As promised, a few more thoughts from the US Open I scribbled down over the past two weeks.<\/p>\n
In general ESPN\u2019s coverage was quite good, as usual. They mix in enough back court matches during the afternoons to give you an idea of that environment. They also do a great job in those pre-prime time hours switching to different matches to at least make you aware there might be a different, more exciting match that you can view on ESPN+.<\/p>\n
I really like Chris Eubanks. Smart, enthusiastic, interesting, understands how to get his points across quickly between points.<\/p>\n
My biggest complaint about the TV coverage was that, of course, in-game, errr, match interviews have spread to tennis. At least it was just with coaches, but it is still super distracting to have the announcers talking with someone court-side for an entire game. A couple times these interviews got awkward as the coach\u2019s player was struggling and it became more difficult to ask questions. Let\u2019s hope they don\u2019t try to interview players between sets next year.<\/p>\n
Actually, strike that. As much as I hate in-game\/match\/event interviews, ESPN was really bad at showing the close call replays. A couple times you could hear the crowd gasp and the announcer yelling \u201cOH, SO CLOSE!\u201d but the cameras were focused on one of the players instead of the replay the players and the entire crowd could see inside the stadium.<\/p>\n
Another quibble is how they supply us with on-court audio. We hear the grunts and groans of players clearly, probably way too clearly. But when a player is screaming after a point, either in celebration or anger, they cut the audio. I get they need to do this to assist in muting expletives and the players also want some privacy. But I want to hear it all.<\/p>\n
Speaking of player audio, it\u2019s long cracked me up how a player will make a mistake, or their opponent will hit a winner they have no control over, then they turn and scream at their box like they were the ones who caused the error\/loss. One of the dumber behaviors of any set of professional athletes.<\/p>\n
Along those lines, it is also amazing how many players, including some of the most accomplished in the sport, will look at their boxes in confusion asking for help. This might be a sign that players are over-coached and even the most instinctual and talented can\u2019t think for themselves when the moments are too stressful. Novak Djokovic, arguably the greatest player in the history of the game, did it, for crying out loud!<\/p>\n
Wednesday afternoon brought one of the most touching moments of the week, a lengthy ceremony to honor ESPN\u2019s Cliff Drysdale, who was announcing his final tournament. There was the standard video with highlights of his career, followed by a lengthy roundtable in which nearly all the ESPN talking heads and a few behind the scenes staff came out and said a few words to \u201cCliffy.\u201d This got to me, not because I have any great love for Drysdale and his broadcasting, but because almost everyone on set was bawling their eyes out. He obviously had a huge impact on the people he worked with. You\u2019d have to have a pretty cold heart not to appreciate that.<\/p>\n
The summary of his career was fascinating. He was once ranked in the top five as a player in the 1960s. I had no idea! I also had no idea he was South African, which is 100% on me. Once you know that the accent is obviously from SA not Australia. In my defense, his long-time partner back in the early days of ESPN was Aussie, so perhaps I was too young to know the difference when I first heard them and my mistake was based on that. He also organized a player walkout during his playing days that led to Wimbledon paying players. He helped to form the ATP. He was one of the pioneers of the two-handed backhand. He was in a group called The Handsome Eight that helped get World Championship Tennis off the ground. The Handsome Eight!<\/p>\n
Cliff is 84. He may have hung on a few years too long. I remember a couple years ago a podcaster saying they loved watching the US Open, partially because of the excitement that came with wondering if Cliff was about to say something inappropriate. That made me laugh because I had that same feeling sometimes. But, for the most part, he was still pretty good at his job.<\/p>\n
I read Jon Wertheim\u2019s post tournament summary on Sports Illustrated yesterday and he suggested ESPN will bring over a couple big names that broadcast their other sports next year. Hopefully they actually know something about tennis.<\/p>\n
Finally, one of my favorite things about the US Open is because it falls at this clear transition in our calendars. Spreading across Labor Day weekend, it begins in summer and ends in fall. Back in the day, the Open was sometimes the only sports you could find on national TV over the holiday weekend. That has obviously changed, but it is still there, helping to usher out one season and welcome a new one. When the tournament ends, I always feel ready for fall, whether it is cool and breezy like this year, or whether we are still suffering from summer-like temps, which is more common.<\/p>\n
Also, while I\u2019m not a New York guy by any measure, the Open begins a stretch that if someone forced me to live in NYC for a few months, this is the stretch I would choose. The Open to end the summer. Fall in the northeast, where the mythology of American falls was created. Maybe wear some J. Crew and go to an Ivy League football game! Thanksgiving with the parade in the city. Then the holidays, which after 23 years of watching Elf<\/em>, Christmas in New York seems as ideally Christmasy<\/em> to me as the ones I grew up in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As promised, a few more thoughts from the US Open I scribbled down over the past two weeks. In general ESPN\u2019s coverage was quite good, as usual. They mix in enough back court matches during the afternoons to give you an idea of that environment. They also do a great job in those pre-prime time hours switching to different matches to at least make you aware there might be a different, more exciting match that you can view on ESPN+. I really like Chris Eubanks. Smart, enthusiastic, interesting, understands how to get his points across quickly between points. My biggest complaint about the TV coverage was that, of course, in-game, errr, match interviews have spread to tennis. At least it was just with coaches, but it is still super distracting to have the announcers talking with someone court-side for an entire game. A couple times these interviews got awkward as the coach\u2019s player was struggling and it became more difficult to ask questions. Let\u2019s hope they don\u2019t try to interview players between sets next year. Actually, strike that. As much as I hate in-game\/match\/event interviews, ESPN was really bad at showing the close call replays. A couple times you could hear the crowd gasp and the announcer yelling \u201cOH, SO CLOSE!\u201d but the cameras were focused on one of the players instead of the replay the players and the entire crowd could see inside the stadium. Another quibble is how they supply us with on-court audio. We hear the grunts and groans of players clearly, probably way too clearly. But when a player is screaming after a point, either in celebration or anger, they cut the audio. I get they need to do this to assist in muting expletives and the players also want some privacy. But I want to hear it all. Speaking of player audio, it\u2019s long cracked me up how a player will make a mistake, or their opponent will hit a winner they have no control over, then they turn and scream at their box like they were the ones who caused the error\/loss. One of the dumber behaviors of any set of professional athletes. Along those lines, it is also amazing how many players, including some of the most accomplished in the sport, will look at their boxes in confusion asking for help. This might be a sign that players are over-coached and even the most instinctual and talented can\u2019t think for themselves when the moments are too stressful. Novak Djokovic, arguably the greatest player in the history of the game, did it, for crying out loud! Wednesday afternoon brought one of the most touching moments of the week, a lengthy ceremony to honor ESPN\u2019s Cliff Drysdale, who was announcing his final tournament. There was the standard video with highlights of his career, followed by a lengthy roundtable in which nearly all the ESPN talking heads and a few behind the scenes staff came out and said a few words to \u201cCliffy.\u201d This got to me, not because I have any great love for Drysdale and his broadcasting, but because almost everyone on set was bawling their eyes out. He obviously had a huge impact on the people he worked with. You\u2019d have to have a pretty cold heart not to appreciate that. The summary of his career was fascinating. He was once ranked in the top five as a player in the 1960s. I had no idea! I also had no idea he was South African, which is 100% on me. Once you know that the accent is obviously from SA not Australia. In my defense, his long-time partner back in the early days of ESPN was Aussie, so perhaps I was too young to know the difference when I first heard them and my mistake was based on that. He also organized a player walkout during his playing days that led to Wimbledon paying players. He helped to form the ATP. He was one of the pioneers of the two-handed backhand. He was in a group called The Handsome Eight that helped get World Championship Tennis off the ground. The Handsome Eight! Cliff is 84. He may have hung on a few years too long. I remember a couple years ago a podcaster saying they loved watching the US Open, partially because of the excitement that came with wondering if Cliff was about to say something inappropriate. That made me laugh because I had that same feeling sometimes. But, for the most part, he was still pretty good at his job. I read Jon Wertheim\u2019s post tournament summary on Sports Illustrated yesterday and he suggested ESPN will bring over a couple big names that broadcast their other sports next year. Hopefully they actually know something about tennis. Finally, one of my favorite things about the US Open is because it falls at this clear transition in our calendars. Spreading across Labor Day weekend, it begins in summer and ends in fall. Back in the day, the Open was sometimes the only sports you could find on national TV over the holiday weekend. That has obviously changed, but it is still there, helping to usher out one season and welcome a new one. When the tournament ends, I always feel ready for fall, whether it is cool and breezy like this year, or whether we are still suffering from summer-like temps, which is more common. Also, while I\u2019m not a New York guy by any measure, the Open begins a stretch that if someone forced me to live in NYC for a few months, this is the stretch I would choose. The Open to end the summer. Fall in the northeast, where the mythology of American falls was created. Maybe wear some J. Crew and go to an Ivy League football game! Thanksgiving with the parade in the city. Then the holidays, which after 23 years of watching Elf, Christmas in New York seems as ideally Christmasy to me as the ones I grew up in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,169],"class_list":["post-16642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tennis","tag-us-open"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16644,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16642\/revisions\/16644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}