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Monthly Archives: February 2013
Super Bowl XLVII: Where were all the women?
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BY JORDAN CRAVENS
CBS’ Super Bowl XLVII broadcast has received rave reviews. Analysts can’t argue with the ratings and they said the broadcast team handled the power outage with ease. Their one critique was the network’s failure to bleep out a swear word used by Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco.
It seemed CBS had the dream-team broadcasting line-up for the big game. They had the familiar faces of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms and a stellar supply of highly-decorated players and coaches.
But there was something missing …
Women.
Where were the female broadcasters, CBS?
Sure, there were female reporters in pregame coverage, but where was the representation during the game when viewership was in the millions?
The answer? No where to be found.
It’s not surprising a female would not be on the play-by-play or color commentary for any football game, but perhaps more surprising were the male sideline reporters.
Sad to say it, but females have become the “token” sideline reporters. But even at that, CBS was lacking.
So, what prevented CBS from having female broadcasters? Is it because females don’t watch football? According to an article by Clark, Apostolopoulou and Gladden (2009) titled, “Real Women Watch Football,” that just isn’t true. In fact, 45 percent of the Super Bowl viewers are female, their study found.
Is it because women aren’t going into journalism?
I can tell you we are here. We are in journalism school, making the Dean’s list, working for little pay at local newspapers and TV stations and getting involved in campus media. We are networking, we are building our resumes and we are working just as hard, if not harder, as our male counterparts.
So, it’s simply not a matter of supply. It’s demand.
Female broadcasters, particularly for football, aren’t in demand.
Ladies: We have hit the glass ceiling, again.
What it’s like Working Super Bowl Gameday
BY LORI RAUDIO
As a part of BGSU’s Sport Management Alliance, I received the opportunity to volunteer at Super Bowl 47. The atmosphere in New Orleans was electric, and I got firsthand experience at helping to run one of the biggest events in sport. One of the events that our group volunteered at was the NFL Tailgate on Sunday.
The NFL Tailgate was an invitation-only party held prior to the big game. Representatives from every NFL team were present, as well as many athletes and celebrities. Our job was to distribute a gift, Tailgate Mardi Gras beads, to every guest as they entered. Some of the notable guests I saw included Cal Ripken Jr, Shawn Johnson, Michael Phelps, and Dr. Oz. There were also many media personnel there, including reporters from CBS.
The event was held in two large tents and a parking garage, which had been carpeted and decorated in the Mardi Gras theme. Guests enjoyed local New Orleans cuisine in a garden-like seating area with fountains and trees. There was also live jazz music, costumed performers, concerts from One Republic and Matchbox Twenty, live alligators, and much more. The coordinator said the event took over a year to plan.
It was amazing to be part of such a large-scale event. It ran very smoothly, and every detail was planned to a tee. I can’t believe I got to be a part of this event and Super Bowl 47. I will never forget the experiences I had and the people I met. The tailgate event was one of the highlights of my weekend, ranking only after seeing a few of my favorite athletes, Eli and Peyton Manning.
Super Bowl 47: CBS handles power outage
BY STEVEN KUBITZA
Media coverage of the Super Bowl took an odd twist when the power went out inside the stadium Sunday night.
After the outage, the game cut to commercial and returned to a report from Steve Tasker, who was a sideline reporter for the game. He explained the situation and kept viewers updated on what was occurring inside of the stadium.
To fill the time, CBS basically extended its halftime commentary by talking with the pregame show crew. The delay lasted 34 minutes and CBS did well keeping viewers’ interest.
While commentators, for the most part, kept off-the-field situations out of their broadcast, Ray Lewis’ past was discussed at the end.
Announcers Phil Simms and Jim Nantz should also be commended for their explanation of a tricky scenario at the end of the game:
The Ravens were setting up to punt the ball from their own end zone with only a few seconds left in the game, and had two options. They could either punt it away or take a safety, which would make their lead three points.
The commentators explained the situations and covered the pros and cons of each option.
Harbaugh brothers dominate pregame story lines
BY ANTHONY ALFORD
The biggest story line headed into Super Bowl XLVII was the battle between the two Harbaugh brothers, Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers and John Harbaugh of the Ravens. Who would have ever thought that two brothers would be competing against each other in the Super Bowl?
Within that story line, broadcasters also focused on key personnel decisions made by the brothers during the regular season. John Harbaugh made the decision to fire his offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and replaced him with Jim Caldwell. But, the bigger story was Jim Harbaugh’s decision to bench Alex Smith in favor of Colin Kaepernick mid-season.
Ray Lewis’ final game also dominated pregame broadcasts. Lewis announced his retirement a few days before the playoffs began. His emotional impact has been special to watch throughout this playoff run. He had the opportunity to be like Michael Strahan or Jerome Bettis and ride into the sunset as a champion. Seeing his fairy tale ending come true on Sunday was a joy to watch.
Super Bowl post-game wrap-up
BY MATTHEW OSTROW
Super Bowl commentators Chris Berman, Tom Jackson and Steve Young did several things well to conclude Super Bowl 47. First, they stayed focused on the game despite the lights going out. Secondly, they did not blame the referees, although many people did, on the last play for the 49ers.
Reporter Sal Paolantonio should also be commended for his post-game interview with Ravens’ linebacker Ray Lewis. Paolantonio did exactly what anyone should do when interviewing Lewis — he kept his questions short and kept Lewis talking.
Paolantonio matched Lewis’ energy in the interview, which some would say is a bias. But after the Super Bowl, it would be hard not to.
Two particularly good lines/questions posed by Paolantoino to Lewis were, “And then they put the game in your hands with a goal line stand to win it,” and “never flinch.”
While interviewing a player after a Super Bowl win, a reporter should be able to capture their emotions by letting the player express himself. Paolantoino did just that.
Breaking down first-half Super Bowl coverage
BY STEVEN KUBITZA
There were countless non-game related story lines heading into the game between the Ravens and 49ers, but the focus by the announcers was on the field during the Super Bowl’s first half.
Jim Nantz and Phil Simms did a great job of avoiding talk of off-the-field issues. The issues related to Ray Lewis, (possible PED use) were ignored. Those issues were a focus in the pre-game show, but not during the game.
The one story line addressed in the first-half commentary was the Harbaugh brothers coaching against each other. CBS showed their family and side-by-side shots of their reactions to plays. However, it was not distracting. The focus on the brothers was acceptable because another set of brothers may never meet up in a Super Bowl, again.
Great plays were highlighted, as they well should be, and the broadcast team was fair in giving praise to certain players during the first half. They focused on quarterbacks for both teams and despite the fact that Joe Flacco outplayed Colin Kaepernick in the first half, the commentators were not overly critical.
CBS Super Bowl Pregame Coverage: Taking the Good with the Bad
By Kyle McQuillen
Super Bowl XVII pregame coverage was handled by CBS this year. The pregame coverage was lengthy and had its fair share of great commentary and not so great commentary.
Joining the usual CBS commentary crew were Larry Fitzgerald, wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals, and Clay Matthews, linebacker for the Green Bay Packers.
These two were a great choice to offer commentary for this game. They both illustrated a high level of professionalism and showed little to no bias. Their insights helped the audience gain knowledge on how to prepare for a Super Bowl and what each team needed to do to be victorious.
The main theme of pregame coverage was Ray Lewis and how the Super Bowl would be his last game. Other story lines included: the battle of the Harbaughs and 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s improbable road to becoming the starter.
CBS continued the trend of tiring out the subject of the battle of the brothers and even did a segment with the coaches’ mother, Jackie Harbaugh.
The interview with Kaepernick gave a great look into his upbringing and allowed the second year quarterback to explain what being on the grand stage means to him.
The segment on Lewis was poorly done.
The commentators mentioned Lewis’ impending retirement multiple times, which took away from the coverage. Also, they mentioned old news that had been worn out over the course of the week. Instead of talking about how Lewis would perform, they talked about how he has performed over his career, which is irrelevant to Super Bowl XVII.
One interesting portion of the coverage was when analyst Boomer Esiason criticized Ray Lewis. Esiason commended Lewis for a great on-field career, but a questionable off-field career. The commentary focused on Lewis’ avoidance of Shannon Sharpe’s questions about his alleged involvement in a double-murder in 2000. Lewis was later cleared of the murder charges.
Maxwell Media Watch 