When a Soviet jet fighter crashed into a Belgian house Tuesday, the first camera crew on the scene was from, of all places, ABC Sports.
The crew happened to be nearby taping a feature for a Tour de France recap.
That unfortunate airplane incident wasn`t exactly what Joel Feld had in mind when the ABC producer began planning for all the contingencies surrounding a Tour de France.
The world`s most famous bicycle race, which travels 2,000 miles in 23 days, isn`t exactly the world`s easiest sports event to cover. Especially when it`s a network`s first year after watching CBS do it for years.
”We obviously have some friends over at CBS,” Feld said recently.
”We`re not walking into it totally blind. We`re going to try and build on the stuff that they did. And those guys (led by CBS producer David Michaels)
did a great job. But we`re trying to cut new ground.”
Feld has a greater challenge because he has more hours to fill: eight same-day telecasts either standing alone or incorporated into ”ABC`s Wide World of Sports.”
For instance, the race will share time with the European Women`s Gymnastics Championships at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on WLS-TV (Channel 7) but have the hour all to itself at 4 p.m. Sunday.
In addition, ABC is providing ESPN with same-day coverage Tuesdays at 7 p.m. It makes for a hectic schedule.
”Since we have more air time (to fill), we`ll flush out stories a little bit more,” Feld said, ”mainly in the form of personalities. We want to establish competitors` personalities and get viewers interested in people as much as the event.”
Which is what Feld did last weekend, concentrating on Americans Greg LeMond and Andy Hampsten and controversial defending champion Pedro Delgado in the first two parts of ABC`s four weeks of coverage. As the race continues for the next three weeks, he`ll focus on European as well as American competitors. ”Right from the get-go we`re going to make the point this is an international field,” Feld said. ”And that there are some top international people here who have just as good a chance to win as Andy Hampsten does.”
Adding to the race`s festivities this year is the bicentennial of the French Revolution. For that, Feld has enlisted Pierre Salinger from ABC News. ”We`ve borrowed Pierre and he`s spent the last couple of months doing basically a feature a day for us,” Feld said. ”One of the things I feel is very important about the Tour is to put it in some sort of historical perspective, some sort of societal perspective. It`s not only the oldest
(cycling race), but it has so much tradition, and that tradition sort of transcends cycling.”
But it`s still a sports event, although not a conventional one. Tape delay helps tailor the kind of story you want to tell, Feld said, but there are problems ”turning around an event like this, in which there`s no field of play. The field of play is a road that`s 100 miles long and obviously you can`t have a camera every 10 feet that comes into a central truck like you do at a football game. The logistics of editing such a project within such a short period of time is just an absolute nightmare.”
Based on the first weekend, the nightmare is real. Last Saturday`s show, for instance, ended with a live report by Al Trautwig updating the status of Delgado, who had missed his appointed starting time by nearly 3 minutes. Trautwig`s report, while informative, was marked by technical flaws.
”It`s a four-week event for which the stories develop as the month goes on,” said Feld. ”Every day the stories could change. And they could change rather quickly.”
– The unexpected firing Thursday of popular Bulls coach Doug Collins, needless to say, sent all the local news departments into a feeding frenzy. Perhaps none so much as, of course, Chet Coppock at WLUP Radio. ”We got this covered like a blanket,” said Coppock, who discussed the stunning development with NBA coaches, ex-coaches, general managers and analysts.
Of the local newscasts, WBBM-TV (Channel 2) spent the most time-nearly 15 minutes-on the subject during ”The 10 O`clock News.” That included not only a hard-hitting Walter Jacobson ”Perspective” that blamed Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf for the dismissal but also a silly newspoll on ”Should Doug Collins have been fired?”
– ESPN fills baseball`s All-Star Game break, starting Sunday, with six specials, including the Equitable Old-Timers Game at 8 p.m. Sunday from Anaheim; ”The Great American Baseball Quiz” at 9 p.m. Sunday; an ”All-Star Salute” at 6:30 p.m. Monday; ”Baseball Roundtable: Around the Horn” at 8 p.m. Monday; and the Triple-A All-Star Game from Columbus, Ohio, at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Other July baseball events slated for ESPN are same-day coverage of the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies (including Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray) at 7 p.m. July 23 and reruns of the classic 1959 series ”Home Run Derby”
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starting at 5 p.m. Monday.
– WBBM-TV will tape Saturday`s ”Day at the Beach” competition between members of the Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks for a future special. WGN Radio will have live programming from the North Avenue Beach starting at 8 a.m.
– WBBM-TV (Channel 2) will tape Saturday`s ”Day at the Beach”
competition between members of the Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks for a future special. WGN Radio will have live programming from the North Avenue Beach starting at 7 a.m.
– The Lockport at Romeoville football game Oct. 13 will be part of SportsChannel America`s national prep package. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
– Longtime football play-by-play man Charlie Jones has signed a multiyear contract extension with NBC. Jones, who would go on to cover everything from Wimbledon to the Olympics for the network, began his football work in 1960 with ABC and the American Football League.
– De Paul will help ESPN kick off next basketball season. The cable network includes the Blue Demons` Big Apple NIT opener against Ohio State Nov. 15 at the Horizon as part of a live triple-header.
– Showtime has signed top heavyweight contender Evander Holyfield to a two-fight contract. Holyfield`s first appearance will be July 15 against second-ranked Adilson Rodrigues of Brazil.