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- May 25, 2014
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Have no idea how many of ESPN's producers, program directors, and decision makers are alumni from schools that are/were feisty rivals of UConn. But clearly recall what my daughter said about 10-12 years ago when she was a producer at WFSB : "Dad, everybody at ESPN is from Rutgers and Syracuse and they all hate the Red Sox, hate UConn, and really hate Bristol. Everybody wants to get to New York, LA, etc. as soon as possible." I laughed. Youthful exaggeration I thought. Both then and now I admit to no real knowledge of the network's inner workings.
But she thinks that right now the Sports Leader is unhappy because Bristol's bracket got busted.
Clever lass.
By Sunday morning the brackets were brimming with magical marketing possibilities for ESPN and all the lights were on at their campus:
-the UConn "Chasing History" line was emphatically intact.
-Muffet and the Limeys were eliminated. But heck, that story was getting old. Photogenic Stanford offered the irresistible Sisters Samuelson angle plus the return of classy Tara.
-at first glance Texas didn't seem to have much production sizzle; but what if Ted Cruz came to a game ?
-And with Kim Mulkey in the wings reminders went out to the camera guys. Be ready fellas. It might be a shoe this time and it might hit someone. Or at long last a button or two might pop.
-Determined Dawn had indeed gone down. But Syracuse offered great possibilities : basketball Capitol of the Nation, simultaneous men & women, and the imminent Battle of the Oranges because, lo and behold, what many had started to call The Easter Miracle had occurred...
-The Resurrection of Tennessee ! This was the ultimate bracket gift for The World Wide Leader. More than eight years in the making. Just thinking about the possibility of Connecticut vs. Tennessee made the young employees who knew little about the history start whacking their tablets to get a crash course. Biggest audience in the network's history ? And your name in the credits ? Production budget be damned. Sorry to miss dinner Mom. Kara and Rebecca tell us this is really big.
Plus a couple of smaller nuggets for the interns to work on :
-Husky vs. Husky. Cute.
-Also the cleanup after the clumsy attempt at self-promotion by the Boston blowhard sportswriter. Could be useful later.
But now most of those sure-fire production possibilities are all gone. At least mostly all.
Muffet is deciding on golf or a weekend in fabulous Bristol being pleasant to Becca. Mom and dad Samuleson are getting an extra Indy ticket for Karlie. Plus trying to get her to wear a UConn shirt. For Kim the storm has passed and the jacket is headed for a charity auction. In Charleston Dawn consoles herself by repeating over and over "Tennessee is out, Tennessee is out, Tennessee is...". And Knoxville ? Best not to ask. Though there are reports that Gas-X sales are spiking and attendance at local parks (the Body Farm in particular) is way up.
The lowly interns at the network inevitably have had both the Husky/Husky (cute) and the Shaughnessy (unpleasant) pieces snatched away by the regulars. This stuff might turn out to be central after all.
At least the hopeful Syracuse grads are still motivated and working hard. But their efforts may be domed, excuse me, doomed to failure because educating the non-northeast crowd about the rivalry will be hard. And even the dual NC thing will require some on-air genuflection to Connecticut who did it first, did it twice, and have 14 banners to what would now be 3 for the 'Cuse. Or 2. Or 1. Because there is no certainty that either team will even make it to the NC. By April 5 the banner count might actually be 15 to 1. Ouch. *
At ESPN it's back to square one : UConn Chasing History. Tough week in Bristol. Bracket got Busted...Badly.
*15-1 would mean posters on the men's Boneyard would turn into a bunch of soul-dominating piranhas on a roast.
.
But she thinks that right now the Sports Leader is unhappy because Bristol's bracket got busted.
Clever lass.
By Sunday morning the brackets were brimming with magical marketing possibilities for ESPN and all the lights were on at their campus:
-the UConn "Chasing History" line was emphatically intact.
-Muffet and the Limeys were eliminated. But heck, that story was getting old. Photogenic Stanford offered the irresistible Sisters Samuelson angle plus the return of classy Tara.
-at first glance Texas didn't seem to have much production sizzle; but what if Ted Cruz came to a game ?
-And with Kim Mulkey in the wings reminders went out to the camera guys. Be ready fellas. It might be a shoe this time and it might hit someone. Or at long last a button or two might pop.
-Determined Dawn had indeed gone down. But Syracuse offered great possibilities : basketball Capitol of the Nation, simultaneous men & women, and the imminent Battle of the Oranges because, lo and behold, what many had started to call The Easter Miracle had occurred...
-The Resurrection of Tennessee ! This was the ultimate bracket gift for The World Wide Leader. More than eight years in the making. Just thinking about the possibility of Connecticut vs. Tennessee made the young employees who knew little about the history start whacking their tablets to get a crash course. Biggest audience in the network's history ? And your name in the credits ? Production budget be damned. Sorry to miss dinner Mom. Kara and Rebecca tell us this is really big.
Plus a couple of smaller nuggets for the interns to work on :
-Husky vs. Husky. Cute.
-Also the cleanup after the clumsy attempt at self-promotion by the Boston blowhard sportswriter. Could be useful later.
But now most of those sure-fire production possibilities are all gone. At least mostly all.
Muffet is deciding on golf or a weekend in fabulous Bristol being pleasant to Becca. Mom and dad Samuleson are getting an extra Indy ticket for Karlie. Plus trying to get her to wear a UConn shirt. For Kim the storm has passed and the jacket is headed for a charity auction. In Charleston Dawn consoles herself by repeating over and over "Tennessee is out, Tennessee is out, Tennessee is...". And Knoxville ? Best not to ask. Though there are reports that Gas-X sales are spiking and attendance at local parks (the Body Farm in particular) is way up.
The lowly interns at the network inevitably have had both the Husky/Husky (cute) and the Shaughnessy (unpleasant) pieces snatched away by the regulars. This stuff might turn out to be central after all.
At least the hopeful Syracuse grads are still motivated and working hard. But their efforts may be domed, excuse me, doomed to failure because educating the non-northeast crowd about the rivalry will be hard. And even the dual NC thing will require some on-air genuflection to Connecticut who did it first, did it twice, and have 14 banners to what would now be 3 for the 'Cuse. Or 2. Or 1. Because there is no certainty that either team will even make it to the NC. By April 5 the banner count might actually be 15 to 1. Ouch. *
At ESPN it's back to square one : UConn Chasing History. Tough week in Bristol. Bracket got Busted...Badly.
*15-1 would mean posters on the men's Boneyard would turn into a bunch of soul-dominating piranhas on a roast.
.