Southern Bookman

From entertainment to news, the content tides keep churning

Competition grows fierce in the quality TV jungle as the news media landscape shifts.

While more receive information and entertainment through screens, embattled traditional print media still deliver the best guides to the burgeoning universe of choices, the battle for consumers' time.

Showing new Vanity Fair editor Radhika Jones' commitment to extensively reported and well-written long articles as ad revenues and newsstand sales decline, writer Joy Press in the magazine's annual Hollywood issue delves into HBO's efforts to stay atop the TV world as Netflix and Amazon gain strength and Disney, Apple and others enter the streaming world.

Displaying the continued value of old-fashioned business reporting, The Wall Street Journal Wednesday looked into Apple's so far unsuccessful effort to sign publishers like The New York Times and the Washington Post to a news subscription service.

The two articles trace the interconnected lines of the new media world. Along with streaming movies and TV shows, happy couch voyagers can also play video games, engage in virtual reality and listen to music services. Seeking to stay afloat are print magazines, books. movies, traditional TV networks and cable channels and the theater. While ESPN falls, low ratings for the lackluster Super Bowl give warning that mega sports events are no longer guaranteed to draw mass audiences.

While local newspapers die and the online world teems with voices beyond the mainstream, the new TV world gives a fertile market for content producers, once known as writers, playwrights, producers.

Press in her Vanity Fair piece outlines HBO's changing strategy under new owner Time Warner, a cable and media conglomerate seeking to stay ahead of changes such as viewers abandoning their cable boxes.

Credited for launching the "quality TV" era with must-see Sunday-night shows like "The Sopranos," "The Wire" and "Sex and The City," HBO wants to expand its content and move toward the streaming services' watch anytime model. The end of "The Game of Thrones" will leave a void the channel hopes to fill with a prequel related to the fantasy show.

With its much larger content budget, Netflix matched HBO with 23 Emmys. Now Apple, Disney and traditional TV networks are jumping into the streaming world, with HBO also entering the stream.

HBO's established Sunday night model offers advantages. Shows like the recently launched third season of "True Detective" are seen as shared national events, receiving strong media attention. Even high-quality shows can disappear in the Netflix content flood.

As digital models supplant print, Apple's news service would give subscribers a selection of news articles through use of an app, according to the WSJ. Newspapers would share revenue with Apple, based on readership numbers. The New York Times and Washington Post, whose online subscriptions have skyrocketed during the Trump presidency, are reluctant to join, according to the article.

The increasing number of streaming services will make for a chaotic spectrum of choices. From TV dramas and comedies to documentaries and comic specials, consumers can remove themselves from politics, environmental news and international crises. The ability to distinguish between real and fake news will decline. Or perhaps the country's citizens will renew their commitment to keeping informed and remaining involved in civic life.

 

 

Goodbye to the World Series

I've been following the World Series through the five-minute daily wrap-ups on MLB.

That saves me from spending four or five hours watching the games between the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

The first two games won by Boston have featured big home runs by the Red Sox and great plays such as Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi's leaping catch Wednesday night.

But I can't tolerate the endless pitching changes, hitters stepping out of the batter's  box, the yawning waits between pitches. 

It used to be dramatic for a hitter to foul off pitch after pitch. Now, it's like water torture.

I've found more interesting the spate of stories about the 1916 World Series between the Red Sox and the Dodgers, then in Brooklyn and then known as the Robins, or the Superbas.

Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth won a 14-inning complete game in that series. The contest lasted two hours,. That would be two innings today.

Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors preserve midrange jump shot

The Golden State Warriors are credited, or blamed, for the emphasis on three-point shooting in the NBA.

While the champions excel at hitting three pointers, and making layups, the Warriors also lead the league in scoring off midrange jumpers, according to The Wall Street Journal. Warriors ace Steph Curry especially likes the midrange shot, the newspaper said.

The high-flying Houston Rockets and other teams have all but eliminated the midrange jump shot, once prevalent in basketball. The midrange jumper is seen as inefficient because it brings more missed shots and counts for only two points. 

Yet, Curry and the Warriors show that the midrange jumper can still pay off. That will cheer basketball old-timers like the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan, who believe the three-pointer has distorted the game.

The college game has also made the three-pointer, and the easy layup, the dominant offensive weapons. Former Duke and NBA star Grant Hill during a March Madness game expressed regret at the "lost art" of the midrange jumper.

Once, such jumpers were part of the game's beauty. The midrange jump shot was the primary weapon for legendary shooters such as the Celtics' Bill Sharman. More recently, Michael Jordan shot jumpers, while gaining fame for his soaring dunks.

Like Ryan, I shudder when I hear an announcer today say that a team has "settled for the jumper." The players I grew up watching made the jump shot an art. Kudos to Curry and the Warriors for keeping alive that part of the game.

NCAA championship exploits Alabama and Georgia players

College football championship tickets are selling for $3,000 and up.

Alabama and Georgia could each pay a professor's salary for the $118,000-plus it'll take to rent a luxury suite. 

Even fat-cat lobbyists who treat Georgia and Alabama legislators to sporting events might quail at those prices.

The championship game between the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs has set off a ticket frenzy. Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta makes sense. Only fans who can afford a Mercedes, or a Lamborghini, will be able to buy a seat.

At that kind of money, perhaps Arthur Blank can at last find someone to open the new stadium's roof.

The game's on a Monday, so the lucky wealthy can save a little by chowing down on Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. Those caught in the Atlanta Airport blackout got the fried delights for free. Hope the lights stay on. If not, fans can be assured the stadium has a "redundant" power system, just like the airport.

Alabama coach Nick Saban and his Georgia counterpart Kirby Smart will make huge bonuses on top of the millions they already are paid to scream at young men and send them out to likely bodily harm.

ESPN will rake in millions, as will newspapers, magazines and other TV outlets.

Outside of scholarships to attend these fine institutions of higher education, and the chance to land NFL contracts and suffer permanent brain damage, each team's players will receive nothing, except for the abuse of Nick and Kirby.

Saban complained about his players not having enough time to recuperate for the big game after beating Clemson in the semifinals and leaving the New Orleans Superdome at 1 a.m. Tuesday. (The Superdome is also named for Mercedes-Benz. And Saban invests in Mercedes dealerships.)

That's probably Nick once again trying to curry favor with the NCAA pooh-bahs. Matching the largess that Saban has received in years past, the playoffs committee gave Saban and his Crimson Tide a free pass to the playoffs, although his team lost to three-loss Auburn and didn't even make the SEC championship game. That gave the Tide extra time to recover from the injuries that weakened the team at the end of the regular season. 

Is Nick allowed to run red lights in Tuscaloosa?

Perhaps Nick is really concerned about his players' health in calling for more time between the semis and the championship. More likely, he wants to improve his chances for winning so he can receive an even fatter contract from the University of Alabama and invest in more Mercedes dealerships.

The big game floats on big money. The so-called "student athletes" receive none of it.

 

 

Georgia State stadium ready for some football

I was surprised that Georgia State's transformation of Turner Field into a new football stadium is complete. 

The downtown university's Panthers will play this year in a 25,000-seat stadium refashioned from the Braves' Turner Field, itself a conversion from the 1996 Olympics' track and field stadium. 

Georgia State held a media open house Monday for what is now called Georgia State Stadum, pending a corporate naming deal. The coming out party made enough of a splash to rate coverage from the AJC's venerable scribes Tim Tucker and Steve Hummer, who've witnessed a good chunk of history at the site, including a Braves World Series championship across the street at old Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium, torn down after serving as the Olympics' baseball field.

The downtown university's stadium caps its effort to find a place in the big-time college football universe, and arrives after the latest report detailing the severe brain damage football players suffer. Although many fans are turning away from football because of moral concerns over its dangers, Georgia State and Kennesaw State have joined the rush of schools seeking to profit from the game and its rich TV receipts. On the local level, exclusive Buckhead private school Pace Academy joined the football parade several years ago.

Universities see football as a means to increase national visibility and attract students. Nick Saban's championships at Alabama have helped the school draw academically talented students from across the nation, according to a New York Times article. Nothing excites a young cellist or physicist more than yelling "Roll Tide" along with thousands of others wearing houndstooth fedoras. For schools like Ga. State, the sport can turn into more of a curse than a blessing.

The school plays in the beefed-up Sunbelt Conference, along with other lower-tier teams seeking to increase their football profile. The conference encompasses Georgia Southern, which has moved unto  the lower level of Division I after years as a power in what the NCAA calls its playoffs division, i.e. smaller schools.

The Sunbelt also counts dreamers like Troy and Louisiana Lafayette, which have enjoyed brief spells of football glory among much mediocrity. I was amused that along with far-flung teams like Texas State and the University of Louisiana-Monroe, the Sunbelt also includes the snow-laden Idaho.

Georgia State will seek football relevance in the market of major powers the University of Georgia and Ga. Tech, which plays home games at Grant Field/Bobby Dodd Stadium in nearby midtown Atlanta. Atlanta is also packed with alums from SEC, ACC and Big 10 schools. Ga. State's rising alumni base so far has not shown an inclination to travel downtown on sun-kissed autumn Saturdays.

With a spot in the NCAA championship finals unlikely, Ga. State's highest aspiration appears to be an invitation to one of the many minor bowls that infest ESPN's holiday schedule. UGA and Ga. Tech will do all they can to maintain their prominence.

As Hummer said in his AJC column, the Panthers will need to build a winning program to attract fans, although many sports lovers will want to attend at least one game to check out the changes made to Turner Field. Unless injury concerns diminish the stock of players, high school football in Georgia and neighboring states will offer enough talent for Ga. State to challenge for Sunbelt titles. Any success beyond that looks unlikely.

Across downtown Atlanta, Arthur Blank's new Mercedes-Benz stadium also will make its debut this fall, replacing the Georgia Dome, where Georgia State played in its first years before a canyon of empty seats. After the worst collapse in Super Bowl history, a greater concern to fans than the prevalence of NFL brain injuries,  the Falcons have struggled to sell high-priced seats at the new stadium. On top of their Super Bowl collapse, the Falcons have not figured out how to operate the stadium's high-tech retractable roof.  Until the Falcons fix the roof, Ga. State and Ga. Tech will offer better views of the downtown skyline.

Some say the prevalence of brain injuries will lead to the demise of the NFL and college football. The number of injuries in high school and youth football is leading parents to forbid their children from playing the game. With its TV saturation, the NFL and its million dollar contracts will entice black kids mired in poverty. Rich alums and the romance of autumn Saturdays will keep college football going. 

In the long run, who knows? In 20 years, cyborgs might play the game, or it could be defunct. For now, the brutal, beautiful sport will keep us watching.

 

 

 

 

Tom Verducci looks at how Chicago Cubs built championship culture

Consummate baseball reporter Tom Verducci's "The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse" gives an in-depth, insider's look at how the Chicago Cubs ended 108 years of futility by winning the 2016 World Series.

After covering the Cubs' victory over the Cleveland Indians for Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated, Verducci gathered information and wrote the book in two months, finishing on New Year's Eve, according to a Poynter report.

While minor editing glitches and patches of loose writing reflect the rush, the book is impressively thorough, setting the standard for future authors. While Verducci followed up the series with additional interviews of Cubs leaders and players, he drew on a deep well of knowledge in writing the 140,000-word book.

Verducci gives a detailed game-by-game World Series analysis of Cubs manager Joe Maddon's strategy and the Cubs' performance, but much of the book looks at how Cubs President Theo Epstein changed the franchise's "lovable losers" mentality into the major leagues'  top corporate powerhouse of sabermetrics, technology, and motivational techniques.

Epstein, who earlier built the Boston Red Sox into world champions to overcome the team's curse from trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees, drafted a foundation of young  players to transform the Cubs: Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Kris Bryant. Unlike other teams, he concentrated on drafting everyday players rather than pitchers. Later, he depended on trades to build an outstanding pitching staff.

Along with the latest analytical methods and play-enhancing technology, Epstein sought players of strong character and leadership ability. He compiled an extensive manual detailing the "Cubs Way," covering playing techniques, positive attitudes and dealing with the media. To transmit his philosophy to the field, Epstein brought in Maddon, known for his unconventional strategy and creative motivational techniques in managing the Tampa Bay Rays.

"The Cubs Way" discloses fascinating details of Maddon's career as a baseball lifer, rising from minor league instructional and managerial jobs to a long stint as the top assistant coach for the Los Angeles Angels. A pioneer of computer statistical analysis, Maddon at last received a major league manager's job with the Rays, leading them to one World Series appearance. His Cubs appointment allowed him to fully explore technology and his outside-the-box stratagems to build interpersonal relationships with his players. Any aspiring Maddon biographers will discover a wealth of background in Verducci's pages.

Verducci also gives high praise to Cubs owner Thomas Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade heir who spent millions on such projects as renovating the archaic clubhouses at Wrigley Field. With Ricketts' support, Epstein gave his players a dizzying array of enhancements, from hitting, fielding and catching specialists to "mental" analysts and nutritionists who would whip up made-to-order smoothies after workouts. Cubs PR writers would have a difficult time matching Verducci's soaring praise of Epstein. and his new age baseball. Somewhere, old Cubs ace Grover Cleveland Alexander is chuckling over his whiskey.

A note of doubt rises in Verducci's look at Maddon's World Series pitching strategy, which nearly proved disastrous. After the Cubs built a 6-3 lead in Game 7, the overused Alroldis Chapman allowed the Indians to tie the game. A 17-minute rain delay was the Cubs' salvation. A team meeting called by right fielder Jason Heyward revived the downcast players, who came back to score two runs and win the title. If minute analysis is Maddon's strength, overthinking is his biggest fault.

Veducci's account of the seventh game and the rest of the series emphasizes inside baseball analysis at the expense of drama. Intensive fans will value the insider views, but more casual readers will wish for more excitement. Perhaps Verducci had been too close to the action, and the games had lost their freshness.

Books to come will give more pulsating accounts of the series. For now, Verducci shows how Epstein and Maddon built the Cubs into champions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alabama's win over Washington in 1926 Rose Bowl changed college football

The Alabama-Washington matchup in the college football playoffs recalls the 1926 Rose Bowl game between the two schools, in which the Crimson Tide's monumental upset over the Huskies marked the national emergence of Southern football.

The defending national champion and top-ranked Crimson Tide is heavily favored to beat Washington in Saturday's national semifinal Peach Bowl.

In 1926, Washington was the overwhelming favorite, with Southern football receiving little national respect.

Following Wall Street Journal writer Andrew Beaton's comprehensive Dec. 20 article about the 1926 game, The New York Times's Marc Tracy weighs in Wednesday, looking at the historic bowl's national significance while all but ignoring the game's details. 

Beaton's explores the national impact of the game as well as giving an entrancing recap of the Tide's astonishing 20-19 victory. The sport was then dominated by Northeastern and Midwestern schools, and national writers believed Alabama had no chance, as reflected in humorist Will Rogers' "Tusca-loser" gibe.

After Washington built a 12-0 first half lead, the Tide shocked the Huskies by scoring all of its points in the third quarter. The game's most famous play was a 50-yard pass reception by Alabama star Johnny Mack Brown. Huskies All-American George "Wildcat" Wilson was hurt before Alabama's surge, but Wilson returned to spark Washington's final score. A missed extra point gave the Tide the win. 

With the victory, Alabama took its first national championship, although undefeated Dartmouth claimed the title as well. Brown, shown in the picture above running the ball in the game, went on to a Hollywood career as a cowboy star.

The 1926 game marked the South's emergence as a football power. In subsequent years, other Southern teams traveled West to play in the Rose Bowl. In one of the most famous games, Georgia Tech beat Cal in 1929 when Bears star Roy Riegels' wrong-way run gave the Jackets a winning safety.

In 1934, Alabama took another title, sparked by star receiver Don Hutson. The Tide's other end was a tall, skinny scrapper named Bear Bryant.

As the Times relates, the Rose Bowl had a difficult time finding participants for the 1926 game, which led to Alabama's appearance. Coach Walllace Wade's Crimson Tide made a week-long train ride, stopping for practices along the way, as Beaton writes. 

Colleges' reluctance to play in the 1926 Rose Bowl resulted from a failed effort by school presidents to curb football. The Rose was then the only bowl, but by 1935, the game's popularity in the South brought the advent of the Sugar, Orange and Sun bowls, soon followed by the Cotton Bowl. Now, even schools with losing records can find a bowl somewhere.

Here is a link to Tracy's article and here is the link to Beaton's.

 

Cubs and Indians Head to Seventh Game of World Series

The seventh game of the World Series tonight will end years of futility for either the Cubs, who last won a championship in 1908, or the Indians, who took their last title in 1948.

Those were presidential election years too. Republican William Howard Taft defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in 1908. That was Bryan's third loss. Socialist Eugene V. Debs didn't win any electoral votes. Several other candidates ran, including populist Thomas Watson of Georgia.

In 1948, incumbent Democrat Harry S Truman upset Republican Thomas Dewey, the governor of New York. Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond of South Carolina won four deep-south states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and his native state.

Women could not vote in 1908. Their first presidential election was 1920, when the Indians won their only other World Series. The presidential victor, Warren G. Harding, appointed Taft chief justice of the Supreme Court. Taft remains the only man who's served as president and chief justice.

A lot of history has unfolded during each team's championship droughts. Baseball is no longer the major American sport, although the excitement of the Cubs possibly winning the World Series at last has rekindled interest in the pastoral sport once called "America's pastime."

Fox's coverage of tonight's seventh game will receive the series' best TV ratings in years. The Cubs-Inidans game Sunday night at Wrigley Field in Chicago swamped the NFL's game between the Eagles and Cowboys, aka "America's team."

Baseball has returned to the national spotlight, at least for a moment. Too bad that all the pitching changes make games excruciatingly long.

Youngsters who've not experienced baseball's unique drama might have to go to bed tonight before the series is settled. Maybe they'll be allowed to stay up late to witness history and baseball's special quality.

 

Lackluster games bring slump in NFL TV ratings

The NFL and broadcast networks, worried about a significant decline in TV ratings, blame the presidential election and social media.

The league fails to recognize the real reason: bad games. The NFL is a swamp of mediocre teams, grinding play and disruptive penalties.

The college game, with its spread offenses, colorful coaches and variety of strong programs, surges with excitement the pros lack. The NFL's dreary pre game shows pale in comparison with ESPN's College Game Day, packed with humor, pathos and old-school sprit and punctuated by the weekly TV spectacle of Lee Corso's predictions.

The NFL's Super Bowl will remain TV's ratings behemoth, and the playoffs bring a jolt. Average regular season games are unwatchable.

 

Old football broadcasts show game's development

The SEC Network has been showing classic games played by conference schools from as far back as the 1970s.

I've particularly enjoyed watching football games played nearly 40 years ago. Youtube offers games from even earlier.

It's interesting to see football's growth. Even star players from the 1970s are much slower and smaller than today's. A big lineman in 1975 might reach 275 pounds, while today's hit 340 or more. Running backs have bulked up from around 190 pounds to 230 up to 250, a common weight for tackles and guards 40 years ago.

Also, stadiums risen ever skyward with luxury box seats. Scoreboards in the 1970s didn't look like the Starship Enterprise, equipped with giant screens showing futuristic videos pulsating with sound and light.

With all of the added comfort and entertainment, stadium attendance has dropped, with TV showing every game and too many weak match ups for powerhouse teams. Students especially find the stadium experience less exciting. 

Perhaps players will continue growing heavier and stronger, although the rising fear over brain damage and obesity should bring limits. Stadium growth also seems at an end point.

But human development has appeared at its last stage before. Maybe players in 2056 will weigh up to 500 pounds, and stadiums will blot out the sun and seat 500,000 fans.

Or perhaps robots will play the game in TV studios.