Fox needs to be dropped from any and all sports. Agree or disagree?

[kick-ass-bob]

Poll question: Fox needs to be dropped from any and all sports. Agree or disagree?

Their announcing is subpar, contrived and biased, and the amount of graphics & simulations thrown up on the screen is enough to embarrass Dreamworks or Pixar.

They spend their money on a "Pylon Cam" instead of something more worthwhile, like talent.

Baseball? Sucks.
Football? Sucks.
Hockey? Remember the glowing puck? Sucked.

Banish them now!

[LisaM]

1. They must go!

Their coverage was terrible, as usual.

[Jack_Dawson]

2. Disagree

Fox has been by far the most innovative network. Like the first yard line, etc. Fox leads, everyone else follows. Sorry but Fox does a good job.

[kick-ass-bob]

8. The first yard line is the only thing I can agree with.

Anything else is too much and in the way.
I don't see the point of the scrimmage line, or the "longest distance FG line" and the rotating ads on a blank spot at the Baseball games bugs me too.

And the flames every time something happens - like when it goes from 1st and 10 to 2nd and 9. All crap.
The top of the screen is so busy, it distracts from the game. Having it there is fine, but do it inconspicuously so it doesn't draw you away from the rest of the pic.

On edit: What else do you think is good?

[hijinx87]

26. "innovation" also turns out to be

those annoying ID blocks that they put above the cars during a NASCAR race -- not that I have watched more than 30 seconds of any NASCAR race, and then only because I dropped the remote.

the "puck trails" that they used to help the viewer locate the hockey puck. the trail would turn colors depending on how hard it was hit; red for fast, blue for not so fast.

the "K-zone" that ESPN uses for it's sunday night baseball broadcasts. I know what a strike looks like, and it was just plain distracting when they first introduced it. it seemed like they "K-zoned" every other pitch. they had another graphic concerning bat speed that they abandoned after a few games.

and it seemed like one of the networks would map the trajectory and exit point of every home run that a particular batter hit. when the home run numbers got into the upper 20's, the thing was worthless; the whole screen became a shapeless yellow blob.

I guess what I'm saying that sports broadcasts are one of those places where there is such a thing as "too much innovation".

[RoyGBiv]

32. Same here ...

I agree with your disagreement, but for a different reason.

Like it or not, Fox is the only real competition ESPN has at the moment, which in turn is the only thing keeping the prices ESPN charges -- already astronomical -- to cable and sattelite systems from making the price of even basic television service from being thoroughly outrageous.

It's a complicated game being played at the moment, and no one is real sure where it will lead, but one thing is certain. Without the innovations of FOX, whether all of us like them or not -- and I tend not to like a number of them -- the sports network itself never would have become the force in the market it is. Without that force, ESPN and the major sports owners would hold an incredible amount of power in determining what you watch on television.

We have enough problems with that as it is.

Also, I'm not saying it had to be or has to be FOX, but unless and until the other networks get serious about covering sports, FOX is, sadly, pretty much it.

[davidinalameda]

3. according to Homer Simpson

his Super Bowl half time show was the worst thing to hit sports since Fox

love how they get those digs in

[Wickerman]

4. Pylon cam was embarrassing

Unbelievable waste of money and the announcing, "Here is the view if you happen to be an orange cone on the Eagles goal line at the Super Bowl," should be enough to get the idiot fired.

[hijinx87]

28. honestly, was it any more embarrassing than . . .

catcher cam? or umpire cam? or the camera in the little ball that is whizzing along cables above the football players heads? or, for that matter, blimp cam?

I'm not even a fan of the yellow line that indicates first down yardage. I don't think there has been a decent idea in the world of sports broadcasting since the slow motion replay.

anyway, it all detracts from the game, but the superbowl is no longer a sporting event; it's just an event. it's all very depressing . . .

[Itchinjim]

5. Remember NBC's Staturday game of the week?

Now that was great play by play.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. with Vin Scully and Joe G?

YES! I loved watching that each week - I looked forward to it even though my team was rarely on.

[Itchinjim]

11. I cut my baseball teeth with Vin and Joe,

I don't think any national announcers have ever come close to matching them.

[Hand]

13. Vin Scully is a GOD!

I grew up listening to him and Jerry Doggett covering the LA Dodgers. There were giants in those days!

:toast:

[hijinx87]

20. Vin is at least an american icon.

Dodgers fans are lucky to have him, even if he doesn't make every road trip anymore.

[HuckleB]

17. Indeed.

I guess we were spoiled or something.

[cdb]

6. I hate patronizing Fox

In any way... but I wanted to watch the game. What a quandry...

[October]

7. Coverage yesterday was awful

Strange angles that didn't show the play...

I don't know how many ball snaps I missed because they were chatting and showing clips, so we were late...

Constant videos in the corner of NASCAR crap...

Constant promotion of their shows...

YAWN.

[Botany]

10. The coverage during the game was good.

Both Troy Aikmen and Chris Collinsworth have a very good knowledge of the game.
The play by play was well done too.

Overall I hate Fox but they did a good job. As far as the hours of pre, 1/2 time,
and post game hype skip it.

Although Howey Long is really educational.

Eagles ..... nice clock management.


:bounce:

[jackster]

12. I don't think they did a good job

we counted several mistakes the announcers made...

[Dr Ron]

14. Could we trust them?

The biggest problem I had with the game was a feeling I couldn't shake that I just could not believe anything from Fox. Everytime they claimed someone had scored, I had to check the BBC to verify their reports. :)

[Ravenseye]

15. They're Too Much

All the Swooshing of Graphics, and Sound Effects. I hate it. It's distracting.

The first down line is good, but they need to freaking tone down their graphics.

[HuckleB]

16. I'd agree if I thought it would actually improve things.

But I don't think it would change a thing. CBS and ABC coverage of the NFL is just as bad, and it's sometimes worse.

NBC brought us the XFL, and it's connection to GE leaves it just as slimy as Fox.

[jakefrep]

18. Agree...

..plus Joe Buck and Chris Collinsworth should be banished to a place where their voices can never be heard again.

[LSdemocrat]

19. I like Fox's baseball coverage, football is ok at best

I think it has been a down year for football coverage. ESPN's Sunday Night team has pretty much always been terrible, MNF has gone downhill(the announcers pretty much stop talking about the game after halftime). Generally throughout the season, I thought that Fox was pretty good, but they pretty much blew it in the Superbowl in terms of their graphics and camera angle choices. I actually like the broadcast team (I could do without Collinsworth), especially in comparison to some of the other broadcast teams out there.

I like Fox's baseball coverage overall. Joe Buck is my favorite TV play-by-play person, for baseball anyway. In baseball, they generally do a very good job in terms of graphics and video angles.

[ohkay]

23. I disagree.

I hate hate HATE fox doing baseball. First, you get Tim "Mrs. Derek Jeter" blathering on about what it was like to play in St Louis 40 years ago, murdering people's names, and then Scooter! SCOOTER!! My three year old neice thinks Scooter sucks.

[LSdemocrat]

24. Oh yeah, I forgot about Scooter

Also at this point I should probably point out that I'm from St. Louis.

Scooter was mildly annoying, but that happened what, once per game? I just don't let stuff like that really bother me.

[ohkay]

25. McCarver doesn't bug

me b/c he's from St Louis, he bugs me b/c he's annoying.

I love Busch Stadium!! I went to a game there two years ago, and I met nice, intelligent fans. It was soooo different from the classless bleacher bums at Fenway! As much as I adore my team, I really hate Sox fans sometimes.

[hijinx87]

27. mccarver struggled valiantly to broadcast an actual news event

after the earthquake struck the SF/Oakland area just as a World Series game was starting at the 'Stick (a message from God warning against the folly associated with attempting a WS in SF, if there ever was one :) ).

he was all that ABC had on the scene, and left the poor guy on-air all alone for a good long time before they rushed ted koppel onto the air.

poor mccarver said one dumb thing too many for koppel's liking -- the camera panned to traffic gridlock in and around the marina district while tim was describing "what it felt like" to be in an earthquake; he stopped his description and mentioned something about "the poor people stuck in traffic", and ted tore into him. "well, if there was ever a good reason for a traffic jam, an earthquake is probably it", ted said quite archly.

[Sorwen]

29. McCarver is annoying

But it wouldn't make a difference if a different network covered baseball because McCarver has always been the top commentator for which ever network has baseball. He's worked for them all, and I can't imagine why.

I don't care for FOX's sports coverage, but I don't think they're much worse than any of the other networks.

[rinsd]

31. Is that any better than Joe "btw I was on the Big red Machine" Morgan?

Joe Buck does decent play by play and if McCarver can be re-frozen, it won't be so bad.

It's a hell of alot better than Boomer trying to figure out a new nickname while Joe completely ignores a point he made 5 minutes earlier.

But I agree with you on one thing, Scooter sucks on a level I didn't think was possible.

[zacho]

21. I like their theme song better than CBS's NFL theme song.

[globalvillage]

22. Disagree.

IMO, they can have every Superbowl, every major sporting event for that matter, if they would take Faux News off the air. There's only so much cheating that can be done in football. At least in sports, there are rules.

[kick-ass-bob]

30. well, that is a whole nuther question!

I'd have to think about that one!