sportsandtelevison

Day of Final My Final Post

zkaznica — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:50:35 +0000

All I have to say that it was a lot of fun to look back at all these great moments in sports and television. I celebrated championships, gold medals, and special moments in sports. I also looked at some low points in sports; Mike Tyson and the Munich hostage crisis. It was a fun experience, and hope that those who looked at my blog learned something, or just enjoyed looking throught it. It amazes me how much has happened in sports the highs, lows, and glowing hockey pucks.

ESPN

zkaznica — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:01:44 +0000

I’m what some people might call a slports purist. I enjoy the four major sports of hockey, baseball, football, and basketball; with a few other randomn sports mixed in there. As a fan of these sports I look to ESPN as a way of getting all my updates and news. There is one thing however that ESPN does that I do not enjoy. This one thing is the showing of things that I don not consider sports. The World Series of Poker is not a sport; then why is on ESPN. I know it is probably a huge ratings draw, but its not really a sport, you can sit down and play it, and there is no physical activity involved really. How can it be a sport if there is no physical activity!! Some other sports that i believe should not be on ESPN are soccer, tennis, bowling, and golf. These are sports, but to a sports purist there is no room for them compared to the four major sports. This is all my opinion, and I’m sure some would disagree, and that’s fine. I just find how throughout the history of sports and television how so many different sports came into the realm of ESPN and its brother and sister networks.

Trajedy in Munich

zkaznica — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 07:02:04 +0000

In 1972 at the Olympic games at Munich, Germany an event took place that took the spotlight away from all the events that were going on inside the city of Munich. The Olympics are supposed to be a friendly contest between countries from all over the world. But, at these games the escapism of sports was taken away, and the whole world was given something to sober up. At these games 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were taken hostage by a group called, Black September. This group went on to kill these athletes and coaches along with one German police officer. Most of the members were killed during a rescue attempt by the German police force. In response to these killings Israel launched two different offensive attacks against those they thought were responsible for the attacks. The two operations were named Operation Spring of Youth and Operation Wrath of God. They lasted for over 20 years, and killed many people thought to be involved in the attacks.

As for the games themselves they were suspended while a memorial service was held for the victims. The games would not be canceled, and eventually were resumed. Many of the competeing teams however lost their spirit of competition after their fellow athletes were murdered. Many teams pulled out of the event like the Egyptians, Algerians, Dutch, Norwegian, and Philippine teams all withdrew. Also Jewish members of other countries teams were put under heavy security for the remainder of the games. This event just shows that even in a place like the Olympics nothing is sacred or safe in the world we live. Sports is mot just America’s form of escapism, but the world’s. On this date no one could escape from the events that took place at Munich.

Philadelphia Involved in more History then I Thought

zkaznica — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:00:18 +0000

As football seasons begins to wind down, and the winter months get longer I decided to see just what was the first ever televised football game, on October 22, 1939. To my suprise it turns out the Philadelphia Eagles were involved in the first ever televised professional football game. The Eagles faced the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbet’s Field, and were defeated 23-14. Only 13,050 people were on hand to watch the game, and only about five hundred or so people were able to watch the game on television. Since the broadcasting signal was so weak it was only able to reach a small number of New Yorkers. The game was broadcasted on NBC’s station W2XBS. The broadcast took only eight people to run, and there were no monitor or screens for the broadcasters to watch only two iconoscope cameras. One was placed in the box seats at the 40 yard line, and the other was placed in the stadium’s mezzanine level.

A Different Concept

zkaznica — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:41:18 +0000

Last year the NHL did something that had never been done before in the history of hockey or television. The NHL decide two have two teams play a game on an outdoor rink. The two teams chosen were the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres. It took place Jan. 1, 2008, and it really brought an interesting angle to the game. The game was played at Ralph Wislon Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, and the weather conditions their reminded me of playing hockey out on the streets in the middle of winter. By the third period there was snowfalling onto the ice, and made for a very exciting game. The game was aired on NBC, and was broadcasted on satelite radio. A record 71,217 people attended the game that day, and the game was one of the highest rate hockey games in along time. The Penguins eventually beat the Sabres in a shootout on a goal by NHL golden boy Sidney Crosby. The NHL plans on having another Winter Classic this year between the Detroit Redwings and the Chicago Blackhawks. I will be watching for sure.

FOX and the Glowing Puck

zkaznica — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:27:04 +0000

As a huge fan of hockey i wanted to bring up a quirky little thing that the NHL and the Fox network came up with in the mid 90′s. During this time FOX decided to make the game a little more exciting by taking the puck, and sort of highlighting it. Throughout the whole entire game the puck would glow, and on shots a beam of light would trail behind the behind puck. This really is not a prolific thing in sports television history, but it was the first time something like this was done. It was an interesting concept, but it eventually just got annoying to see a glowing puck the whole game. The video I have provided it is kind of hard to tell that it is glowing, but when someone shoots the puck it is noticeable.

Ron Hextal Shoots….He Scores!!

zkaznica — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:20:26 +0000

On December 8th 21 years ago a moment in hockey history took place that I hold very near and dear to my heart. On this date one of the greatest Flyers goaltenders of all time, Ron Hextall, scored a goal. This was the first time in NHL history that a goalie had scored against the opposing team. As a die hard Flyers fan, and a huge fan of Ron Hextall this is a memory and a highlight that always hold a special place in my Philadelphia Sports memories. Hextall became a trendsetter of sorts after he did this with many goalies after him trying to accomplish the same feat. Many have tried, but only a few have succeeded. Hextall also went on to score another goal in the playoffs a couple of years later.

161 Million Dollars!!!!

zkaznica — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:05:04 +0000

Today the New York Yankees made history by offereing free agent pitcher C C Sabathia a contract worth 161 million dollars. This is the biggest contract ever awarded to a starting pitcher in the major leagues. But, what i find completely ridiculous is that after this the Yankees turned around, and asked the city of New York to put up hundreds of millions of dollars to help with the cost of building the new Yankee Stadium. With the economy in shambles this is such a back handed slap to the people of New York. If you need money to help build your stadium do not go, and spend 161 million dollars on one free agent pitcher. This is one thing I do not up teams with such high revenues because they can go, and pay a ridiculously high amount for a star player, and the rest of the league , and this case a city have to suffer

Blogging

zkaznica — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:45:43 +0000

As the semester begins to dwindle down I thought about what exactly is blogging doing to the sporting news world in general. I think the blogging is sort of taking away from sports reporting. Im the kind of person enjoys getting my news from the actual sports page. I was listening to the local sports radio station over the weekend, and the one host started to talk about how a lot of reputable sports writers were losing there jobs at the local papers. These writers had been working in some of these places for decades, and because of things like blogs are starting to lose their jobs. Blogs are a double edge sword. They are great because you can get your news quickly. On the other hand you really do not get the insight that you get from a full page article in the paper. There is a certain kind of security you get from reading an article about a local sports team when you get it from a local sports writer. You know that writer was on the inside of the locker room to get that story. Anyone with a computer can sit down, and write a blog about anything. Its just sad to see such a classic part of the history of sports slowly getting wiped away.

Mike Tyson and the Ear

zkaznica — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:45:49 +0000

Mike Tyson may have given boxing the most memorable moment in tv history for an action that had nothing to do with punching, jabbing, ducking, or weaving. On June 28, 1997, Tyson was fighting Evander Holyfield in one of the most highly publicized fights in modern sports. This was the second time the two were to face each other; with the first fight taking place two years earlier in 1996. The rematch however was short-lived and unspectacular. The fight was ended after the third round after Tyson performed one of the most unusual acts ever in not only boxing, but in sports history. After being repeatedly headbutted by Holyfield; Tyson proceeded to bite Holyfield’s ear. One of the bites took a large enough chunk of Holyfield’s right ear off. The fight was stopped, and Tyson was disqualified. Tyson’s boxing license was revoked for one year, and he was fined over 3 million dollars. That was the maximum amount a fighter could be fined at this time by a commission. Tyson would later be reinstated, but his career would never be the same afterwards.