “has no business being up there with the Open. It’s up there because people have a love affair with flowers and springtime. There’s no U.S. title at stake.”
Surely the men at Augusta National remember. Had Miller gone to CBS the Masters’ folks, notoriously controlling of CBS’ telecasts, might not have allowed Miller to broadcast into a wax paper cup.
Madden during his eight years at Fox, made as much as $8 million a year for working roughly 25 weekends. Yet, while under contract to Fox, Madden openly stated he’d like to give ABC’s “Monday Night Football” a shot.
I’d have given him a shot at it. Immediately.
Big-time athletes with the most inflated senses of entitlement are no less detached than some big-time sportscasters. Then again, real world rules apply only to those who live in it.
You try it. Stand up and declare – and make sure your boss can hear you – that while you’re not miserable working at Spacely Sprockets, you’d kinda like to work for its competitor, Cogswell Cogs. See if Mr. Spacely doesn’t offer you that opportunity. Instantly.
“Jetson, you’re fired!”
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Common sense has become uncommon. While soccer fans are grateful for ABC/ESPN’s extensive World Cup coverage, why keep covering over the coverage?
Sunday, Brazil and Australia were 0-0 when Brazil went on a promising attack. At that moment, however, the action was completely obliterated by a graphic.
Monday, Spain’s Fernando Torres was selected “Man of the Match” for his play against Tunisia. But as highlights appeared, Torres’ play was hidden behind an ESPN graphic identifying him as “Man of the Match.”
Wednesday, ESPN cut from live play in Argentina-Netherlands to show action from Ivory Coast-Serbia and Montenegro, a game between teams that already had been eliminated. But if there were viewers who preferred the meaningless match, they were already watching it – on ESPN2!
And yesterday, because the sell now supersedes the sports, ESPN missed a U.S. corner kick with the Americans down, 2-1, in the 74th minute. ESPN, at that point, chose to cut to a shot of fans watching from a restaurant – an ESPN Sports Zone restaurant, of course.