As Always, NFL Dominates TV Ratings

Never mind the competition, the fact that it was only Week 1 or even the looming probability of labor strife, the NFL again drew record ratings for several games this past weekend.

It was an especially good week for NBC Sports, which had the season-opening Vikings-Saints game last Thursday and a TV friendly Cowboys-Redskins game on Sunday night.

Specifically, the Vikings-Saints drew 27.5 million viewers -- making it the network's most-watched, regular-season game ever. On Sunday night, 25.3 million people watched the Cowboys-Redskins matchup. In addtion, ratings for the Sunday night game were up 24 percent from the first Sunday night game of last season (Bears-Packers).

Fox Sports enjoyed increased viewership as well. It's late Sunday afternoon game (Packers-Eagles) had a 14 percent higher rating than the game in that timeslot last year (Redskins-Giants).

Football itself does not guarantee ratings success, though. Several college football games drew ratings lower than matchups in similar timeslots last year. Those down included Penn State-Alabama on ESPN (down 36 percent from USC-Ohio State in 2009) and Michigan-Notre Dame on NBC (down 20 percent from when they met on the same weekend in 2009, then on ABC).

Clearly, and not surprisingly, the NFL remains the almost always successful TV sports king. The sport plays quickly and well on TV. It can be enjoyed when viewed casually and as background noise or when watched from the opening coin toss to the final second. Plus, it regularly provides known personalities, teams and traditions.

U.S. Open Always a Major Moment for Golf

Few golf tournaments really matter on TV. People can tune in for the final round on Sunday and find out all they need to know, who won and by how many strokes.

The sport's four majors mean more and merit more long-term attention, though, and the U.S. Open sits atop that group because of the challenge it inevitably provides for golfers. Those who take the course cannot win the tournament the first day, but they sure can lose it. Especially if they struggle in the infamous rough that the U.S. Golf Association always provides as part of the course setup.

For NBC Sports -- which plans a record 16 hours of high-definition coverage (including two hours each Thursday and Friday) from historic and picturesque the Pebble Beach Golf Links the next four days -- the tournament represents an obvious highlight to its year-long sports schedule.

"It's the greatest championship we do," said Dan Hicks, who will host the first two rounds and work from the 18th-hole tower throughout the Open with analyst Johnny Miller. "When you combine that and Pebble Beach, it makes it incredibly special."

For viewers, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach means golf that looks good on TV, with all those ocean views, and golf that could look bad on TV, with many of the pros potentially struggling, and certainly not posting the types of scores that they do when the PGA Tour visits Pebble Beach for its annual season-opening event, when greens are slower and the rough is shorter.

To make the telecast work this year, NBC has 274 staffer members, 51 cameras and 10 production trucks on site in California. More than 2.4 million feet of fiber cable has been run throughout the course to feed pictures back to the trucks and then out to the world.

NBC also has "cue ball" cameras on the seventh and 18th holes, and it added an 18th-hole crane camera, which will provide a straight-on look at tee shots on the final hole. The crane is parked next to the golf course in the backyard of a family that pulled out their shrubbery to make room for the device.

"The tee shots at 18 will be struck right at the camera, and then the second shots will be what we call a 'speed shot.' So the ball will actually come flying by our camera and land in the vicinity of the green," said executive producer Tommy Roy. "It's an angle that no one's ever seen before here. No one's been able to put a camera in a position like that. It's going to be a dramatic shot."

Those producing the broadcasts hope technology has little to do with the tournament's overall drama, though. Color and curiosity should drive interest and ratings the first few days, but they want big names in the final pairings Sunday and hopefully some close competition. While Tiger Woods' runaway victory at Pebble Beach in 2000 was historic and impressive, tight competition might draw more viewers than a dominant effort.

Finally, the West Coast location for the tournament, and corresponding timing of the tournament, which pushes action into prime time on the East Coast, should certainly bolster ratings.

Outstanding Personalities Share Football

The four top individual Sports Emmy Awards, which were announced Monday, all went to on-air professionals whose work includes a large portion of football coverage -- again showing how TV's most popular sport makes commercial and critical stars of those who cover it.

Three of the major individual recipients have been in that category for years, and one rookie winner finally earned hardware to verify his status as one of the best in the business.

Bob Costas of NBC earned his 19th Sports Emmy, recognizing his work as Outstanding Sports Personality-Studio Host for work on "Football Night in America" and horse racing while Jim Nantz of CBS was named Outstanding Sports Personality-Play-by-Play for his work covering the NFL and golf. It was the second consecutive win in that category for Nantz.

Analysts Chris Collinsworth and Kirk Herbstreit completed the quartet with honors as Outstanding Sports Personality-Sports Event Analyst and Outstanding Sports Personality-Studio Analyst, respectively. For Collinsworth, it was his ninth Sports Emmy overall (two as event analyst and seven as studio analyst) while it was the first Sport Emmy for he likable and well-prepared Herbstreit.

John Madden, with a record 16 Sports Emmys for game analysis, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the event in New York City.

Among networks, HBO earned nine Sports Emmys, followed by CBS and ESPN with seven each. MLB Network earned four.

ESPN's honorees included: "College GameDay," selected as Outstanding Studio Show-Weekly, it's second such honor in the past three years; and "Pardon the Interruption," which earned its first Sports Emmy as Outstanding Sports Show-Daily.

Click here for a complete list of winners.

Hockey Broadcast a Non-Medal Highlight

No medals were awarded Sunday, but a somewhat suprising U.S. victory against Canada finally got Olympic men's hockey on NBC.

As the game concluded on MSNBC -- with play-by-play man Mike Emrick again showing why he's one of the best hockey broadcasters in the business -- NBC finally showed the action from what was an action-packed game.

Because it was not skating or sking, because it was only a preliminary round game, NBC had pushed the star-studded hockey matchup to MSNBC, where it aired commercial-free, live and in its entirety.

Only with the U.S. victory ensured did NBC mention the game. That came just after 10 p.m., with Bob Costas noting the victory and then, after a break, the network provided a live look-in at the empty arena with Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth recounting the emotion and energy of the game with a few highlights. They were clearly impressed with the game they had witnessed.

Unfortunately, many other sports fans were denied that opportunity. Sure, die-hards with the right cable package or satellite service certainly found the game on MSNBC, but many others missed a chance to watch one of the Games' best moments so far live.

And NBC's crew, led by Emrick and analyst Ed Olczyk, were solid throughout. Olczyk, the former Pittsburgh Penguins coach, was the only person at a news conference before the start of the Games who said he expected the U.S. to emerge with the gold medal from the hockey tournament. Along with their on-air skills, the broadcast's production (camera angles, replays and more) were perfect.

Conversely, the hurried mention of the game on NBC was clearly live TV, because Michaels was audibly talking to his producer at the same time Costas was talking to the nation and trying to introduce him and Collinsworth.

Curling's Format Makes Sport Engaging on TV

As NBC's Olympic coverage dominates nightly ratings, often overlooked curling -- shown almost exclusively on cable partner MSNBC and usually treated as either a curiosity or joke by U.S. sports fans and viewers -- provides many of the elements those same fans find important in their mainstream sports.

Specifically, it's an easy sport to follow on TV, contests get completed in a compartively quick timeframe and the nature of the sport allows ample room for analysts to provide commentary and criticism.

A Sunday matchup between women's teams from the United States and Canada provided a solid example.

While Canada dominated the match, members of NBC's broadcast crew did just what a group broadcasting an NFL game would during a blowout -- they tapped into technology and repeatedly pointed out mistakes.

First, they capably used a telestrator to analyze and outline strategy. Early in the match, with Canada needing a superb shot to start a chain-reaction among the 42-pound rocks, NBC's Colleen Jones adeptly used the on-screen technlogy to show just where the shot needed to go to work. Not surprisingly, the accurate Canadians made the play work exactly that way.

Several days ago, during their first few curling broadcasts of the Games, they were not nearly as adept with the technology. That they have improved provides a nice benefit for viewers frustrated by the fact that the TV types were stumbling with the technology in the first place.

Second, the NBC team has done something that chafes some curling purists -- it has criticized the execution and strategy of the curlers themselves. They have noted flawed strategy or missed shots, and on Sunday they continually pointed to obviously missed throws by U.S. team member Debbie McCormick. To those purists criticism probably sounds out of place. To casual curling observers and U.S. sports fans just giving the sport a chance, though, it looks and sounds like any other sport they see on TV. And that, even with an unusual sport, makes things seem familiar and worth watching.

Finally, curling broadcasts during the Games have included another technique familiar to viewers of the NFL and other major U.S. sports -- visits to the booth by celebrities and other sports starts. With curling, those visitors have included Vernon Davis, the San Franciso 49ers tight end who was selected as honorary captain for the U.S. curling team, and Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who probably has a pass and an open invitation to visit any venue in Vancouver any time he wants.

Also, the analysts' criticism eventually proved correct -- or at least actionable. When the U.S. team played to its next game, against Sweeden later Sunday, McCormick, the team captain, had replaced herself as the team's final thrower.

Olympics are NOT Sports on TV ... and That's OK

During Wednesday's gold rush with some star-studded storylines from the Winter Olympics, NBC's primetime coverage again showed that the Games are not sports on TV.

They're not a vehicle for complete coverage and timely results, either.

They're just a TV program with a sports theme ... and that's really OK.

People who cared, and even those with no interest at all, knew hours before it happened that Lindsey Vonn had won gold in the women's downhill. Her story of talent and overcoming injury has been one of the most omnipresent themes of the Games. Many viewers probably planned to watch at night and see the gold-medal run for themselves because that was the only way they could see it.

As part of its storytelling approach, NBC began its Wednesday night broadcast by focusing on a Fantastic Four, of sorts, some the most marketable U.S. team members -- Vonn, Shani Davis, Apolo Ohno and Shaun White -- who would be the focus of the evening's coverage. They would be the stars of the show, a show set to last for several more hours and designed to drive ratings and maintain viewership -- the same goals of any other TV show.

That approach makes sense on many levels for NBC. Because the Olympics only happen once every four years, viewers might be willing to exercise a bit more patience for results and stories. Additionally, while critics and media members regularly gripe about the lack of live events shown by the network, those people probably represent a minority among sports fans.

Could NBC have shown Vonn's run live Wednesday afternoon on one of its sister channels? Probably. Would it have made sense to do that, when fewer people would've seen it and then show it again at night? Probably not. (Another factor that plays into such decisions are the highlights of the events. Once something airs, it is not available for other networks to air the highlights for a specified period. If NBC would've gone live with it in the afternoon, that would've changed when footage would be available for replay by its rivals. That's why ESPN's morning shows had only still images of Vonn.)

While NBC's approach makes sense on many levels, some confusing warts remain. Most notably, they come in terms of access and timing.

Examples from Wednesday night's coverage include:
-- A nearly two-hour gap between when Davis won his gold medal in the 1,000-meter speed skating event until the time an interview with him was shown on TV. He crossed the finished line at 8:43 p.m. He was finally interviewed -- after several "coming up soon" teases -- at 10:40 p.m. That's silly and unacceptable. Especially because all of what happened in the interim was hardly meaningful.
-- A lack of follow up on the Vonn story. OK, her run was shown in the Davis interim, airing at 9:36 p.m., but appropriate context and reaction was missing. With Vonn's gold-medal run actually completed hours before, NBC should've had a longer interview or something new from her. Yes, the network designates what it's showing "live" and what it's not with an on-screen graphic but that's a subtlety missed by some and not always consistently practiced. Instead of showing the run and adding context, though, viewers got the run only -- and the impression that it had just happened. Or had happened more recently than it did.
-- A wonderful shot of snowboarder Louie Vito programming his iPod before a run with no follow up about what he listens to while competing. Or whether he's alone in using music during the run, or if it's something all snowboarders do. Something like that would've helped make the competitors more personal. Then again, it was Vito, not White -- and he was the predetermined focus.

More nitpicking ...
-- During White's preliminary run, which earned a huge score of 45.8 (out of 50), commentators said the run was spectacular and would easily earn him a spot in the halfpipe final. Then, when the score was announced, they said he has a "sigh of relief." Why? If he was clearly the best and put down a good run, why would he be relieved?
-- While the speed skating venue had problems with its ice again Wednesday, something NBC mentioned within the first five minutes of its broadcast, no reports ever followed about the situation. After the logistical problems the Games have endured at that venue and others, you start to wonder if NBC has decided not to pile on the Vancouver folks in that regard.
-- With several mentions about the "breakout" and surprising performances by Korean speed skaters, there was not attempt to explain why. When unexpected results surface at the Games, cynical and even long-time viewers inevitably wonder why -- because the Olympics have a long history of performance-enhancing efforts eventually being revealed. And the way it was covered, or not covered, just allows more speculation.
-- After White's first run in the finals, with the highest score of the night, how could a camera other than NBC's be the one that was in the foreground for a shot. So, NBC viewers saw White, and also the back of the head and back of the camera from another country's feed. It was just surprising they did not have another options. That at least happened live, though.

Daytona Delay and Solid Start for Olympics

A tw0-hour delay for a pothole interrupted the Daytona 500 on Sunday but Fox Sports did about the best it could -- from start-of-the-season talk to an interview with NASCAR chairman Brian France -- as a way to fill time.

What was most lacking during coverage of the delay was a closer camera angle of what was happening at the fix spot or even more specific information about the attempt to fix the situation. Still, racing fans are a loyal bunch, so many probably stayed with the coverage -- and those who did not could flip to NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics.

During the race delay, NBC had live coverage of the nordic combined as Johnny Spillane of the United States earned the silver medal (the first for a U.S. competitor in the event) while three U.S. competitors finished among the top six in the event. On TV it was simply cross country skiing, the second half of two events in the nordic combined. That might not serve as appointment viewing for some sports fans, but the event finished in just over 25 minutes and it was contested in four laps. Again, that's something casual viewers could grasp, and certainly any who had switched over from NASCAR.

In addition to that event Sunday, NBC had Apolo Ohno finishing second in the 1,500-meter short track speedskating event Saturday night -- another easy-to-understand event that can engage viewers because of its physicality and speed. So far, it seems like a good start in terms of coverage and storylines for the Olympic network.

For NASCAR, the weekend also included Saturday's Nationwide Series race, which included the debut of Danica Patrick in the series. Some certainly think she got too much attention leading up to and during the race, but she was clearly the storyline. And, after some early race struggles, she seemed to be getting more comfortable in the car. Nobody realistically expected a top-10 or even top-20 finish in her debut, and her eventual 35th-place result was the result of getting caught in an accident she could not avoid and that was not her fault.

She'll be back, with the accompanying attention, this weekend when the series visits California.

One thing ESPN avoided or missed with coverage of the race, though, was Tony Stewart's patient pass of Patrick. He started deep in the field, came up on Patrick fairly early and kept his distance -- clearly wary of any rookie driver -- before eventually getting around her. While the broadcast crew talked about him moving through the field, it seemed like they missed Stewart's obvious attempt to give Patrick as much room as possible. From his perspective, had he pushed hard and gotten her loose, he would've been the bad guy. At the same time, if he'd have gotten to close and she would've wobbled it could've hurt his chances -- and he eventually won the race.

His pass was not a big moment in the race, but it was a subtle thing that could've been addressed for viewers.

On Sunday, Fox Sports missed another obvious-on-TV moment. They talked about legendary Richard Petty driving the pace car for the Daytona 500, but a view of the car on the track clearly showed the 82-year-old "king" of stock-car racing in the passenger seat. Not that it matters, because nobody really expects Petty to drive the car, but it was just an example of missing the obvious.

NBC Opens Games with Good News Focus

News arose before the Olympic Games really began, and NBC responded perfectly.

As the network's coverage of the Winter Games from Vancouver began Friday night, at a time when officials hoped to hype Canada's relationship with the United States and provide those travelogue features about the host Olympic country, death interrupted.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, a men's luge competitor from the republic of Georgia, was killed during a training run Friday when he lost control on the last turn and was tossed outside the icy track. His body ragdolled against a steel support beam and, at nearly 90 mph, the accident was deadly.

With hours to prepare before its network coverage began, NBC covered and reported the story well. There was no way they could avoid the story and did not -- talking to Olympic officials, U.S. luge competitors and many others.

Perhaps most surprising in the nearly 5-minute segment was video of the crash itself. With the network taping everything that happens at the Games, to prepare for when coverage actually begins and to have as sample footage of competitors, NBC had video of the crash and they showed it -- twice, in slow motion.

Some might think that was too much, but in our video-crazed society it was probably expected. Without the footage, it would be difficult to visualize what had happened.

Most striking, and probably unnecessary, though, was a still image of first responders trying to revive Kumaritashvili. The image was not gruesome, but the video was more than enough for the story -- if only because it was not as personal as the photo.

Again, with a U.S. network's broadcast there's little danger of any images catching family and friends by surprise, but NBC certainly tiptoed toward the line of good taste with the still image. That's nitpicking, though, because NBC opened the games at its best covering a difficult and unexpected story.

Really, the weakest part of NBC's first 15 minute on air was Tom Brokaw. The anchor's comments bookended the expected U.S.-Canada relationship story and while the piece provided good perspective Brokaw seemed out of place and unnecessarily trite as the piece ended. Surely, the thin-skinned among jingoistic U.S. fans will take note of Brokaw's closing comments about the strength of Canada's economy.

Cermony Opens Olympics Onslaught

After months of network hype, which hit a fever pitch in the past week during prime-time programming, NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics begins Friday night with the Opening Ceremony.

During the 17 days of competition in Canada, NBC and its numerous outlets -- USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Universal HD and Universal Sports -- will produce 835 hours or programming.

On its main network coverage, NBC Sports will feature Bob Costas as the lead host during prime-time hours while Al Michaels serves as daytime host. For Michaels, it's the first time he's worked an Olympics since 1988.

For its late-night coverage, NBC Sports again turns to steady Mary Carillo. Overall, NBC has 53 announcers for the Games, seven of whom are native Canadians.

On Saturday, competition begins in eight sports, with six medal events. The two sports that begin that day and do not award medals are luge and hockey -- which gets its regular Olympic hype and love from many commentators and sports-talk types during the Games.

Those folks might not normally watch hockey, but they'll pledge their willingness to do so during the Games because of the "wide-open style of play" possible on the "bigger sheet of ice."

To cover hockey, and continue the hype, the NBC Sports team includes some of the same experts it utilizes on its NHL coverage -- Mike Milbury and Ed Olczyk.

Ratings up for Many Sports, Not Just NFL

Record ratings for the NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints -- the game was the most-watched show on TV since 1998 (excluding Super Bowl games) -- appropriately prompted abundant reaction.

Anytime an average audience of 57.9 million viewers tune in for anything, it's news.

The rating reflects the power of the NFL, the never-ending interest in Brett Favre and the wonderful New Orleans storyline. It also reflects a trend for many sporting events over the weekend.

Whether it's the economy, ticket prices, the weather or a variety of other factors, viewers certainly found an interest in sports this past weekend.

Specifically, the first PBA Tour event won by a female posted a 100 percent ratings increase over similar coverage in 2009 on ESPN. On CBS, college basketball with top-ranked Texas at UConn was up 38 percent from Arizona-UCLA last year.

Pre-Olympic news was good for NBC as well. Its coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships increased 33 percent over last year.