Broadcast Review: Week 12
Tom Goodhines
Friday July 7, 2000
The Sunshine Network was lucky enough to have this week’s best game and one of the league’s longest broadcast partners bring home the top honors.
Tampa Bay and Orlando arguably have the Arena Football League’s best rivalry and Sunshine matched that intensity by bringing a lot to the table for a high quality broadcast.
The play-by-play was in the very capable hands of Rick Peckham – and to be honest – this is the guy you want to call this game. He is very knowledgeable on both teams and is well versed in the history of the long-standing rivalry. Peckham’s strengths are his ability to allow a play to develop and his knack for setting things up for the color commentator to make his analysis.
 Rick Peckham interviews Tracey Perkins during halftime. Image courtesy of Joe Kauffman |
The network used clips from previous match-ups – which worked very well.
Top production: 1. Sunshine Network. 2. The Nashville Network. 3. Fox Sports West. Other notables: Fox Sports New York/New England; Warner Brothers 61, Phoenix; Warner Brothers 20, San Jose; Time Warner, Tampa Bay.
Top introduction/opening: 1. Sunshine Network. The network’s use of the Webster’s dictionary for “bitter rivalry” was excellent. 2. Time Warner, Tampa Bay. 3. TNN. Other notables: WB 20, San Jose; Fox Sports NY/NE; Fox Sports West; WB 61, Phoenix.
Top pre-game: 1. TNN. Features, interviews, highlights, statistics, and analysis – you think of it and TNN has it. 2. WB 20, San Jose. 3. Fox Sports West. Other notables: Sunshine Network; Fox Sports NY/NE; WB 61, Phoenix; Time Warner, Tampa Bay.
Top halftime: 1. TNN. 2. Sunshine Network. 3. Fox Sports West. Other notables: Time Warner, Tampa Bay; Fox Sports NY/NE; WB 61, Phoenix; WB 20, San Jose.
Top post-game: 1. TNN. 2. WB 61, Phoenix. 3. Fox Sports West. Other notables: Fox Sports NY/NE; Sunshine Network; WB 20, San Jose; Time Warner, Tampa Bay.
Top play-by-play: 1. Rick Peckham, Sunshine Network. Right on the money again by taking advantage of a great game to show off his strengths. 2. Bill Macdonald, Fox Sports West. 3. Bob Fitzgerald, WB 20, San Jose. Other notables: Eli Gold, TNN; Tom Leander, WB 61, Phoenix; Brian Aungst, Time Warner, Tampa Bay; Glenn Conticello, Fox Sports NY/NE.
Top color commentary: 1. David Norrie, Fox Sports West. Norrie is consistently near the top of this category each week and continues to make a final run at Cunningham as the regular season winds down. 2. Ed Cunningham, TNN. 3. Doug Plank, WB 61, Phoenix. Other notables: James Bates, Sunshine Network; Eric Keaton, Time Warner, Tampa Bay; Keena Turner, WB 20, San Jose; Don McPherson, Fox Sports NY/NE.
Top sideline: 1. Jill Arrington, TNN. Jill does it again with interviews and features that were the tops this week. 2. John Jackson, Fox Sports West.
Top feature: 1. WB 61, Phoenix, using Arizona Vice President and General Manager, Gene Nudo for some second half commentary. 2. TNN, Arrington on Buffalo offensive coordinator, Tony Kimbrough. 3. TNN, Cunningham’s “Strategies of the Game” with Buffalo kicker, Mike Black. 4. WB 61, Phoenix, “Rattlers’ Tale” on Randy Gatewood. 5. Fox Sports West, Macdonald on Los Angeles’ Andy Chilcote.
Top interview: 1. WB 20, San Jose, Turner with future AFL owner and former NFL quarterback, Ron Jaworski. 2. Time Warner, Tampa Bay, Keaton with former Tampa Bay defensive specialist, Tracey Perkins. 3. TNN, Cunningham with Buffalo coach, Ray Bentley. 4 Fox Sports NY/NE, Conticello with New England’s Anthony DiCosmo. 5. TNN, Arrington with the AFL’s Assistant Media Relations Director, Jennifer Boehm.
Top shot: 1. Sunshine Network, Shots of Orlando coach Jay Gruden and Tampa Bay coach Tim Marcum, coaching side-by-side on the same sideline. 2. Fox Sports NY/NE, New England’s Anthony Derricks kickoff return for a touchdown. 3. Fox Sports West, Los Angeles’ Marinovich “cooling-off” in the back tunnels in the second half.
Top replay: 1. TNN, Buffalo quarterback Browning Nagle’s behind-the-back interception. 2. Sunshine Network and Time Warner, Antoine Worthman’s interception return for a touchdown. 3. WB 61, Phoenix, Carlos Johnson attempted blind-side hit on Arizona`s Muhammad Oliver.
Top observation: TNN’s Cunningham noting that Florida should “change the play-call” if the quarterback has many questions before Bobcat quarterback Jim Arrellanes threw an interception on the next play.
Top audio: 1. Fox Sports NY/NE, getting New England coach Mike Hohensee calling the plays into Tim Carey. 2. TNN, discussion between Florida coaching staff and Arrellanes in overtime. 3. TNN, Florida coach Dave Ewart in the locker room.
Top quote: 1. WB 20, San Jose, Ron Jaworski, “Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! When you get around a quarterback, I know you get a little antsy!” to former 49er linebacker and WB 20 color commentator, Keena Turner. 2. Fox Sports West’s Norrie, “We talked about (Todd) Marinovich maybe getting a shot at playing quarterback in an NFL camp – I think Chris Jackson is definitely going to get a shot in an NFL camp.” 3. TNN’s Cunningham, “The Buffalo Destroyers can now have a website – because they have strung three ‘W’s together.”
Oops!: 1. TNN, Arrington calling Buffalo’s Bobby Olive – Bobby Oliver.
A look into the future: Friday’s Webcast of the Iowa vs. Nashville would become a normal occurrence next year if the AFL has its way. The highly successful event is just part of the league’s plans to give fans the total Arena Football experience. “Our goal has been to be on the cutting edge,” said AFL Vice President of Communications, David Cooper. “Not many leagues have the opportunity to bring their fans as close as we intend to and this webcast was just a sampling of what is in our future.”
Cooper added that the plan is to be fully interactive by bringing a total entertainment package to the fans. If everything goes as planned, the next webcast will be at this year’s Arena Bowl.
A special thanks to Arizona’s JT Thompson, Time Warner’s Eric Keaton, and San Jose’s Phil Simon for their contribution to this week’s column.
Tom Goodhines was a writer for ArenaFan Online during the 2000 season.
