By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

Programming note: Shots has been invited into the Deutsche Bank gallery for Friday morning (by a constant gentleman who never seems to get repulsed by the inclusion of my sort) and we thought we’d put together a special field trip edition as our Labor Day gift to you. Be sure to check back over the long weekend to see what happens when the Shanty Boy goes to the TPC and hangs out with the Pretty People. Should be up by Saturday afternoon.

It won’t disappoint, if past Shots’ golf tournament coverage experiences are any indication. (The first two rounds of the tour’s only, scheduled Monday-finish, Championship will be on USA and the final two rounds will are on ABC.)

Enjoy the last weekend of what was, for many of us, a stomach-churning summer – Sox and Shots alike.

• USA Network got an Agassi Bonanza with his two highlight matches this week. And once again, we were treated to John McEnroe, the undisputed best color analyst in all of sports TV. What a treat the epic, five-setter between AA and Mr. Baghdatis from Thursday night was. It was the highlight to a hugely active remote conrtol night, with switches between the M*A*S*H Sox on NESN, BC on ESPN2 (with Doug Flutie’s game analyst debut), the Pats (on ABC5) and the Open (USA).

• Shaky Steve Burton was at his shakiest worst on Sunday night’s “Sports Final,” over at CBS4, experiencing a little Kyra Phillips technology-related moment of his own.

Burton – who last week had been burned by a loudly ringing cell phone during his “good get” of Deion Branch – was this time burned by a voice over his own cell phone asking him to shut off said Nextel device.

It was amateur hour of the highest order and Burton’s attempt to make light of the situation fell as flat as his facial expression when the studio hand asked after two Nextel beep tones: “Hey, Steve?”

“Yeah,” answered Burton, as he fumbled, on-air, for the phone in his breast pocket.

“Can you turn off your phone please?”

Obliging, as he flipped the phone open to reply, Burton then stashes the phone in his back pocket, stumbles and says, “You know, I knew I was going to be set up for that.”

By who? The Evil Cellphone Leaver-On people?

Mind you, this all came within the first minute of the program, following the sound of Burton crumpling a sheet of paper as he crashed through his intro, over a full-screen Larry Johnson illustration. (A “Branch” falling off a big tree.)

Would any sensible viewer stay with such a show past that despicable opening? Well, yes, in fact, this one did. And we were rewarded with a Steve DeAwful appearance.

There is, truly, no justice (or redeeming value) in late night, local TV-watching.

. . . By the way, a search of the station’s video archive and/or link of the show, finds no more recent “Sports Final” than June 2006. With just two shows of video in 14 months of cataloging, the Lobellers must only archive the “really good stuff.”

. . .Speaking of Babbling Bob, webcasts apparently don’t require socks.

• In its own lackluster way, Philly-based CN8 (barely) rolled out next week’s network re-launch with an August 31 release announcing: “CN8, THE COMCAST NETWORK EXPANDS TO MORE THAN 9 MILLION HOMES AND UNVEILS NEW NETWORK-WIDE PROGRAMMING LINEUP”

The portion of that change which affects your local viewing, centers around two CN8 sports shows (both called “Out of Bounds”), the first of which will air from 7 p.m.-8 p.m., M-F (originating from Philly and hosted by Gregg Murphy). OOB 2 will go live for an hour from Boston at 11 p.m. with the dynamic duo of Phil (brother of, and scoop-getter for Steve) Burton and John Carchedi.

It is believed that both shows will take more of an “Around the Horn” approach with guests beaming in from each of CN8’s six studio locations along the eastern seaboard (referred to, in the network’s press release as “newly designed studios located in the Baltimore, Boston, Delaware, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. areas”).

CN8 also announced that WEEI 850 AM’s Michael Holley will be a regular on the 7 p.m. “OOB,” and Globie/Lightning Rod Ron Borges will contribute regularly to both 7 and 11 shows.

The Holley hire is an interesting one because every time the former “I, Max, Bye Max” co-host appears on-air at CN8, he will become the most talented, talent on the show. (Murphy is solid, not spectacular; Burton and Carchedi are still growing and emerging; and none of the other initial names floated by CN8 – Rhea Hughes, co-host, WIP-AM’s “Angelo Cataldi Morning Show” and former Redskin Brian Mitchell, host, WTEM-AM’s “Brian Mitchell Show” – carry much weight. Holley is the only National-level guy in the mix – that we know of – so he may have to carry some people for a few months while the kinks get worked out (and in).

. . . The encouraging sign is that CN8 went after a huge talent in this market (Holley, not so much Borges) and they will be rewarded with numerous plugs and name drops during Holley’s Daily ‘EEI show with Dale Arnold. And whatever sophomoric humor the Big Show guys can generate from Holley latching on with an also-ran. But CN8 gets, athe very least, a recognizable face from the residual of “I, Max” and, in the irony of all ironies, a minority face to show against the lily-white Boston backdrop.

However, the still-discouraging indications are that CN8 has re-vamped its line-up, but left the same, near-silent buzz machine in place. Holley’s regular contributions to OOB alone, should have been trumpeted in a two-week rollout, leading into Tuesday’s night’s launch. And Carchedi and Burton should have been pumping their new product with any and every “Shots,” “Blitz” or “Bickelhaupt” they could find.

Instead, it’s more of the covert, inert marketing that whispers when it should be screaming – the very same approach that brought Ed Berliner and “Sports Pulse” to a grinding halt. The challenges of changing local (specifically: Boston’s) 11 p.m. viewing habits are going to take more than a Thursday afternoon, 4-page press release before a long holiday weekend. Channels 4, 5, and 7 – not to mention NECN, Seinfeld and SportsCenter – have long ago captured that post-prime time crowd.

It will be no easy shakes for the 7 p.m. Philly-originated “OOB,” either. In this market, that will butt them up against Sox, Celtics and Bruins games (with live action) not to mention the standard Jeopardy!, Seinfeld, Simpsons fare that dominates the time slot.

. . . Probably a good time to get to know CN8 a bit better. Forthwith, the nutshell on the 10-year-old regional network, which also expands it morning show from 7-10 a.m.:

About CN8, The Comcast Network CN8, The Comcast Network (www.cn8.tv) is owned and operated by Comcast Cable Communications, Inc., a division of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA; CMCSK) and the country’s leading cable and broadband services provider. CN8 provides more than 9 million Comcast cable viewers with a unique brand of live, interactive television delivered over its own fiber-optic network to 12 states and 20 television markets stretching from Maine to Virginia and Washington, D.C. CN8 was founded in 1996 and has quickly grown to become the nation’s leading regional cable network, airing more than 90 hours a week of original programming from its six studios in the Baltimore, Boston, Delaware, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. areas. CN8 provides in-depth coverage and analysis of special events and important news that broadcast networks often ignore. Since its inception, CN8 has delivered on its mission to continually reshape and revolutionize regional television and its relevance to local, regional and national viewers. CN8’s programming and hosts have been honored by the industry with more than 314 regional Emmy Award nominations.

. . . All CN8 programming streams simultaneously on the network’s award-winning Web site, www.cn8.tv. In addition, the majority of CN8’s programming is available for viewing on Comcast Digital Cable’s ON DEMAND service to watch anytime, day or night. CN8’s original weekday programs are available for at least three days following their initial broadcast; sports coverage is available for seven days and special event programming for 20 days. More information on CN8 programs, hosts and air schedules is available at www.cn8.tv.

• The Boston Sports Review cover jinx is alive and breathing.

• Shots bumped into ESPN multi-platform star, Michael Smith, following his regular “Around the Horn” stint from Watertown’s always-bustling VideoLink facility.

This really isn’t anything we haven’t written recently, and we told Smith as much in person, but we do believe Smith has, in two years time, evolved into a true, rising star for the Worldwide Leader. His writing, reporting and analysis have been consistently improving (highlighted by his Behind-the-Curtain Camp Observations at the Insider page) and his TV talents/comfort-level, have blossomed.

With so much hustle and bustle, Smith wasn’t even aware that good buddy, Holley, had been nabbed by CN8. Shots was happy to inform this Michael of that Michael’s latest endeavor.

Smith also said, “It’s almost less stressful covering 32 than it was covering one (the Pats).”

Not easier, mind you. But Smith’s point is well-taken: He’s not exactly sweating the little stuff and he can focus a bit more on big picture stories and star player features.

We’ll stand by our belief that Smith was taken to Bristol a year too early, but it’s all worked out just fine for both sides. And not, of course, for the Globe, which enters next week’s season-opener with a depleted Pats coverage team, as the Jerome Solomon replacement search continues.

Fortunately for Sully’s Sports Desk, he’ll be able to allocate some of his Red Sox resources (namely Nick Cafardo, we’d guess) over to the Pats prowl.

• Hey, Basketball Bob? Will you get bring Shots a FIBA t-shirt with that Sumo wrestler cartoon dude on the front?

Enjoy the sushi, mon ami.

• Love the concept here at CSTV.com and applaud the video component and the sponsorship tie-ins. All around, just a gleaming example of what Internet sports “Programming” can look like when a little thought is put into it.

. . . In other, related news, the Globe’s Thursday 8-page College Football preview (Section D, as in “DUD”) contained one, one-inch by two-inch ad in a bottom page corner (www.frontix.com). Eight pages, zero ads of substance.

Way to sell the section, Sales Team! Way to make it attractive Edit Team!

Way to dig your own grave, Old Media, old method stubborn mules.

• We never meant to have a two-part Howard Bryant email interview – it just happened. And, in my opinion, the second part, below, is even better than the first one from last week.

Shots had done a follow-up email before last week’s post, but things got hectic in ‘Skins Nation for a bit, so Bryant returned the following comments over last weekend. Shots’ email questions are italicized, Bryant’s answers follow each question:

SHOTS: Are you saying you wouldn’t have taken the key from the Sox? I have to think I would have, but I also have to think I would have been less taken in by the bells and whistles that overtook the admittedly un-sports organization familiar Mnookin. . .

HB: “I wouldn’t have taken their key, because of what it would have meant if you did. If you did, you immediately compromised the integrity of your project. Would the degree of access been any different had you not? The worst thing you can do in any serious work _ anything you want to be taken seriously – is do anything that undermines it. There will be
enough people who will do that for you.

I think the thing that would have made me nervous in the first place is why the organization thought it necessary to agree to a project like this in the first place. Let’s not forget that it was the Red Sox’s idea to do this book, not the other way around. This is the same organization that said it wanted to curb ‘leaks.’ And yet they agree to a tell-all? I guess they’ve created that most cherished of things, the ‘authorized leak.’”

SHOTS: The most common reply I get when I bring up the lack of minorities in the Boston writing crowd is that the readers are something like 90 percent white. The argument then usually turns into who they’re covering and not who that coverage is actually for.

How do you answer the people that say Boston doesn’t need black writers as a rule, because Boston is so White in its make-up that there’s no real need for other voices?

HB: “Well, if that is the attitude, then how can people in Boston get their panties in a knot when people call it a racist town? If you only write for one segment of the population, then you are inherently excluding the viewpoints of others. Moreover, without the exchange of viewpoints, it is no wonder why we never understand each other and nothing changes.

“The reason why you write about people isn’t simply because your readers look like you. There are no Latin Americans living in my house, but that doesn’t mean I have no interest in the viewpoints of Latin Americans. What we’re talking about here is communication,
understanding the differing perspectives that make up a whole. If Bostonians believe that there is nothing odd about whites writing only for whites, or there being no need for diversity because the readership isn’t diverse, then that town is in worse shape than I ever imagined.

“I always thought we wrote to read about attitudes other than our own, not merely to reinforce our own place in the world.”

SHOTS: As an off-shoot of that, the Globe has let it be known within the job buzz circles that the next Pats beat hire will be a minority and almost certainly be an African-American. It’s the same list they went through when they “settled” for Jerome. Shouldn’t the job be going to the most qualified applicant – white, green, purple, female, bi-sexual, whatever?

HB: “Yeah, it should. But it doesn’t, and it never did. I’m always fascinated when people talk about merit and affirmative action, as if people who were hired in the past _ a pool of white applicants, say – were all equally qualified, and the best person received the job. This is complete nonsense. Class, connections, personal feel, corporate pressure, money, etc…all of these considerations have been a part of who gets hired since the beginning of time.

“The difference is race, because white people generally seem to assume that other white people are competent (unless they were the one who happened to get beaten out of a job), and that black people aren’t. I never hear white people talking about competence of job applicants except when black people (or women) are involved in the job process.

“This is true, even though white applicants (just like everyone else) have been screwed over by class, by connections, by all of the other layers of networking that are part of the corporate world.

“Besides, how can race be such a big factor in the meritocracy when there are no black writers in big jobs at the major dailies? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have this conversation when MOST or ALL of the jobs were taken by black people? When I look up and down the press box (as I [did] before this Pats-Redskins tilt) all I see
other than my own, are white faces. So just who exactly is having trouble getting hired here? Seems to me as if there is a press box full of gainfully employed white people.”

Shots: Lastly – what one Boston “thing” that was part of your daily routine when you were here, do you most miss now?

HB: “That’s easy. The D’Angelo’s steak and cheese, Oishii sushi in Chestnut Hill and just about everything on the menu at Pho Republique on Washington St., especially the ahi tuna/wasabi spring rolls. Food brings people together.”

And, it would seem to Shots, newspapers divide them apart.

• If you have an appetite for sportswriter-on-editor/sportswriter-crime sagas, then you should probably get over to this TJ Simers Q&A at The Big Lead. Five responses in, Simers calls out, by name, the Globe’s Mark Blaudschun and sports editor Joe Sullivan.

It’s the type of in-the-biz bickering that sometimes leads to good banter at Sportsjournalists.com. It also has probably played out thousands of times over and over throughout the history of writing, editing and co-existing. As always, the truth lies somewhere in between it all. . .

• Introducing, Tom “No E.” Curran, your NBCSports.com NFL insider. The site’s a work in progress, from what we’re seeing, but never underestimate the cache that comes from those three letters of N, F and L.

• So long, old friend. We’ll try and keep up at your new page.

• Our once, and eternal, Boss got extended in Huntington last week. Good news for all involved, including my favorite Chief of Staff and all of Herd Nation. The Mark of Marcum continues as it did in Amherst and other outposts.

And they add in the battle for West Va. on Saturday, just for good measure.

It’s enough to make an old marbles champ like Marcum get a bit misty-eyed, we’re guessing.

• Shots impulse-bought the XM satellite Roady this week and while we haven’t gotten over to much of the sport programming, we were able to justify the whole purchase with just one episode of the Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan.

Dude makes weird, compelling, radio. Much like his music.

All that said, we’d appreciate any XM tips, must-listens, must-avoids from the general public and/or XM PR specialists. Thanks.

• Okay, remember to check back for something from the Deutsche over the weekend and remember too, that the last weekend of summer is merely the first weekend of Fall.

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. And can be reached at shotsATbostonsportsmedDOTcom