WORLD CUP ’90 : Only One Goal, but No Commercial Shortage
If you wanted to see scoring, you were a lot better off watching the Angel-Brewer game Sunday.
The World Cup final, whether you watched TNT or Univision’s Spanish-language coverage on Channel 34, was b-o-r-i-n-g!
Imagine watching a whole basketball game, and the only scoring is a free throw.
Maybe, as former Times staffer George Kiseda suggests, soccer needs a 24-second clock.
And the rest of the world wonders why the sport doesn’t catch on here.
At least TNT, with its commercial-filled coverage, didn’t miss any goals on Sunday. The cable network wasn’t so lucky in earlier games.
Since there was only one goal scored in Sunday’s final--and that one on a penalty kick--the odds were in TNT’s favor. But there sure were a lot of intrusive commercials.
The good thing about the World Cup being on both TNT and Channel 34, you could avoid the TNT commercials simply by switching stations.
That’s a good thing for viewers; it’s not so good for TNT sponsors.
Univision knows better than to interrupt live action with commercials.
American television doesn’t seem to be able to handle soccer’s continuous action. And maybe viewers can’t, either.
Football and baseball have natural breaks. And basketball has all those timeouts, particularly during the final minutes.
Americans like those breaks. Gives ‘em time to go to the refrigerator and drink a sponsor’s beer or soft drink.
TNT put the World Cup in perspective when studio host Ernie Johnson signed off Sunday with: “Remember, the NFL will be on TNT this fall.”
NBC’s Wimbledon show on Sunday was far more exciting, and the coverage far better, than the World Cup.
The announcing team of Dick Enberg, Jimmy Connors and Bud Collins did a fine job, although Enberg had more slips than normal, such as losing track of the score of a game in the fifth set.
Connors, a Ken Brett-soundalike, was a good addition. One positive result was less air time for Collins, which seemed to tone him down.
The NBC production overall at Wimbledon was outstanding, and the network had the time to do some interesting features and deal with various topics.
Connors and Collins on Sunday sort of kicked the heck out of hi-tech, advocating that the men on the pro circuit be required to use only wood rackets.
NBC showed hustle by tracking down Althea Gibson in New Jersey for an interview on Friday.
Then the network showed compassion by flying Gibson to Wimbledon to witness the women’s final first hand.
After Gibson told Bob Costas on the air she’d like to go to Wimbledon but couldn’t afford it, several people, including actor Cliff Robertson, called NBC to offer to pay for her trip. But by then NBC had already decided to pay for her trip.
Things worked out quite nicely for TV viewers Sunday. The Wimbledon men’s final was over in time for the soccer, and the soccer was over in time to watch Milwaukee’s 13-run fifth inning against the Angels on Channel 5.
Commentator Reggie Jackson tried to say the Angels, down 20-7, still had a chance to come back.
And on radio Al Conin, tongue-in-cheek, said the Angels might answer with a 13-run inning.
The Angels must insist that their announcers think positively.
Conin, always an Angel apologist, also had this observation: “It only counts as one loss.”
