Post by: thegame on October 28, 2007, 11:34:20 AM
McDonough (sorry for the misspell): Another good reason to watch the PBA this season is our own Rob Stone will be announcing it.
Speilman: Since when did bowling become a sport? I know it's a skill, and a hobby, but isn't it more of a beer drinking thing, rather than a sport?
Stone: C'mon guys, you're going to get me fired before my first live broadcast. I know Walter Ray Williams is on the show Sunday morning, and.....and...well I can't remember the other 3, but 4 very good bowlers will be on the show Sunday morning.
Speilman: So, if Walter Ray has to go to the bathroom, does that mean Pete Weber will have to wait for him to get back, like in a regular league?
Stone: Well, it's been a crash course for me over the last few weeks trying to pick up bowling lingo, and I've picked up a little, but we'll see how it goes.
These are not exact quotes, as I was half asleep when this coversation happened during a break due to an injury, so I paraphrased most of it, but I know the Speilman comment about "when did bowling become a sport?" is right on. I feel that regardless of what his opinions of bowling are, his making those comments on the air was very unprofessional, and frankly not a very good idea, considering he's on the network that is airing bowling, and trying to increase ratings for it, I'm assuming. I do feel bad for Rob Stone, as he's being thrown into a sport he has no prior knoweledge about, and 2 days before his first live broadcast, he's sent to Fresno to cover a football game, when he should be researching, and be in Wisconsin covering the bowling event. It appears ESPN feels that they can just send any Joe Blow to cover bowling and sound like they completely know what they're talking about, and trying to save money in the process (of course). As for Chris Speilman, I found his comments to be very unprofessional, and I will be looking for some way to contact ESPN to voice my displeasure about them. Just wondering if anyone else caught this.
Post by: Siniak on October 28, 2007, 07:57:13 PM
Edited on 10/28/2007 7:57 PM
Post by: charlest on October 28, 2007, 08:29:41 PM
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Post by: rge on October 28, 2007, 08:55:48 PM
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Rats get fat. Good men die.
Post by: NateNice on October 28, 2007, 09:22:07 PM
quote:
I didn't see the Friday football broadcast, but I did see today's telecast. Stone knows virtually nothing about bowling and made no attempt to pretend that he did. He made a big deal of knowing what a "Brooklyn" was and thought it was a cute term to use. I can't believe that ESPN/USBC would have someone like him handling the mike. I believe it shows how little respect bowling has.
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Rats get fat. Good men die.
Most people that could possibly be tuned into the event don't know what a brooklyn is either. Well now they do.
The last thing ESPN wants is some esoteric commentary going on that a casual or first time viewer would have no clue what was going on. Bowling lingo is more or less a foreign language and having a guy on the show who can get these terms explained to an audience in a funny was isn't such a bad idea.
Do you think ESPN and the PBA didn't plan on this? they WANTED a guy who casual observers could relate to and find funny and most of all, ENTERTAINING.
People are talking about him. I'd call it a success.
Post by: Hogsharley on October 28, 2007, 09:39:54 PM
quote:
I didn't see the Friday football broadcast, but I did see today's telecast. Stone knows virtually nothing about bowling and made no attempt to pretend that he did. He made a big deal of knowing what a "Brooklyn" was and thought it was a cute term to use. I can't believe that ESPN/USBC would have someone like him handling the mike. I believe it shows how little respect bowling has.
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Rats get fat. Good men die.
He (Stone) was not very good at soccer play by play either. I guess ESPN demoted him to bowling. If Stone keeps this up it looks like next year he will demoted to ladies billiards. Maybe he should be brushing up on his billiard lingo now. I can hear it now. (Stone) WOW. She's got a nice rack to play with! HEHE
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3 holes of fun!!
Post by: Greg T on October 28, 2007, 11:18:50 PM
And: "Hey look! She's bounced her ball off of another one and it went in. What do you call that?" He's not smart enough to link rack with rack to make a joke.
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Post by: mumzie on October 29, 2007, 04:34:34 PM
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Post by: Leftyhi-trak on October 29, 2007, 07:57:34 PM
Mumz,
The gentleman that wrote that article is from my area and is a pretty diehard enthusiast. I applaud him piping up to the latest ignorance.
Post by: clint191 on October 29, 2007, 08:40:54 PM
but it was obvious even to my wife (casual bowler who rarely watches the show)
that this guy didn't have a clue about bowling.
Post by: JessN16 on October 30, 2007, 12:38:18 AM
Chris Spielman is a very poor color commentator for football. He's more opinionated than most, and combines that with being wrong quite often in his opinions. I don't like watching a telecast he's involved with because I get very little from his analysis.
For one ESPN announced to comment in such a way on another sport televised by the same network is unprofessional. For Spielman to be the one doing it makes it even worse. I hope ESPN brass had something to say to him about it.
Jess
Post by: AdrianS on October 30, 2007, 01:55:55 AM
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Time for some REAL bowling!!!