Sunday, October 15, 2000
Sports on TV-Radio
ESPN Classic has class program
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Sometimes, it's better not to know what you're missing. I never wanted ESPN Classic until the network sent me a promotional copy of SportsCentury: Johnny Bench.
The Bench documentary is part of Classic's signature series of profiles of big-name athletes. It airs Wednesday night at 8. The SportsCentury series is continuation of series that aired on ESPN that featured the 50 greatest athletes of the 20th Century.
Based on the Bench show, the new series is every bit as good as the one that proceeded. Which is to say it is terrific.
Mark Shapiro, the man behind the The 50 Greatest series, came over to ESPN Classic as vice-president and general manager. He expanded SportsCentury profiles from a half hour and to an hour. They run Monday through Friday at 8 p.m.
This week is Cincinnati-Boston week on Classic. Monday at 8 p.m., Carlton Fisk is featured, followed by Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, followed by an one-hour special on the Game 6 hosted by Rich Eisen. Tuesday, Carl Yastrezemski is profiled, followed by Bench Wednesday, Ted Williams Thursday and Sparky Anderson Friday.
Some of profiles of the athletes who made the All-Century team have been redone under the longer format. The new series isn't limited to great athletes, some are just the most interesting. A two-part series on Billy Martin aired last week.
The style for SportsCentury is same as the one used for the 50 Greatest. Classic footage is mixed with current interviews in a seamless manner.
Doug Flynn talks about how the first time he took a throw from Bench at second base he thought the ball was going hit the dirt. “But it went right into my glove eight inches off the ground. The runner slid into my glove and was out.”
As soon as Flynn finishes the story, you see a play just like the one he described.
The program doesn't sugar coat anything. A case is made that Bench is the greatest catcher of all time, but no effort is made to portray Bench as the greatest guy of all-time.
Bench's feud with Pete Rose gets prominent play, as do his failed marriages. His sometimes strained relationships with media and his teammates get air time as well.
But it is not a expose.
The tone is fairly light. There's a clip of Bench singing “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” in one of the worst suits in the history of fashion.
My favorite moment is an interview with Marty Brennaman in the dugout during a rain delay in the 1975 World Series. Bench tells Brennaman that Boston pitcher Bill Lee is throwing everything outside. “I'm going to go to right field,” he said.
Sure enough, when play resumes, Bench did just that.
They then cut to a new interview with Lee. “Forty-six million people were watching that,” he says. “You think one of them would have called me.”
I would have never seen the program if not for the promotional copy. Only about 75,000 of Time Warner's 340,000 subscribers get Classic. You have to get digital to get it.
For me, digital would cost an extra $5 a month. SportsCentury might make it worth. (You get much more than just Classic; digital has 80 more channels than the analog system.)
Classic won't likely be added to analog.
“I don't think so,” said TWC general manager Virgil Reed. “Our channels are full, so to add it we'd have to drop another channel.”
Time Warner is moving toward digital. “It's growing by thousands each month,” Reed said. “It's a better value.”
John Fay covers radio/TV sports for The Enquirer. He can be reached at (513) 768-8445.
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ESPN Classic has class program