Bellbrook graduation 2012
Fairfield Senior 2012 graduation
Kroger Aquatic Center opens
TV/MEDIA INSIDER
A-10 needs to work on TV presence
Friday, March 13, 2009
If the Atlantic 10 wants to act like a big-boy conference, maybe it ought to help out its constituents more.
Even though the University of Dayton basketball team won a school record 25 games during the regular season, the Flyers appeared on national television only three times, once on low-profile CBS College Sports (vs. Saint Louis on Jan. 29) and twice on ESPN2 (vs. Xavier on Feb. 11 and March 5).
Locally, WHIO-TV airs as many games as it can, 14 this season, plus the opening game Thursday, March 12, in the A-10 tourney.
FSN Ohio will broadcast the quarterfinals and semis of the A-10, while ESPN2 takes the final Saturday.
Over at the Horizon League — comfortable with the mid-major label — Wright State played to a national television audience three times during the regular season and once in the league tournament. The Raiders were on FSN Ohio for the Dec. 14 game at Wake Forest, on ESPNU for the Detroit game Jan. 16 (set up by the Horizon League) and on ESPN2 for the Northeastern BracketBusters game Feb. 21.
WSU's fourth appearance was in the semifinal of the Horizon League tournament against Butler on March 7, shown on ESPNU.
Wright State also had three appearances on WHIO's cable stations.
Rest of the story
In honor of the late Paul Harvey, how about the rest of the story on Al Michaels?
It was Michaels — recently named host for NBC's live daytime coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics — who authored one of the more famous modern era calls when he said, "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" in a medal round hockey game at the 1980 Olympics between the U.S. and Russian teams. (The U.S. won the gold against Finland in the next game.)
The rest of the story?
"I was the only guy on the ABC staff (including Jim McKay, Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Keith Jackson and Chris Schenkel) who had ever done a hockey game (at the 1972 Olympics)," Michaels said. "I had beaten everyone on the staff 1-0. I actually knew what icing and offside were. As a kid, I loved hockey, and I wound up sitting in that field house at Lake Placid on Feb. 22, 1980."
Apparently, you don't need much practice if you're really good.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157
or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
