Good lord...I'm writing checks my body can't cash these days. I say I'm going to be back to regular posting, and what happens??? My Internet access is lost for a half a day. Let's make this quick because I'm sure you sick of the Super Bowl talk (plus I need to get back to Tiki Barber updates).

What the "Others" are saying (quotes from Sports Biz Daily):













Richard Sandomir, who yesterday complained about the lack of crowd shots on CBS’ Super Bowl telecast, notes CBS “said that the weather caused so much condensation on its camera lenses that it used whatever cameras were not fogged or misted over to show the game.” CBS showed fans four times and crowd shots twice. CBS Sports VP/Communications LeslieAnne Wade: “It wasn’t a philosophical thing, but it was what was going on with the cameras.” But Sandomir writes the wet cameras “should not have prevented CBS from providing a couple of looks at weather radar ... or forecasts of when the rain might end”- NY Times

Bill Taaffe writes while CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason “made cogent points,” Shannon Sharpe “runs his motormouth in a monotone and it’s next to impossible to focus on what he’s saying.” Game callers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms had a “somewhat uneven performance”- Las Vegas Review

Leonard Shapiro writes CBS "took a safe and mostly sound approach to its entire Super Bowl production." But many of the stories in CBS's pregame coverage "were rather predictable and none of them exactly broke much new ground." CBS "simply chose to ignore some of the biggest stories of the week in its Sunday coverage"- Washington Post

There were some small glitches. CBS missed a live snap in the third quarter. The announcers didn't seem sure where Bears ace kick returner Devin Hester was positioned on a second-quarter Indianapolis Colts kickoff. And CBS lost audio in a live pregame talk with Chicago's Brian Urlacher. And CBS didn't predict all the rain. Said Nantz in the second quarter: "I failed meteorology school." (Said Simms: "You would have given the teacher an apple and changed the grade.")

Before the kickoff, CBS didn't fumble — or turn in any amazing plays. Super Bowl pregame shows can't really unearth anything terribly new anyway given how much all things Super Bowl have been chewed over.- USA Today
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And that was really just the start of the bad reviews......

I think the overall feeling is that CBS' coverage was very underwhelming. Phil Simms yelled for no apparent reason because the crowd was silent the entire game. Jim Nantz almost seemed bored with the whole thing. I don't even remember seeing Sam Ryan or Lesley Visser. And I only saw Wilcots and Tasker once.

The two things about the broadcast that I noticed the most were A) Almost Zero crowd shots, and B) No discussion of the weather.

Sure it was raining but it's the damn Super Bowl. I'm sure Bears fans were going crazy in the stands, but there were absolutely no shots of them at all. The weather thing blew my mind though. Nantz even said on the missed extra point that Hunter Smith "mis-handled the snap". Yes he "mis-handled" it, but do you think it might have been because of the torrential downpour?!?!

Overall it was a pretty boring Super Bowl, and CBS didn't help.















Grades:

Jim Nantz- C-
Phil Simms- D+
Solomon Wilcots- C
Steve Tasker- C
Sam Ryan- Incomplete
Lesley Visser- Incomplete
Pregame- B-
Halftime Show- Umm....didn't watch.

I hope didn't spoil it by searching for the other two. CBS plans to have an extra two Sideliners for Sunday's game.....where will they be?

In the Stands. Wait what?!?! Yep. CBS will have two people entirely devoted to interviewing player's parents the entire game. I have no idea who thought this up, but were Solomon and Steve not good enough to walk up a set of stairs? Guess not.

You all had some good guesses.....

Signal To Noise: Please, please, please, let one of the embeds be Bonnie Bernstein (or someone female), because it's dollars to donuts the other is Armen Keteyian.

Nope....I'd love Bonnie as well, but no such luck. And Armen is who I would have picked but he's wrong too.

MDG: I'm picturing Sam Ryan minus a cute Bonnie B hat. and Armen on the other sidleine.

That hat is trademarked, and another vote for Armen......

So who are you're winners? Well MDG was right on with one of them.....It's Sam Ryan and Lesley "I have to be 65 by now" Visser! Whoopee!

Sam Ryan:

Samantha is basically a Sideline....umm, for lack of a better word....Whore. She's worked for every station under the Sun. The list includes CBS, ESPN, Fox Sportsnet, and a local NYC ABC affiliate.

Other things you may or may not have known.......

• Was actually an NHL Sideline Reporter at one point.
• Has two kids named Jensen and Nicklaus (gay).
• Served as a MNF Sideliner when Michele Tafoya was on maternity leave.
• Was a sideline reporter for Gridiron Battle of the Stars.
• Birth name is Denise Dombroski. Have no idea how it changed though.
  
• Senior project at NYIT was titled "Gender Bias in Sports Broadcasting and Media Coverage." (wish I was making that up, but it's true)

So what do I think about Sam Ryan? She's okay I guess. I would have loved a dream combination of Erin Andrews and Bonnie B, but alas my dreams will never be met. (Good article here on why Bonnie left CBS)

Current Grade: C+
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Lesley Visser:

What can you say about good ole' Lesi? She's been around since 1984....she's been at every possible major sporting event.....and she's boring as hell. Since she married Dick Stockton in the early 90s she's been getting the primo gigs. I'm not saying that she slept her way to the top, but come on.....Dick Stockton?!?!

Other stuff you may or may not have known......

• Visser suffered a bizarre jogging accident in New York's Central Park in which she broke her hip and skidded face-first across the pavement.
• Became the first woman sportscaster to carry the Olympic Torch.
• Only Sportscaster to work the Final Four, NBA Finals, Triple Crown, MNF, The Olympics, The Super Bowl, The World Figure Skating Championships, The U.S. Open, The Gravity Games, The X-Games, The Dubai Open, The Candadian Curling Championships, The English Premier Cricket Championship, Pros vs. Joes, The XFL Championship.......okay, at some point I started making those up.....see if you can figure out where.
• She was the first female NFL Beat Writer.

While she's a pioneer for female sports types.....I just can't stand her. She reminds of Julie Chen from Big Brother (that may or may not be because she dates Les Moonves). It's hard-hitting interviews like these that have gotten her where she is today.....



zzzzzzzzzzzzz......Huh What?!?!......Oh sorry I fell asleep.

Quotes:

"When I started, the press credentials said 'No women or children in the press box,' ... There are a lot of things in the workplace that you can attempt to hide, and I could not hide the fact that I was a woman. I was always the only woman in the press box, and they didn't even have ladies rooms."

"I think it will be a heck of a chess match."

Current Grade: D+ (I told you I didn't like her)

So there you have em' Wilcots, Tasker, Ryan, and Visser. What are your thoughts on this bang up team of (worthless) Sideline Reporters?

Back tomorrow with your pregame and halftime team. You think there are just four of them....tsk tsk. It's the Super Bowl my friend.....there are six. You'll be surprised who the extra two are I promise.