Varsity - The Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics

Varsity - April 4, 2013

Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.

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THE VOICE M AT T LE PAY • VOIC E OF T H E B A DGERS Rightfully, reason and restraint prevail F or sports fans, at times it can be as easy to criticize a network or even a specific announcer as it is to rip on your own team. Most of us have done it, right? It is just part of being a sports nut. This time, rather than ranting about what is wrong with the broadcasting biz, please allow me to offer praise to those in charge at CBS Sports. Last Sunday during the NCAA basketball tournament, the network faced a very difficult situation. Just when you think television, or broadcasting in general, is all about sensationalism, CBS opted to be ― shall I say it? ― responsible. By now, we all know the story. Duke and Louisville in the Midwest Regional final. An intense, high stakes game featuring two tradition-rich programs. Suddenly, the game itself took a back seat to a terrible moment. Louisville's Kevin Ware, running out to the right wing in an attempt to block a shot, landed the wrong way. He also landed near his team's bench. Ware suffered a compound fracture that was so ghastly, several of his teammates collapsed in shock and horror. Coach Rick Pitino admitted he nearly vomited when he looked at Ware's leg. Within a minute or so of the injury, CBS showed two replays. The rest of the coverage focused on the reaction of the players and coaches. We could see the concern from the Duke players as well as coach Mike Krzyzewski. We could 18 » VARSITY APR I L 4, 2013 see the tears from Pitino, and the look of fear and genuine sadness from Ware's teammates. The injury to Ware reminded me of a Badgers-Manhattan NIT game at the UW Field House in 1996, when Mosezell Peterson suffered an awful knee injury. Because they had an up-close view of what happened, some fans seated near the floor became ill. From our broadcast position in the upper level, I knew it was bad, but we did not have a monitor to see a replay. The following day I took at look, not from the TV copy, but rather the team's video. I didn't need to see it again. I suppose there are some who wanted CBS to show a few more replays. They recall the 1985 Monday Night Football game when Joe Theismann's leg injury was so bad that it frightened New York Giants hall of fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor. Or closer to home, when former Badgers great Tim Krumrie broke his leg in Super Bowl XXIII. And let's face it, there are some viewers who just HAVE to see it. And there are some TV producers and other executives who are more than willing to please, all in the name of higher ratings. Not this time, and for that CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus deserves credit. We don't live in the 1980s or '90s anymore, so McManus allowed modern technology and common sense to rule the day. The Huffington Post quotes McManus as saying "If people want to go watch the footage for whatever reason, they have the right to do so. I just didn't think we had any obligation to be the facilitator of putting that footage back on the screen. We documented it, we described it and we showed it, and I think that was enough." It was enough. To be clear, other networks have shown restraint, but it was CBS taking the lead. Anyone who wants to see the replay can do so at his or her convenience. On Sunday afternoon, some wise decision makers in a production room chose to spare us from taking one more look at a stomach-turning moment. We knew it was bad, and there was no need to show it again and again. At least in this instance, responsibility prevailed.

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