Hear me out New Longhorn Network looks like it's all about ESPN, not Texas
TMC
By Kevin Benz
07.09.11 | 03:30 pm
I gotta get something off my chest. I do this occasionally... just
hear me out.
Don't get me wrong, I want the Longhorn Network to succeed. Me and
some hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of Longhorn fans, want it
to grow, add millions of dollars to our alma mater's coffers, keep the
athletic department's budget in the thin air of the stratosphere and
keep making oklahoma people insane with jealousy (note, the small "o"
is not a typo).
But there's a problem I just can't get out of my head ... and
remember, my blood runs orange. This week, the Longhorn Network (aka
ESPN, aka The Worldwide Leader) fed the Austin American-Statesman an
exclusive feast (the press release went out to the rest of us a day
later) naming its "nationally known" anchors and showing off an
illustrated graphic of its studio set. Nice.
Here's my problem ... who the hell are these "nationally known" anchor
people? Lowell Galindo, Kevin Dunn, Samantha Steele. Seriously?
I have nothing against these folks, I'm sure they are capable sports
journalists ... but this is the best ESPN could do?
Wait, it gets better ... 31 of the 50 people the Longhorn Network has
hired are from Bristol, Conn. (or Charlotte, N.C., home of ESPNU).
Bristol is the Worldwide Leader's worldwide headquarters. .. reminds
me of the old Pace Picante sauce commercial ... BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT?!
Get a rope.
At least 10 of the employees are UT grads ... that's 20 percent if
you're keeping score. Put any 50 people in Austin in the same room, I
promise more than 20 percent went Texas.
I want to see people who know Longhorn sports inside and out and
ask tough questions ...
Maybe I'm being too judgmental, let's give them benefit of the doubt
and look at some quotes our new Longhorn anchors gave the Statesman:
Galindo grew up in San Antonio, great! “I love how the entire city
revolves around UT,” he told the paper. Hmmm, not sure he's been in
Austin for awhile. We have this little thing downtown called the Texas
Capitol... it's where our government meets, kind of a big deal in
Austin. In fact, one can live here a very long time without ever
coming in contact with UT, ask anyone in Cedar Park. To be fair, The
Houston Chronicle gave Galindo a bit more time to talk about football.
"The coaching staff is younger with (new coordinators Manny Diaz and
Bryan Harsin), and a lot of people wanted to see Major Applewhite's
role bumped up. And to have a running back like Malcolm Brown and to
have an opportunity to see a classic style of Texas football is
exciting as well." OK, he's been reading up, that's a good start.
Dunn went to Westlake high school, graduated from UT and worked
radio at The Zone for five years, excellent! “Everything about the
Longhorn Network is going to be high-class: the people, the
programming, the graphics, the lighting … everything.” The lighting?
Seriously? That's what he's bringing?
Last chance, Samantha Steele. That's an awesome TV name. She
worked at Fox Sports, no Texas experience is noted, but yes, she's
hot. “I wasn’t looking for a new job,” she said, “but this was an
awesome opportunity.” That it is Samantha, that it is.
Well, now we know how deeply engrained the Texas athletic experience
is in these folks.
Now I've had the good fortune of hanging around Austin TV a pretty
good while. I've seen a lot of excellent sports journalists come and
go. People who have covered Texas football inside and out, people who
know where the bodies are buried, people who can give context and
perspective to the team, its history and its tradition.
People like that have applied for those jobs, names I promise you
would recognize. Many, most, didn't even get a call back. Hmmm ... why
would that be? (Note: Yes, for transparency, I applied back in
February, no, I got no call back ... no, I don't have a chip on my
shoulder I ended up with a great job at CultureMap).
Stephanie Druley and Dave Brown are the leading players for the
Network. Stephanie is a Texas Ex Life Member (ESPN and UT like to
emphasize that). She has a spectacular resume and I'm sure she and
Brown (who is no slouch in the experience department either) will put
together a top-notch organization full of incredibly talented people
producing remarkably great television — I'm giving them benefit of the
doubt.
ESPN has too much invested in the LN to allow it to fail, and they
know how to do great TV.
I'm not worried about high quality television, (the lighting I hear
will be high-class). I just don't want to watch generic ESPN on my
Longhorn Network. I want to see people who know Longhorn sports inside
and out and ask tough questions of Mack Brown and Rick Barnes. I want
people who know Texas talking about Texas. I don't need another homer
media outlet feeding me the company line.
And I'm not the only one who feels that way. Our enemies ... er ...
competitors in oklahoma are a little concerned about how their TV
games on the Longhorn Network will sound. They're pretty sure it'll
sound a lot like the Texas Longhorn Network rather than ESPN ... duh.
So here's where we are, a first-class organization, ESPN, is running
the show (has anyone heard a peep from UT about this?), the first live
sports programming will be ... UT volleyball vs. Pepperdine on Aug.
26. That's good, the volleyball team deserves more TV love.
LN will air the Rice football game, and my money says the Texas Tech
game. I hear the Baylor game is out (no interest) and the Oklahoma
State game, well they're scared to death of the LN network so it would
be great fun to watch, but Tech is an intrastate rivalry.
By the way, I am assured by people who should know that Time Warner
Cable and ESPN will get their shit together to make sure the Longhorn
Network is on the biggest cable provider in Central Texas. What sense
would it make for that not to happen? Wait, what sense does any of
this make?
God I hope UT won't revoke my season tickets for this, I really do
love that team. Thanks for hearing me out. Disagree? You know where to
find me.
J.C. Watts Enslin
> http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/07-09-11-new-longhorn-networ...
Kevin Benz sounds like a provincial dope.
Jon
deem...@aol.com
And that's putting it nicely.
Starcade
Mike
xyzzy
> I'm not worried about high quality television, (the lighting I hear
> will be high-class). I just don't want to watch generic ESPN on my
> Longhorn Network. I want to see people who know Longhorn sports inside
> and out and ask tough questions of Mack Brown and Rick Barnes. I want
> people who know Texas talking about Texas. I don't need another homer
> media outlet feeding me the company line.
Umm, I think this is where the disconnect is. Does he really think a
Longhorn Network with UT having a major ownership stake is going to be
anything OTHER than a homer media outlet feeding him the company line?
Huck Kennedy
> http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/07-09-11-new-longhorn-networ...
>
> 07.09.11 | 03:30 pm
>
> people? Lowell Galindo, Kevin Dunn, Samantha Steele. Seriously?
>
> I have nothing against these folks, I'm sure they are capable sports
> journalists ... but this is the best ESPN could do?
He means Sage Steele, doesn't he? Or is there another one
named Samantha?
Huck