Home >  Sports >  Columnists

Monday, November 27, 2000

If it were technologically feasible, this column would shrink to roughly two-thirds its usual size, and updated scores would appear on the bottom of this page. Two niggling little details prevent me from doing just that. For one, there are no games in progress to update. For another, it's too dang annoying.

Twelve times during the Steelers-Bungles game yesterday, CBS interrupted by rearranging your television screen and flashing those scores at the bottom. That doesn't even count the four times the fellows in the booth sent it back to the New York studios for a Jim Nantz update. My favorite came at 2:08 p.m. Nantz voiced over a clip that showed Baltimore upping its 14-7 lead with a long touchdown pass, but, by then, the Ravens already increased their lead to 24-7 with a field goal.

Four minutes later, when it came time for the 2:12 p.m. screen-bottom update, the Ravens were ahead, 31-7.

Whew, we were worried for Baltimore there for a while.

Twelve times, CBS shrank our screens -- which reminds me, do we need that left-side panel if no advertiser purchases that billboard area or could we merely type in "This Space For Rent?" Those disturbing dozen times were 1:18 p.m., 1:34, 1:46, 2:00, 2:12, 2:38 (after halftime), 2:47, 3:02, 3:19 (one minute after a New York update on a fumble in Tampa Bay), 3:30, 3:49 and 3:53. Eight times, the scores annoyingly intervened on a play, including a sizable Steelers third down. Twice, the scores remained the same. Once, they listed Kordell Stewart as having tallied a Baltimore touchdown.

Whew, we were worried about the Steelers' offense there for a while.

Look, I like updated scores as much as the next fan. But there seems to be no formula. They appear anywhere between every nine to 18 minutes. They appear more regularly in one quarter than another, one game than another (Miami-Indianapolis to follow didn't get so readily interrupted). CBS works too hard to provide us with AFC Central replays and tickers. Fox some days seems to inundate us with the musical warnings and screen-bottom scores, then some days not. I just wish the TV types would lose the left-screen panel and add a more rigid clock -- say, every 20 minutes (or every 29 as on ESPN) and between plays rather than during them.

Up to the booth

CBS' Bill Macatee and Charles Mann, in their Steelers broadcasting debut, hit or missed some interesting points yesterday:

Both failed to notice Stewart throwing the key block on Hines Ward's first-quarter reverse.

Mann, in his Southern accent, referred to Cincinnati as the Banguls and his old position as Defensive Ian.

Mann criticized Courtney Hawkins for failing to catch a pass that touched his hands but later excused Bobby Shaw for such a drop. Spoken like a true Defensive Ian.

Macatee showed a nice sense of humor. He joked how a Bulgarian judge gave a 9.7 to Jason Gildon's fumble tumble. And, after Nantz punctuated a fourth-quarter update by throwing out a studio mate as a potential future Bungles coach, he quipped: "I don't know if we want to threaten [Cincinnatians] with Jerry Glanville. They've been through enough."

Commercial

Let's pause for this message ...

Did you catch that Pittsburgh promotional ad during the game's first full commercial break? It was sponsored by the NFL, the Steelers and the Greater Pittsburgh Convention and Visitors Bureau. Between city and Steelers scenes, it spoke: "Somewhere between New York and Chicago, between the sun and the moon, between the hits and the misses, between pride and joy ... somewhere between America's heart and soul, there's a city you must experience -- Pittsburgh."

It made me wonder: Is this done elsewhere?

Somewhere between Savannah and Daytona Beach, between the aroma of the paper plant and the ocean-side factories, between America's wackiest seagulls and power line-perching swallows, there's a city you must endure -- Jacksonville.

Somewhere between Manitowoc and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, between the packing plants and the cheese, between America's Limburger and Cheddar, there's a city you must give a Lambeau Leap some warm summer day, like July 16 or 17 -- Green Bay.

Not to be sarcastic or anything.

You can reach Chuck Finder at cfinder@post-gazette.com