JR240 Fourth Blog Piece

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For my fourth class assignment of the semester, I was assigned to watch or listen to a broadcast of any sporting event and provide a performance review of sorts for the announcers.  I was worried that I would struggle to follow the game action while still listening critically to the broadcast, but I didn’t want to listen to a radio broadcast because I’m easily distracted.  Luckily for me, one of the most unimportant but entertaining sports event of the year went down this weekend, so I tuned in to “NBA All-Star Saturday Night” on TNT.  In studio for the event were Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquielle O’Neal, and Chris Webber, with Kevin Harlan on the call with Kenny Smith, Reggie Miller, and Charles Barkley.

The TNT NBA analysts truly epitomize the “infotainment era” that we find ourselves in as journalists.  Former NBA players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquielle O’Neal  (among others) entertain viewers first and then use their basketball knowledge to provide a decent description of what is transpiring on the court.  I’m not sure if any of the former stars employed by TNT could ever be a “real journalist”, but they can definitely entertain a large viewing audience, even if Chuck has to call himself a “dumbass” to do it.

There was a lot to like about the broadcast of All-Star Saturday Night.  The best thing about the analysts at TNT is their brutally honest commentary.  During the Shooting Stars Challenge, Kenny Smith had the commentators cackling as he mocked Chris Bosh, saying, “I love it when a guy holds his follow through like that, and then it’s an air-ball.”  An even funnier exchange happened during the Slam Dunk Contest, when Kenny, comparing the current lackluster product to the glory days of the late 80s and early 90s, said that in those days the competitors had to do 9 dunks instead of 4.  To which Chuck quipped, “And people knew who those guys were too,” alluding to the recent trend of star players declining to dunk and the contest being filled with non-stars.  To reference this, Shaq called Jeremy Evans “Chris Ross” in the pregame show, despite Evans being the 2012 winner (Terrence Ross was the eventual 2013 winner, but still no word on where “Chris” came from).  In the case of TNT’s NBA coverage, bad journalism is actually a huge draw for them, because viewers know that even if it isn’t Bob Ryan breaking down the action for them, they’ll still get plenty of laughs.

There were also some aspects of the broadcast that I didn’t like.  TNT had Nick Cannon hosting the event, which was just insulting.  As a journalist, it’s insulting to have Nick Cannon hosting an NBA event, and as a viewer I’m insulted that TNT thought I’d want to watch something that Nick Cannon was hosting.  I also didn’t like how the event was catered to non-NBA fans as much as it was.  There were so many “celebrities in the crowd” shots over the course of the night that it felt like maybe the NBA players were an intermission to a Hollywood show.  The NBA is probably more in tune with the “infotainment era” than any other sports league, but as someone who would rather just watch basketball, I’m not a fan of making it about something other than basketball.

To make the broadcast better, I would have changed a few things up.  I’m fine with TNT having the comedic analyst factor, and I think Kevin Harlan did a pretty good job on play by play.  But as for hosting the event, I’d go with Ernie Johnson, who actually has a background as a sportswriter and is a mainstay on TNT.  I also would have replaced all the crowd shots of celebrities with interviews with some of the players.  Rather than watch Drake yuck it up with some players between events, I’d have James Harden talk about his first year in Houston, or LeBron James talk about his recent hot stretch.  It would have felt more like a show for the NBA All-Stars and less of a who’s who Hollywood showcase.