Sports Casting Jobs- Find career on-air, sports casting, production, photography, sales, sports director or any other sports related position Jobs in sports

FOX GETS IT RIGHT ON SUPER NIGHT
Fox's pregame a Super show of promotion
Take the Game, Leave the ‘Idol’
WHNT sportscaster's leaving again
ESPN to Offer Sports Events on the Web Free to Some
MEDIA WATCH: Local sports talk radio undergoes big changes
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman make right calls
Buck, Aikman get Super credit

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOX GETS IT RIGHT ON SUPER NIGHT
New York Post

February 4, 2008 -- THE Giants won the what?

Pats owner Bob Kraft, in the CBS booth with Jim Nantz during the PGA's FBR/Phoenix Open, Saturday, said jokingly, "We promised Fox we'd keep it close for a half."

But the Pats did better than that; they kept it close for both halves of Super Bowl XLII, losing 17-14 to the Giants and blowing their chance for a perfect season.

Fox had a good night in that we didn't miss anything we had to see. That super slo-mo replay of that unreal David Tyree catch with one minute left showed exactly how spectacular it was. No network had a better response to a big play, all season.

And Fox didn't over-play any angle. And Joe Buck, who is always better when he doesn't force it, didn't force it.

Still, there were some odd moments.

The oddest, by far, came with 2:40 left in the first quarter, Giants up, 3-0. Troy Aikman said that during a visit with Tom Brady, during the week, he was left with the impression that Brady's ankle is injured worse than Brady was letting on. Really? But isn't that something Aikman might have told us, say, at the very top?

And rather than telling us that Randy Moss is being shut out, couldn't Fox, in an isolated clip package, have shown us how? Maybe during the halftime on-site studio show? We got our first peek on tape with six seconds left in the third. Yet, when a player showboats, Fox shows it at least twice.

And isn't it worth asking why, as long as they were unstoppable, the Pats wouldn't go with Brady to Wes Welker on just about every play?

Some more odds and ends: Good catch, by Fox, showing Jeremy Shockey in a luxury box (as opposed to the Giants' sideline) looking more like a beach bum than a teammate. . . . Wouldn't it be easier if Fox told us which of its shows are not viewer discretion advised?

The first quarter ran 27 minutes. The third quarter ran 35 minutes. Halftime ran 32 minutes. . . . And football telecasts without fantasy league stats all over the screen sure look a lot more like football games, don't they?

Fox, yesterday, presented a nine-hour, 30-minute Super Bowl pre-game show, starting with a Suped-up "Fox News Sunday" at 9 a.m., apparently for those who previously had no idea what was going on much, much later. In so doing, Fox created for itself an all-day invite to change the channel, to watch anything else.

Only ESPN's Monday Night Football pregame come-ons, which begin Tuesday mornings, are longer.

Fox's Super Bowl excesses were such that those who actually paid attention to one of them were encouraged to miss much of the first half. Really.

Saturday, Fox-5 posted a countdown-to-kickoff clock, one that was an hour off. Thus, at 6:05 p.m., Fox's clock told us that kickoff was, "1 day, 1 hour and 12 minutes" away. That would have made it a 7:17 kickoff when it was scheduled for 6:17. (Kickoff actually came at 6:30.)
*
The biggest weasel of Super Bowl Week was Chris Russo. Despite having trashed Pedro Martinez, two years ago, for dogging it - days later,
Martinez underwent surgery - Russo, a slow-learner, was at it again, fully implying that LaDainian Tomlinson was gutless, two weeks ago, when he left the AFC Championship with an injury.

Though Tomlinson has no history of dogging it, and Russo never tried to explain what would motivate Tomlinson to sit out a championship game when he could have played, Russo did have a chance to repeat his "Show some guts!" criticisms of Tomlinson when Tomlinson was
Russo's and Mike Francesa's guest, Wednesday, from Arizona.

Fat chance. With Tomlinson there, Russo spoke in broad terms of how "people like me" were confused; they couldn't understand why
Tomlinson didn't return to the game.

Russo certainly didn't repeat his "Show some guts!" spew about Tomlinson to Tomlinson. He could have even replayed, for Tomlinson, either of his NBC "Mad Dog Minute" attacks on Tomlinson for gutlessness. He didn't sound the least bit confused about Tomlinson during those spews.

In another Francesa/Russo consistency, Russo's implications that Tomlinson is gutless were made only before and after Tomlinson's appearance with them. So who, in the end, offered the only hard evidence of being gutless?
--------------------------------------------

Fox's pregame a Super show of promotion
By Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY

Fox's Howie Long, as the network's Super Bowl pregame coverage began at noon ET Sunday, said for players and coaches awaiting the kickoff "the minutes seem like hours; the hours seem like weeks."

That would also be true for viewers who watched all the pregame coverage. But Super Bowl pregame shows, like pregame chips 'n' dip, are meant for hours of off-and-on grazing.

And it lets a network hype its parent company's other properties on a show that draws more eyeballs — even though pregame shows aren't really about football — than nearly everything in TV sports outside of the NFL.

News Corp.'s Fox took full advantage. It used Ryan Seacrest, host of its American Idol, in what was billed as the first made-for-TV Super Bowl red-carpet walk — and probably not the last. Fox's Terry Bradshaw probably spoke for many viewers: "Seacrest, the only time I thought I'd see you at the Super Bowl would be as a cheerleader."

Said Fox NFL pregame comedian Frank Caliendo: "Boy, nothing says 'NFL-tough' like Ryan Seacrest. I guess Richard Simmons was booked."

Or maybe it's just that Simmons isn't on some Fox show.

Caliendo also appeared with psychologist Dr. Phil. Seacrest, on the carpet, talked to actors from the (Fox) TV series House and upcoming (Fox) movie Jumper and viewers saw footage from a regular person on (Fox-owned) myspace.com. Idol judge Paula Abdul performed a song on Idol judge Randy Jackson's new album, prompting Jackson to say, "Paula Abdul is hot!"

Otherwise, Seacrest didn't create many memorable moments on the carpet — "Is this your first red carpet?" he asked NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell — as he called for game predictions from celebs who didn't have much to say. After asking John Krasinski of The Office on (believe it or not) NBC for his game pick, the actor noted he was wearing a Patriots cap. Seacrest responded Krasinski was too tall for him to notice.

Off-carpet, Fox had plenty of the usual pregame staples such as player up-close-and-personals — who knew New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress collects socks? — and musical acts such as Willie Nelson and Sara Evans singing Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys. But this being the Super Bowl pregame, not just any venue, they changed the line at least once to "Mamas, don't raise your cowboys to be babies." On the NFL Network, singer Alicia Keys said her pregame performance on Fox would be "eight minutes of thunder and heaven" — but sounded like just a pop singer.

There were glimpses of the week-long Super Bowl party scene. After Seacrest introduced Fox NFL weather reporter Jillian Reynolds as "the first lady of Fox Sports," she offered taped party patter. At a Victoria's Secret shindig, underwear model Karolina Kurkova volunteered what she finds interesting about football: "They get down and dirty. It's fun to watch."

But if Fox's pregame show, like all pregame shows, was about as nutritious as Super Bowl home snacking, Fox deserves a huge gold star for its closing element: A reading, with roles for various NFL-related people, of the Declaration of Independence. Fox also did that in the pregame for the first post-9/11 Super Bowl. Sunday, Fox was tasteful — especially in including Marie Tillman, the widow of NFL star Pat
Tillman — and largely redeemed itself after its frothiness.

Once kickoff came, announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman sounded like they were calling their usual Sunday afternoon lead Fox game — which was good. They largely avoided breathless hype — such as Long saying the undefeated Patriots were playing "for forever" — and offered early insights, such as noting Tom Brady didn't seem comfortable throwing from the get-go. Given the great on-field action, Fox largely let the game speak for itself. Overall, the announcers and Fox's camera shots did what they needed to do with the great on-field action; Fox didn't blow it.

Bradshaw, who'd called Giants coach Tom Coughlin a "jerk" and "stupid" during the 2004 season, said after the game he was "shocked" by the upset which, among Fox pregame analysts, had been predicted only by Caliendo — allowing the comedian to finish first in the cast's season-long prediction rankings.

But the really big winner Sunday had to be the marketer whose ads Sunday already featured Eli and Peyton Manning — Oreo's Double Stuf Racing League — where the last two Super Bowl MVPs are shown competing in a "licking" contest.

-----------------------------------------------------

Take the Game, Leave the ‘Idol’
By RICHARD SANDOMIR, New York Times

By the time Eli Manning kneeled down on the final play of the Giants’ 17-14 Super Bowl win Sunday night, the memory of Ryan Seacrest in the pregame show was nearly gone. His most welcome words: “Seacrest out,” or something like that, as the “American Idol” host bid adieu.

No network can get a multihour pregame show right, and Fox didn’t, thanks to turning it into an “American Idol” promotion with Seacrest as a co-host at the red carpet and Paula Abdul in a taped performance. And while I like reading the Declaration of Independence on days other than the Fourth of July, let me note that Fox’s summer stock re-enactment of its signing was better with the songs of “1776.” But Fox did the game very well. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have never been better in doing what they should do. Buck set up the action, offered some storytelling and made sharp calls.

You want your play-by-play announcer to be alert enough to note quickly that Manning’s interception by Ellis Hobbs was his first since he threw one to Hobbs in the Giants’ 38-35 loss to the Patriots in Week 17.

Aikman provided intelligent commentary that focused on several distinct areas, including the Giants’ blitzing and how the defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo did not mind leaving Randy Moss in one-on-one coverage, the rhythm that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady almost never found; pass-pattern dissection, and how Patriots receiver Wes Welker was almost magically able to find the soft spots in the Giants’ secondary.

•
Analysts often get lucky when something happens soon after they predict it. With the Patriots ahead, 14-10, with 2 minutes 42 seconds left, Aikman said, “When you look at what Eli has done in these situations, I think he really tends to shine in the no-huddle.”
With 45 seconds left, and the Giants facing a third-and-11 at the New England 25, Aikman suggested that Manning throw a screen pass to Brandon Jacobs. The toss to Steve Smith looked like close kin to a screen, and went for 12 yards.

Manning’s career-defining play — a Fran Tarkenton-like escape from what appeared to be a sack, with 1:15 left, that ended with David Tyree’s astonishing catch might have begged the question of whether Manning was “in the grasp.” But after watching the replay several times after the game, no defender had a firm hold on him.

I’ve read e-mail messages and blog comments that have painted Buck as a pale clone of his father, Jack; for somehow being sanctimonious; and for offering little insight. I’ve never understood them beyond viewers’ feeling that Buck is overexposed through his baseball and football work; through his commercials (not all of them well-chosen vehicles); and because of residual good will for the man he replaced at Fox, Pat Summerall.

But no negative qualities were in evidence Sunday night.

The star of the game was not either announcer, however, but the FoxScope, the super-slow-motion technology that elevated the use of replay beyond the necessary tool it has been for several decades. It illuminated how Brady’s sore ankle planted before passing, a sideline pass to Amani Toomer, the fumble by Ahmad Bradshaw, a fumble forced from Brady’s hand by Justin Tuck, and how Tyree held the ball against his helmet on his miraculous catch.

But a standard tool, the 50-yard-line camera that captures the bulk of the live action, seemed to be mounted noticeably too high. A Fox spokesman said it was in its usual perch at University of Phoenix Stadium, but it still seemed too far away.

Fox showed the right storytelling touch as the game crescendoed with the Giants ahead for good. With 10 seconds left and the Patriots facing fourth down and the loss of their unbeaten season, Fox rolled in a taped package about the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, gleeful once again, and maybe for 35 more years. Fox then cut to Brady conferring with Coach Bill Belichick, grumpier throughout the fourth quarter than Barry Switzer, one of Fox’ grumpy old men, ever was.

•
But Giants Coach Tom Coughlin looked Lucky Charms-happy. During one of the pregame features, he said something fascinating: that he understood interpersonal relationships even when his face seemed as if it would explode with anger, but that this season he decided to apply that knowledge of human behavior to the humans on his team.

One final thought, regarding the presence of Seacrest and his “American Idol” crew. Seacrest is bland, much like Carson Daly, who did nothing for a CBS pregame show several years ago. Seacrest offered little on a program filled with greater personalities, like Terry
Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson and Howie Long, and football features that in nearly every instance were shorter than they should have been.

The so-called merger of celebrity and sports is a fantasy of networks like Fox and ESPN (witness the ESPYs show); yes, sports is entertainment, but on Super Bowl Sunday, football and some good musical performances can carry the pregame festivities.

------------------------------------------------

WHNT sportscaster's leaving again
The Huntsville Times

WHNT-TV sportscaster John Pearson, who has been at Channel 19 more than seven years during two different tenures at the station, will be leaving at the end of the month, WHNT general manager/president Stan Pylant confirmed.

A native of Geneseo, Ill., Pearson first came to WHNT in 1994, and after four years covering sports, moved to Milwaukee to cover sports there. He returned to WHNT in 2005.

"As for sports coverage, we want to take advantage of every platform (Web, wireless, digital) available to us for local and regional sports and feel that it's time to set a different course," Pylant said in an e-mail. "John will be with us through February. We are appreciative for what John's brought to the station and wish him only the best."

Pearson said he's enjoyed his return to Huntsville and may stay around the area because his wife, Amy, is happy with her job.

"It's been great," Pearson said. "I moved back here with the reason to build something and because we were treated so well the first time around. I was brought in to do things and I did things, but apparently it wasn't for the long term."

WAFF-TV Channel 48, the NBC affiliate, continued its four-year domination of this television market by winning one of the most important Nielsen ratings period of the year - November.

WAFF captured the top ratings in the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. WHNT-TV Channel 19, the CBS affiliate, was second and WAAY-TV Channel 31, the ABC affiliate that's revamped its nightly news with a new anchor team, remained a distant third.

WAFF has been No. 1 in the Nielsen television ratings for local newscasts 15 of the last 16 ratings periods since 2003. Ratings are determined by viewer diaries and measured two ways in this area - the four-county Metro area: Madison, Morgan, Limestone and Lawrence - and the 11-county Designated Marketing Area: Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Madison, Limestone, Marshall, Morgan, Jackson, DeKalb and Lincoln.

WAAY started revamping its newscasts last July when it hired anchor Michael Scott for the nightly shows and longtime award-winning anchor Erin Dacy eventually went to the morning newscasts. In September, Karen Adams joined Scott on the anchor desk for the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. shows.

The next Nielsen ratings period is at the end of this month, and it should be interesting to see how a new addition to the market is doing. Last month, WZDX-TV Fox 54 started doing 9 o'clock newscasts featuring an anchor desk and production team out of Davenport, Iowa, with local reporting by Ken Conley and Jamiese Price.
--------------------------------------

ESPN, the dominant channel for sports programming, will announce this week that Web users on college campuses and military bases — anyone in the .edu or .mil domain — will be able to access live programming on its Web site, ESPN360, without charge.

Opening ESPN360’s doors to college students and members of the military will more than double its base of possible users, potentially driving traffic to a site that has recorded only 500,000 viewing hours since it started focusing on live sporting events last September.

Cable companies pay nearly $3 a subscriber to broadcast ESPN on television. But its Web site, which provides live coverage of more than 2,500 sporting events a year, is accessible only to the 20 million subscribers to Internet service providers that have reached agreements with ESPN.

In adopting a subscriber fee format, the company has tried to apply the closed model of cable television to the widely accessible avenues of the Internet.

“The high-speed data marketplace is evolving much like the multichannel TV marketplace did 20 to 30 years ago,” said David Preschlack, the executive vice president for affiliate sales and marketing for Disney and ESPN Media Networks.

“Future growth for I.S.P.’s will not be based on speed and price of service, as it largely has been up to now, but rather on the value of the content they offer.”

ESPN, which is 80 percent owned by the Walt Disney Company and 20 percent by Hearst Corporation, has frustrated some fans by putting an electronic wall around some sporting events. Users cannot subscribe to the service separately; they receive it through their Internet service provider or not at all.

AT&T, Verizon, RCN and Charter are among those that offer it. On Friday ESPN signed an agreement with Insight, a Midwestern cable operator, which will make the platform available to 700,000 subscribers next week.

But several major cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable among them, have not signed on.

The notion of paying a subscriber fee for content is relatively new to the mainstream Internet, and fairly uncomfortable.

Some telephone and cable companies have considered charging content providers for priority access, raising concerns about so-called network neutrality, a tenet that rejects discrimination in the transmission of online information. ESPN is practicing the reverse, charging the carriers to give users access to a Web site.

Eric Rabe, a vice president for communications for Verizon, said ESPN360 could attract users.

“You can’t underestimate the value of live, streaming sports in attracting customers who are extremely loyal and who will also want television and mobile phone services from Verizon,” he said.

Disney operates a similar site, called Disney Connection, with children’s television shows and games.

The advertising-free service is available through Comcast, Mediacom, Verizon and other high-speed Internet services. The Disney-ABC television group also offers Soapnetic, a broadband video site for soap opera fans, through several Internet providers.

John Zehr, the network’s senior vice president for digital media production, said the ESPN360 platform allowed the broadcaster to expand beyond its six cable channels.

In September, ESPN360 moved from mostly taped to mostly live programming. There is no shortage of programming; “24 hours a day, there is some sporting event being played around the globe,” Mr. Zehr said.

Last month, the service showed more than 450 hours of Australian Open tennis as well as 225 college basketball games, cricket matches, international soccer matches and the Winter X Games. Mr. Zehr said the Australian Open coverage was especially popular.

“While our linear network can only bring you one court at a time, you can be watching six different courts within the application,” he said.

“I’m not necessarily the biggest tennis fan in the world, but it’s turning me into one because I’ve been able to follow all the matches.”
----------------------------------------

MEDIA WATCH: Local sports talk radio undergoes big changes
By Mike Tankersley, Montgomery Advertiser

Wow. What a difference a week makes in local sports talk radio. In a span of two days last week, there were two significant developments, and both affected Prattville-based WIQR-AM 1410.

First, Max Howell's Max'd Out closed operations after Monday's show. This move wasn't unexpected, but the original plan called for Howell's show to finish out the week leading up to Super Bowl weekend. Regardless, Howell's Florida Panhandle-based show is gone locally, but there is more to the story.

"We've packed up and we're hitting the road," Howell said by phone Friday night. "We're on our way to Jackson, Miss."

Howell's show, with the name intact, will re-emerge on Feb. 18 in Jackson on the ESPN affiliate there, WPBQ-AM 1240. It'll air from 3-6 p.m.

His Florida-based show had been airing from 9 a.m.-noon.

"Believe it or not, that station (WPBQ) has never had a drive-time sports show," Howell said. "They're promising a lot of support and promotion for the show, and let's face it. When you're talking about sports talk shows, you've got to go with ESPN.

"I'm real excited about it."

Howell's show will be available in a couple of Alabama markets, but not here. WIQR owner Greg Meadows has already replaced Max'd Out with The Dan Patrick Show. Because this latest version of the Patrick show ends at 11 a.m., Meadows has reinstated the first hour of the Jim Rome Show.

The bigger news occurred the next day. Tuesday turned out to be the final live airing of The Ultimate Sports Show, with Kenny Stabler,
Chris Stewart and Mike Grace. The crew apparently found out on Wednesday that their show was canceled, because Stewart was seen
Tuesday night booking guests for later in the week. That was right before the Alabama-Tennessee game he was set to call.

"Best-of" shows filled the 2-6 p.m. time slot the remainder of the week. The Herb Winches Show will begin airing Feb. 18 on Birmingham-based WERC-AM 960, the flagship station of The Ultimate Sports Show. Meadows said he'll consider airing Winches at that time, but until then he has other plans.

Beginning Monday, Inside the Auburn Tigers, with Mark Murphy, Jason Caldwell and Brad Law will air from 4-6 p.m. The Tim Brando Show will be back on the air for the other two hours (2-4 p.m.).
----------
Braves TV update: Atlanta-based Peachtree (WPCH) announced this week that its 45-game Braves TV package will be offered to TV affiliates in the Southeast.

In the Montgomery market, that package is likely to be made available through the local cable providers. I was unable to contact anyone at Charter, but Knology spokesman Richard Coats said his company is seriously considering adding the WPCH Braves games.

"Not only that, we're considering adding the 45 games in high definition," Coats said. "Nothing's official yet, but that package is one of several HD packages we're looking at."

If it's a popularity contest, then Braves fans need to contact Knology at 334-356-1000 to let their feelings known.
----------
Super tip: In the hours following Lawrence Tynes' game-winning kick in the NFC title game two weeks ago, I communicated with Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. I e-mailed him some information about Tynes' college coach -- Troy's Larry Blakeney -- and later he sent me the results of some crazy research he did earlier in the NFL season.

After Eli Manning had three interceptions returned for touchdowns against Minnesota, Vaccaro recalled a game in 1968 when Joe Namath also had three interceptions returned for touchdowns.

"I vaguely remembered that game, and it seemed especially relevant, so I wrote about the coincidences back in November," Vaccaro wrote to me in an e-mail. "Of course, after it came out, I caught a lot of crap from people wondering if that meant I thought the Giants were going to the Super Bowl.

"I wish I would have saved those emails."

Namath, of course, went on to help the Jets stun heavily favored Baltimore. Now another quarterback from a Southeastern Conference school will be trying to pull off another astonishing upset in the big game.

Does Vaccaro think history will repeat? Not quite.

"I think it'll be a fun game," he wrote. "Pats win, but similar to the 38-35 game they played in Week 17."
--------------------------------------------

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman make right calls
By Bob Riassman, NY Daily News

As time passes, it will become much bigger than it is today. A moment that will be replayed over and over again.
Eli Manning-to-David-Tyree for 32 yards, digging the Giants out of a hole and putting Big Blue in position to put an end to that perfect season.

Perfection, stopped by a desperation scramble followed by an unconscious catch. And in the space of seconds on Fox last night, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman offered the perfect caption.

On TV, precise play-by-play is not necessary. No need to paint the word picture when there are real pictures available to tell the story. On this play, Buck delivered just the right words. Aikman, well, he provided the kind of emotion only a quarterback, realizing the difficulty of this incredible hookup, could.

Montana-to-Clark has nothing on this catch.

Third-and-5 from the Giants' 44.

Buck: "Pressure from (Adalius) Thomas off the edge. ... Eli Manning. ... Stays on his feet. Airs it out downfield. It is caught by Tyree inside the 25."

Aikman: "Oh my God. ... Tyree goes up for it like a basketball player. Eli Manning. I don't know how he got out of there. He got out of the pile and just slings it."

This was the second time Buck and Aikman had worked a Super Bowl. Considering what was at stake, considering the frantic finish they called, it's not an assignment either voice will soon forget.

Fox's telecast was memorable as well. It lived up to the moment.

This was a solid effort not encumbered by gratuitous technolgy, statistical overkill, or vocal hyperbole.

Okay, so Buck and Aikman never brought up SpyGate. On this night, as the story of this big game played out, scandal would have just gotten in the way. Besides, in the hours leading up to this matchup, the airwaves were full of the story, which had to be a huge embarrassment to the NFL.

The Giants provided a kind of deodorant to the SpyGate stench. Tyree's catch, and Manning's wild scramble, were the most sensational highlight. There were others. Memorable shots provided by Fox's cameras fueled this drama.

• Asante Samuel letting out a scream of agony after nearly intercepting Manning's pass that would have sealed the win for New England - one play before Manning-to-Tyree.

• The blank look on Chase Blackburn's face after being penalized for being the 12th man on the field.

• Tom Coughlin running on the field and calling timeout during the Giants' final drive.

• Antonio Pierce gasping for air as Tom Brady took New England on its fourth-quarter scoring drive.

• Plaxico Burress breaking down and crying during a postgame interview with Pam Oliver.

• Peyton Manning clapping and fist-pumping after his brother hit Burress for what turned out to be the winning score.

• Bill Belichick hugging Coughlin, then running off the field with one second still left in the game.

And those bananas.

Almost on cue, after Oliver reported the Giants were given bananas to stop cramping (Fox showed a few bananas lying on the Giants bench), the Patriots went on their fourth-quarter scoring drive.

Giants defenders were out of breath. Fox had a shot of Osi Umenyiora gasping on the sideline. Then there was Pierce, on the field, with his mouth hanging open. Next to feel the effects was Justin Tuck, who was shown leaving the game. Then it was Fred Robbins laying on the ground.

The Giants' defense was hanging on and, on third-and-goal, Buck delivered a call reminiscent of the late, great Ray Scott.

"Brady throws ... Moss ... Touchdown."

Buck was just as econmical in calling Burress' game-winning score.

"Manning lobs it ... Burress alone ... Touchdown New York."

At halftime, Howie Long set the stage for a crucial story line. Long turned out to be right. Sort of.

"This Patriots defense has been on the field for 19 minutes and 27 seconds in the first half," Long said. "How does that manifest itself, in terms of fatigue in the second half and inability to rush the quarterback? Suddenly, you start getting gashed by the running game."

Credit Long with half the story. The Giants were clearly gassed as well. Viewers could see it from the closeups Fox offered. The fatigue was as much emotional as physical.

Buck and Aikman did not embellish any of this. Buck, once again, showed how to use silence. Down the stretch, on both the Pats' and
Giants' fourth-quarter drives, he went mute and let the crowd in.

And when it was all over, Buck said it simply. And it was all that was left to say.

"The Giants have won the Super Bowl."

-------------------------------------------------
Buck, Aikman get Super credit
Neil Best - Newsday

Across the continent, from Long Island to Fox's vast compound outside University of Phoenix Stadium, what likely will be the largest TV audience in the history of American sports was losing its collective head.

Inside the Fox booth Sunday night, though, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman managed to describe one of the greatest upsets of all time with calm intensity that did the frantic final minutes justice.
They resisted the temptation for sappiness, both about the Patriots' quest for perfection and the Giants' extraordinary accomplishment.

"The Giants have won the Super Bowl," Buck said simply when it was over, then let the pictures tell the story.

Soon, Plaxico Burress was crying after an interview with Pam Oliver and Jeff Feagles was telling his family, "Just take it all in, boys."

"Wow," added Jimmy Johnson, who with Howie Long picked the Giants to lose all four playoff games.

The only time Aikman expressed marvel was after the game's most remarkable play, Eli Manning's mad scramble on third-and-long to find David Tyree, who caught the ball against his helmet. "Oh, my gosh," he said. "Wow."

Buck and Aikman could have done a better job explaining in detail exactly how and why the Giants were able to shut down the Patriots' record-breaking offense, especially Randy Moss.

They also should have been more specific about the mad shuffling on the Giants' defensive line as their players succumbed to fatigue during New England's go-ahead drive.

But given the chaos around them, the two got through it with no major mistakes or misfires.

Aikman set up the drama of the Giants' final drive, saying: "Every quarterback dreams of being in this position, Super Bowl on the line, down four points, trying to take your team down and win the game."

As he often does, Buck stayed silent for a long time after the Giants' go-ahead score, then focused on the Patriots' last, desperate drive.

Buck is less afraid to dip his toe into the X's and O's waters than many play-by-play men, and showed why when he noted early in the game that the middle might be open for tight end Benjamin Watson because of all the attention paid to Randy Moss.

Soon thereafter, the Patriots' first score was set up when Antonio Pierce was penalized for interfering with Watson in the end zone.

Aikman restated a theme from earlier this season when he expressed frustration with Manning for taking a delay-of-game penalty. "It's unbelievable," he said. "The quarterback has to be able to know where the play clock is and how much time is left."

Fox followed with an excellent shot of Peyton Manning in a suite twirling his finger, urging his little brother to hurry up and call for the snap.

Coughlin told Oliver at halftime that the Giants needed a game-changing play on special teams, and they soon got it, but it benefited the Pats.

As Buck first noted, Chase Blackburn did not make it off the field in time on a punt, and after Belichick challenged the play, the Patriots got it back.

"Mark this time down in your diary," Buck said with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. But another impressive stand by the Giants' defense rendered Blackburn's gaffe irrelevant.

When it finally was over, Fox's Chris Myers drew the unenviable task of interviewing Bill Belichick, somewhere deep within the stunned stadium.

Thus ended a TV drama that surpassed anything striking writers could have conjured.

What was the view of Super Bowl XLII like from Fox's sprawling compound outside University of Phoenix Stadium?

Crowded, with many wires, many trailers and many crab legs in the catering tent. (Lesson learned: TV food is better than newspaper food.)

Jerry Steinberg, Fox's VP of field operations and a wisecracking Bronx guy, arrived 10 days before the game to set up a small town featuring 450 people, 11 mobile units, three trailers, four satellite uplinks and one "American Idol" host.

Steinberg said Fox used twice as much time to set up three years ago, this time focusing on efficiency over complexity. "The simplest solutions are the most elegant; that was our philosophy," he said. "It has been flawless."

That was three hours before kickoff. What if something went wrong during the game?

Fox's four-hour pregame show had its moments, including entertaining behind-the-scenes video shot by Michael Strahan. Not surprisingly, the funkiest stuff was Ryan Seacrest and his "red carpet" interviews with people who mostly had promotional and/or advertising ties to Fox.

Tough question for Roger Goodell, amid more twists in the Spygate scandal: How about a prediction? "We'll have a great game," Goodell said. "Thanks, man, have fun," Seacrest said.

Tough question for Steve Tisch: "I assume you're rooting for the Giants. Said Tisch: "I am the Giants' biggest fan today."

Seacrest asked Laurence Fishburne about the "scrutinization" the players are under, and Hugh Laurie about his father winning 1948 Olympic gold in "coxless pairs" rowing.

Producer Scott Ackerson promised last week that Paula Abdul's new video would not be as awful as many expected. She did OK. She is very spry for 45.

Scary actor Russell Crowe voiced a piece about perfection that was cool but a little scary.