Like thousands of race fans, I was thrilled when it was announced last year that ESPN would again be broadcasting NASCAR races in 2007.
Ever since the day ESPN broadcast their last race in the Fall of 2000, many of us have expressed the thought that of all the networks who had brought us NASCAR races, ESPN did the best job covering them.
And they did.
But not any more.
Gone is Bob Jenkins, who, even though he much preferred open wheel racing, did an absolutely great job as the anchor of each broadcast.
Gone is Gentleman Ned Jarrett, pushed into retirement by the emerging NASCAR partners of FOX and NBC in 2001.
Gone is Benny Parsons, his voice silenced forever in January of this year.
Gone is the excellent coverage we got from ESPN. In this new era of ESPN, we’re treated to Dr. Jerry Punch, Andy Petree and Rusty Wallace in the broadcast booth, with a seeming cast of thousands ready to chime in at any time, and a host of idiotic graphics to help dumb the sport down as much as possible.
I am a huge fan of Dr. Punch, but he belongs on pit road, not in the booth - the job he did as a pit reporter was, in my opinion, the best you could hope for. In the booth, he’s put into a role where he sometimes has to feign a lack of knowledge to elicit commentary from Andy and Rusty and it comes across as unnatural, because it is unnatural. He knows a helluva lot about the sport and he should be on pit road demonstrating that knowledge.
ESPN has a guy on pit road, Allen Bestwick, who is a natural in the booth. They have a guy in the booth, Dr. Jerry Punch, who is a natural on pit road. I’m no expert, but I know that if I were the producer of a show and wanted my fans to start liking it, I might think about a change.
Andy Petree, well, he’s a failed team owner and he’s doing a nice job of adding to that legacy as a broadcaster. Yes, he did win two Cup titles as a crew chief for Dale Earnhardt,and yes, the teams he owned did have a few good runs before they folded, but that doesn’t make him a good choice for the broadcast booth. Knowledge only goes so far, you need personality as well.
Rusty Wallace is a NASCAR legend. The owner of a Cup championship and over 50 wins, his on track accomplishments speak for themselves. But, as a broadcaster, he leaves a lot to be desired. His use and overuse of terms such as “man” (as in, “man, I don’t know what he was thinking), “there’s that” (as in, “there’s that aero loose we’ve been talking about”), “I tell ya” (as in, “man, I tell ya, I still don’t know what he was thinking”), among others, wears thin very quickly.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that ESPN is the worst broadcast crew out there – TNT wins that election in a landslide – but they could certainly improve.
The ESPN producers should do one of two things:
They should watch the FOX broadcasts and take some serious notes.
OR
They should watch tapes of the races they used to broadcast and go back to their roots – get rid of the idiotic glitz and graphics, get a good team in the booth and show us racing the way we used to see it. It was, after all, what made them our all time favorites.
I agree with ya with the whole Bestwick-Punch thing. I used to enjoy hearing Allen's voice in the booth, but when they put him on pit road and replaced him with Bill Weber, I was disappointed, to say the least. When I heard that he was going to be with ESPN, I thought that his talents were finally returning to where they belonged, but was shocked to find that ESPN had made the same mistake, trading Bestwick for a trio that shouldn't be in a broadcaster's booth.
That's my question exactly: why isn't Allen Bestwick in the booth and Dr. Punch on pit road? When Kenny Wallace retires, ESPN should hire him and jettison Rusty. Kenny would add a LOT of energy to ESPN's listless coverage.
They're gittin' better though... at least during the rain delay.... they tried to re-play the Watkins Glen race...... instead of showing us the '05 WSOP, or a spelling bee.
I think that ESPN has become too diversified... they try to cover way too many activities.... and find it hard to focus on any given one. How else would you explain a Hot-Dog eating contest?
Except for Petri, the entire cast is completely devoid of personality and emotion. They should trade in Rusty for Kenny Wallace and breathe some life in the thing.
God help them when they are not doing green flag racing. It just doesn't work.
I like Bob Jenkins, but not as the lead person in an announcing crew - not at Indy, not in NASCAR. I don't think much was lost with his departure, although nothing was gained either - despite the great potential to improve.
Some of it is simply the sound of the announcer's voice, and Jenkins or Fleming - neither have a very appealing broadcasting voice. I've always wished that Mike Greenburg from ESPN would develop an interest in motor sports - he has one of the best sports announcing voices I've ever heard. Any of you old timers who remember the great Sid Collins from the Indy broadcasts in the 50's, 60's, and early 70's will latch right onto the match between the timbre of Greenburg's voice and that of Collins' voice. Even on T.V. - this is important as you don't see the announcer all that often, it's mostly voice-over work.
Vince Welch is another terrific pit guy - and I agree that Jerry Punch should go back to pit road, where he redefined pit reporting.
It's hard to beat the color commentary from DW, but I also agree that Ned Jarret would be good "rehire" for ESPN.
Having said all that (loosely put together drivel), I don't think the broadcast crew for ESPN is all that horrible. The broadcast direction is what is so bad. They miss key events with disturbing frequency, and seem to take forever (IF ever) to let the audience in on what they missed. I'd fire the director and see if they can get whoever directed the old Indy 500 and Daytona 500 broadcasts out of mothballs (they were always GREAT T.V. broadcasts back in the 70's and 80's and early 90's
I definitely agree. Alan is one of the best booth reporters around. And as for Rusty, if I hear "no doubt about it" one more time I am going to scream!!! Yes there are times when Mike Larry and Darrell get under my skin, but I would take those 3 any day over the 3 stooges that ESPN has. I have the Nascar HotPass and while I'm not thrilled with that either, I keep it on so I don't have to listen to the ESPN stooges!!!!
That drafttrax thing would be a rather cool feature if they used it the right way. I don't see the relevance in showing how the air works on a pass that happened half an hour ago. Put the thing in realtime or something or even when they throw back from the ads and have one of those cameras up against the wall, I don't know *shrugs*
I agree with you guys, the coverage is horrible and the coments I hear sometimes are for a 7 year old boy that have never seen the sport.
With due respect I miss the fox coverage. They brough so much more to the table than just the race. They had so much knowledge and common sense of what they were talking about and when to talk about it.
We have rookies in the track and we have rookies on the coverage. I wonder if they should wear a yellow band in their forhead to make it more interesting, LOL.
DW- you nailed it with the Bestwick/Punch problem. ESPN is not as bad as TNT but they are not much better. They would be smart to boot the super annoying chick who clearly knows nothing about NASCAR (I cant even watch those segments, hence the reason I cant remember her name?? Suzy??) She has NOTHING on Chris Meyers!
The TV coverage is better when you just listen to MRN on the radio instead...LOL
ZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZ. Wake me up when Fox starts covering the races again.. Honestly I prefer hearing the guys on NASCAR radio covering the race over ESPN. Now they really bring a lot to the broad cast with out the aid of TV.
#### up MRN and turn down the tv, You will get MRN on how they are covering the race and see ESPN covering the race. Sometimes ESPN swtich to another set of cars and MRN stay with the ones who are hard racing.
Photo hit on it at the end of his comment. A great announcer can call the sport with out video,, just listen to some of the greats and close your eyes and see if they can keep you tune in without seeing it.
You all have miss the very best man in the booth for racing and if your a young buck you missed out.
The man is ?
Keith Jackson,, 1971 Daytona 500, He made you feel like at this moment in time you have nothing that will compare to what you are about to see and watch. We all know what that man did calling all kinds of sports. He could do it all, Just add Kenny Wallce to it for fun and get one more teck guy and you got it.
Last edited by Forensic2 on August 23rd at 1:25 PM.
D Will'
ESPN will do what they've always been know for. The coverage will either be real good or pi$s poor ! The same can be said for their MNF coverage. You're either bored to tears or just want to shoot the c*ap out of the tv because of the insiduous ranting and raving.
tophatal
Last edited by tophatal on August 23rd at 1:57 PM.
"DANG" [reallll twangey], Man these guys a hard on an boy. Man,[real twangy] all I wanted to do was tell them about that there guy in that "Hot rod" I remember when I drove, look here at this here t.v... See this air, thats good clean air, BLAH BLAH BLAH..Please someone shoot me..
