ABC Has Best Games and Worst Reporting

For ABC, it was both a good and bad start to 1993.

It was a good day because ABC had the best bowl games. The Florida Citrus Bowl was suspenseful until the end, the Rose Bowl couldn’t have been much better and the Sugar Bowl, although turning into somewhat of a rout, at least provided a surprise.

It was a bad day because, journalistically, ABC’s year got off to a shaky start. Where’s Howard Cosell when you need him?

CBS was way out in front of both NBC and ABC in reporting the Larry Smith story. Andrea Joyce, the sideline reporter at the Blockbuster Bowl, had all the details before anyone else.

Joyce walked away with honors as the best sideline reporter of the day, and CBS, although it had only one bowl game, was the clear-cut winner for thorough reporting.

CBS previewed all four of this weekend’s NFL playoff games. ABC and NBC previewed only the ones they will be televising.

Also, ABC was lax in giving scores from other bowl games.

It’s not often one network promotes an event that is coming up on another, but CBS had reporter Jim Gray at the Sugar Bowl.

Gray did an interview with Alabama Coach Gene Stallings that was particularly interesting. Stallings was bold enough to say he didn’t consider his team an underdog.

“If you ask me, I’ll take my team,” Stallings told Gray.

Turns out Stallings knew what he was talking about.

Miami Coach Dennis Erickson, interviewed by Gray, talked about the historical significance of what the Hurricanes were trying to accomplish--back-to-back undefeated national championships and five national championships in 10 seasons.

Gray also reported that Miami had gone off to seclusion in Mississippi, an hour and a half away from New Orleans.

You didn’t get that on ABC.

CBS wasn’t devoid of self-promotion.

On CBS, it was big news that two indoor speedskating arenas--one in Norway and one in Milwaukee--had recently opened.

That’s because CBS will be televising the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway.

At least Joyce gave the report a light touch. After noting that the number of indoor speedskating arenas in the world had gone from three to five, she said, “That’s the best fact of the day.”

Before the Rose Bowl, ABC offered the “Quaker State pregame report.” Isn’t anything sacred anymore?

The highlight of the brief pregame show was a report by Mary Ann Grabavoy on Washington’s recent problems.

It was a balanced report, but not totally accurate.

Grabavoy, referring to an investigative project by The Times, said all of the former Huskies quoted had filed lawsuits against the university.

But only three of nearly 10 former players quoted were involved in lawsuits. And ABC never said what the lawsuits were, leaving viewers to wonder.

A lawsuit by one former player involved the treatment of a shoulder injury, and a lawsuit by two others was over their scholarships being taken away.

Incomplete reporting was the norm for ABC all day.

Viewers were told Washington was dedicating the Rose Bowl to safety Travis Spring, who had died last spring. The cause of death, bone marrow cancer, was never mentioned.

Also, viewers were told Miami was dedicating the Sugar Bowl to former players Jerome Brown and Shane Curry, who had died in tragic accidents.

Most people know Brown died in an auto accident, but surely not many recall that Curry was shot in the parking lot of a Cincinnati nightclub last May.

Time restraints should not be an excuse for shoddy reporting.

A controversial touchdown by Washington’s Jason Shelley in the second quarter could have been a key play in the Rose Bowl.

Shelley made a great catch and bulled his way to the end zone, fumbling along the way. The ball was recovered in the end zone by Michigan.

The question was, did Shelley cross the goal line before fumbling?

Viewers eagerly awaited a replay, particularly after Brent Musburger said, “I want you to watch what took place down by the goal line.”

But first came a commercial break. Then the kickoff.

Finally, the replay was shown, but a side angle, which would have been more conclusive, was never shown.

Then came this line from Musburger: “It’s not unusual for Michigan to come into Pasadena and play on the short field.”

Said Bo Schembechler, who was in the ABC booth with Musburger and commentator Dick Vermeil: “I don’t think that’s funny at all, Brent.”

They were referring to Charles White’s phantom touchdown in the second quarter of USC’s 17-10 victory over Michigan in the 1979 Rose Bowl, when TV replays showed that White actually fumbled at about the three-yard line.

A few years later, USC’s Michael Harper scored a similar touchdown in a victory over Notre Dame, prompting Schembechler to comment, “USC has perfected that play.”

There was a controversial call in the second quarter of the Sugar Bowl. A personal foul was called against Alabama’s Derrick Lassic at the goal line for merely spinning the ball.

“That’s picky,” ABC’s Keith Jackson said after a replay was shown.

The Crimson Tide, instead of having a first and goal at the one-foot line, ended up with first and goal at the 15 and had to settle for a field goal.

It appeared critical at the time. But Alabama made sure it wasn’t.