From Chris J.
What have you thought of NBC's Olympics coverage so far? The ratings have been really done and was curious what you thought about why that might be. Thanks for the 5-at-10, I read it every day.
Chris -
We have been underwhelmed by a couple of decisions by NBC.
First, in today's instant access and immediate gratification society, tape-delayed broadcasts simply do not wash. And tape-delaying something as popular as women's gymnastics seems puzzling.
NBC paid $1.2 billion to broadcast these games and got some liberties with scheduling, and while the decision to put the swimming live in prime time has not disappointed me as a viewer, it also has not delivered the same numbers as the viewer 2012 Games.
NBC brass is pointing to the huge online audience and the monster streaming numbers - NBC has set new records each day of online usage and has already passed the 1 billion minute mark in total streaming - but anyone in every media business can tell you the ad rates for online are a fraction of those on TV or in print or whatever the primary platform a company offers.
It's the biggest hurdle in this business. People are reading and consuming news and programming at all-time rates, but they are doing it online and that has not nor likely ever will be a comparable advertising generator. Period, end of discussion and the rest is background noise. That background noise - be in circulation rates or cord-cutting or lack of viewers/listeners - becomes even more pronounced and painful because the baseline profit margins that were generated by the large ad rates are now shrieking.
Maybe NBC's decision makers believed there would be more drama in the pool than in the gymnastics, but the viewing numbers are clearly and demonstrably down.
Maybe NBC thought their extra servings of sappy vignette stories about various athletes would keep people interested and counter the loss of female viewers turned off by already knowing the outcome from the gymnastics events. Personally we hate the over abundance of sappy side stories; yes, the swimmer who took to the pool because of a birth defect is a great story, as is the kid that predicted he'd be an Olympian in a book he gave to his mom when he was 8. But the overload of sugar takes prime-time samples of competition and excellence and winning - the staples of sports in general and the Olympics in particular - off the screen.
The other thing that hurts NBC - and this is not really the Peacock's fault per se - but the color analysts for these sports are almost always former stars in that sport. These sports - swimming, beach volleyball, gymnastics, and just about everything that is not hoops or golf - is being described by folks who only do this about once every couple of years. And for sports fans who consume TV packaging and broadcasts and announcing on a daily basis, the lack of cohesion and smoothness is telling and noticeable.
That said, the camera work on the swimming coverage has been awesome in its awesomeness.
United States' Michael Phelps celebrates winning the gold medal in the men's 200-meter individual medley during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From Richard J.
My buddies and me are trying to put what Michael Phelps is doing into the best spot across all sports. What's the best comparison that you can come up with?
Richard -
Such a great question my man.
Phelps entered these Games as one of the greatest American Olympians regardless of sport and clearly the most accomplished swimmer ever.
Now, after continuing to rewrite Olympics history, Phelps is entering air so rarified in the sports world that it's difficult to even gauge.
Here's how big Phelps has become: The Baltimore Ravens stopped an NFL game to show Phelps swimming last night on the big screen. Yes, it was a preseason game, but since when does the monolith that is the NFL stop for anything.
Here's something else: His excellence and dominance has baptized him and all of his transgressions in the waters of public opinion. Despite all of his run-ins with trouble and difficulties, Phelps has a public approval rating of no lower than 99 percent and could range as high as 12 billion.
As a comparison, well, athletically, when it comes to dominance, Jordan is a fair starting point, considering he did amazing things, then returned and did more amazing things at an advanced age for his sport.
If Tiger had stayed healthy and on his historic trajectory, that would have been potentially the best example because they did it global events and in an individual sport.
Simply put, if you had a Rushmore of the most dominant athletes ever in their sport, we think Babe Ruth makes it. Jim Brown, who was light years ahead of his time and peers, makes it.
We'll go Pele, too.
And, after the last few days, Michael Phelps makes it, too.
I think every bit as interesting a question is where would Ryan Lochte rank among the great players of a generation overshadowed and dwarfed by an all-timer?
Lochte has 11 career medals and five golds swimming for the most right next to Phelps in almost every race.
In some ways, because they are on the same Team (U-S-A! U-S-A!), he's very Lou Gehrig-esque in that they played right alongside the best ever but likely would have been viewed as the best of their generation without the shadow of all-time greatness.
On an individual level, Lochte and Phil Mickelson have very similar stats and ranks, considering each is a Hall of Famer, but the first question about their careers start with 'What could have been?'
Great question.
New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez is interviewed in this Sept. 24, 2012, file photo before batting practice prior to a game against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. Rodriguez will make more this year than all the Houston Astros combined _ a lot more. A-Rod's $29 million salary tops the major leagues for the 13th straight season, according to a study of major league contracts by The Associated Press.From Michael
A-Rod plays his final game Friday. Will he ever be a Hall of Famer and what will he be remembered most for?
Michael -
It's been a crazy week for A-Rod, no? The power struggle with Yankees management that has limited his ABs in his farewell week.
Now we will say good-bye to the greatest power-hitting infielder the game has ever seen.
As for the Hall, no, he won't make it until baseball decides to force all the steroid and PED users into the 'cheating' wing of the Hall.
They were the best of the PED era, and in truth, the best of each era - the dead ball era, the segregation era, the speed era and the PED era all have their short-comings and their moral outrage - belong in the Hall.
A-Rod was one of the best in his era, and statistically one of the best ever.
But he will be remembered as a punchline, for his blame game on his cousin to that awful cashmere sweater to being fed popcorn at the Super Bowl.
Ask yourself this: What's the first thing you think of when we mention A-Rod, with a career average better than .300 and 696 career homers?
Exactly.
Kahlil McKenzie (1) poses for a photo during The University of Tennessee Football Media Day at Neyland Stadium on Friday, August 14, 2015. From Shelley
Are you going to do your SEC football teams over/under win totals like you have done in the past? I love reading that and how did you do last year?
Shelley -
Yes, we are going to do that next week for sure.
Thanks for reading and the kind words.
Here's what we wrote this time last year, and we went .
FILE - In this June 22, 2016, file photo, Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, center, stands in the back of a Rolls-Royce as it makes it way through the crowd during a parade in downtown Cleveland celebrating the team's NBA championship. A person familiar with the contract says James has agreed to a three-year, $100 million contract with the Cavaliers. The person says James, who recently led the Cavs to an NBA title--the first for a Cleveland sport team in 52 years--will soon sign the deal. The person spoke to the Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because some details of the deal need to be finalized. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) From Jason
Do you ever see Lebron leaving Cleveland?
Jason -
King James signed a three-year, $100-million deal that will not allow him to be a free agent until after the 2017-18 season. He will be 34 then.
The short answer is no, we think he finishes in Cleveland as the second-most beloved athlete in the city's history behind Jim Brown. (No, Spy, Johnny Manziel does not crack the top 10.)
The only wrinkle there is if he and Carmelo and D-Wade and Chris Paul all try to engineer a final swing as a bunch of old guys looking to win one together. And we're not sure that would work anywhere other than Cleveland, since adding that many mid-30-year-old, max contract guys would be a nightmare for almost every GM.
And it would work for the Cavs because we all know LeBron's the GM there to begin with.
From JP
Are you ready to start giving fantasy football tips yet and when do you 'for entertainment only' picks start? You made me a few extra entertainment tickets last year.
JP -
We're ready for the fantasy tips. What do you want to know, but know this in advance, we are not as active in fantasy football as we once were?
As for our picks, we'll trot them out the Thursday of the college football season opener, and thanks for playing along.
We've hit right at 60 percent - against the number mind you - over the course of the five seasons we've done this and we were right at that number last year, too.
So if you followed all of our picks, you found a little extra entertainment in your stocking for sure.
Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley carries the ball during the NFL football team's training camp, Saturday, July 30, 2016, in Irvine, Calif. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang) From Drew
Heard you guys on the radio talking about Hard Knocks, so I'm watching it this year. What did you think of the first episode and will you watch any preseason games?
Drew -
We enjoyed Hard Knocks, and think the Rams are going to be an interesting story line all through the preseason.
We normally don't watch preseason games other than the third week, when it's close to dress rehearsals for the teams.
We may watch a couple of Rams games because of the Hard Knocks series.
As for the debut episode, we thought it was very interesting that Deon Long was released for violating a team rule and bringing a female back to his dorm room. (That said if it had been, say Todd Gurley, rather than Long, here's betting the hard-and-fast nature of that rule would not have been so hard or so fast.)
We also loved the parts with Aaron Donald playing ping-pong and being less than thrilled with his teammate who was less than good at the sport.
Finally, it was quite finny that coach Jeff Fisher's mom called him after the first episode and told him to clean up his language after a couple of f-bomb filled diatribes on the show.
Lesson here, as always, is Momma knows best.