ESPN Telecast

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by Balletto

Then you'd be SHOCKED! Its why Jillian Barberi and the likes are stars now. Dont ever over-estimate the penis.

Don't you mean UNDER estimate? As the only sister of 3 brothers and a member of the first female freshman class at a formerly all-male school, I learned early that even intelligent guys have their hormonal lapses of taste.

Originally Posted by Pedigree Ann

Don't you mean UNDER estimate? .

Depends who you ask...

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Balletto

Then you'd be SHOCKED! Its why Jillian Barberi and the likes are stars now. Dont ever over-estimate the penis.

Who is Jillian Barberi?

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

Who is Jillian Barberi?

And when did she become a star? I guess I missed it.

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

And when did she become a star? I guess I missed it.

The girl is making bank with absolutely no talent. She's got contracts with major magazines and even beauty lines. She's the Britney Spears of on-air talent... no substance but still manages to grab interest... and guess with what???

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Balletto

The girl is making bank with absolutely no talent. She's got contracts with major magazines and even beauty lines. She's the Britney Spears of on-air talent... no substance but still manages to grab interest... and guess with what???

Who is she? I'm not saying you can't make tons of money by being eye candy but I'd like to know what sport she is drawing viewership to. The only time you are going to draw ratings with a hot chick is if there is a chance of clothing coming off. We know that isn't going to happen on ESPN (even though Invasor tried for us). A girl next door look like a Suzy Kolber or a Jeanine Edwards coupled with actual talent is what guys are looking for when they watch sports, not some talentless bimbo.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by Balletto

The girl is making bank with absolutely no talent. She's got contracts with major magazines and even beauty lines. She's the Britney Spears of on-air talent... no substance but still manages to grab interest... and guess with what???

yeah, I was joking, I know who she is. your description is dead on btw.

I just think horse racing is more like golf or tennis. those are fairly popular sports on the airwaves and they haven't needed to resort to putting on no-talent ditzy info-babes in order to attract viewers.

this is a complex and beautiful sport which is probably going to have limited appeal to your average drooling 20 something guys no matter how much eye candy you throw up there. just my opinion.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

yeah, I was joking, I know who she is. your description is dead on btw.

I just think horse racing is more like golf or tennis. those are fairly popular sports on the airwaves and they haven't needed to resort to putting on no-talent ditzy info-babes in order to attract viewers.

this is a complex and beautiful sport which is probably going to have limited appeal to your average drooling 20 something guys no matter how much eye candy you throw up there. just my opinion.

I agree with that.

[ninetoone]

I will say this about Jillian Barberi...at least she knows what she's there for and has a sense of humor about it. She plays it up & doesn't take herself seriously as far as I can tell...and guess what, she's laughing all the way to the bank.

Britney on the other hand, takes herself seriously....I find that pretty hilarious, although she's laughing all the way to the bank as well.

[JJP]

The camera work was the same as NBC and ABC: terrible. Instead of using the track feed, they have to throw 20 cameras and obtuse shots into the mix. Completely unnecessary; its almost impossible to follow any one horse for an entire race. And that off to the side head on is 100% useless. More cameras is NOT better.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

Who is she? I'm not saying you can't make tons of money by being eye candy but I'd like to know what sport she is drawing viewership to. The only time you are going to draw ratings with a hot chick is if there is a chance of clothing coming off. We know that isn't going to happen on ESPN (even though Invasor tried for us). A girl next door look like a Suzy Kolber or a Jeanine Edwards coupled with actual talent is what guys are looking for when they watch sports, not some talentless bimbo.

OK, I finally googled it myself. Apparently she does the weather on the Fox NFL Pregame. I always watch the NFL pregame show on ESPN or CBS as I find the Fox crew to be obnoxious. I have no clue if she has any impact on the ratings for the Fox pregame show but I can guarantee that all she might be accomplishing is causing some high schoolers and dirty old men without Skinemax or the internet to watch the Fox pregame show rather than the CBS or ESPN pre-game shows. She is certainly not causing non football fans to tune in. If you get someone that is competent and attractive it is a bonus. In the realm of sports though the male fans prefer competence to attractiveness. Unless there is a chance their clothes come off like the Lingerie Bowl or professional wrestling. Then we'll go with attractiveness over competence in a heartbeat.

[GenuineRisk]

I want more post parade coverage, too. I guess ESPN figures that to the average viewer, one horse looks pretty much like another. Which they kind of do, to the average viewer. I thought it would be cool if, during the post parade, one of their commentators would offer opinions on how the horse looks-- ready to race, tired, whatever. Something so the average viewer can form an opinion (no matter how misguided, tee hee). I don't know squat about ice-skating, but by the end of the Olympic programs I'm very opinionated on how the skaters are doing. A casual fan should be able to tune in and pick a horse to root for.

I really liked the little magazine-esque segments. And overall I liked how all the summer coverage was billed as leading up to the Breeders' Cup-- I thought that was smart. If I were them, I'd do a short handicapping segment in each program-- pace factor, class factor, trifectas, pick-3s, boxing, whatever. Make it short, funny, and informative. Something so people would tune into each program to catch the next segment, and again, so the casual fan would feel like he or she had a bit of a handle on the game by the time the BC came around.

And maybe pair it with other handicapping "strategies"-- the "name" strategy, the "dartboard" strategy, the "birthdate" strategy. Things to make it fun. Heck, I'd shoot the "alternative strategies" segments for them...

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

OK, I finally googled it myself. Apparently she does the weather on the Fox NFL Pregame. I always watch the NFL pregame show on ESPN or CBS as I find the Fox crew to be obnoxious. I have no clue if she has any impact on the ratings for the Fox pregame show but I can guarantee that all she might be accomplishing is causing some high schoolers and dirty old men without Skinemax or the internet to watch the Fox pregame show rather than the CBS or ESPN pre-game shows. She is certainly not causing non football fans to tune in. If you get someone that is competent and attractive it is a bonus. In the realm of sports though the male fans prefer competence to attractiveness. Unless there is a chance their clothes come off like the Lingerie Bowl or professional wrestling. Then we'll go with attractiveness over competence in a heartbeat.

One would think... but its just been proven time and time again its not the case. Im not saying its going to hook fans... but if it makes a thousand viewers watch it for the novelty factor... and they get hooked by the rest of the coverage... then mission accomplished. The average American Male has a 7th grade reading level... dont over-estimate your sex. And i'll be the first to admit women arent much better.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Balletto

One would think... but its just been proven time and time again its not the case. Im not saying its going to hook fans... but if it makes a thousand viewers watch it for the novelty factor... and they get hooked by the rest of the coverage... then mission accomplished. The average American Male has a 7th grade reading level... dont over-estimate your sex. And i'll be the first to admit women arent much better.

I can't fault the sport for trying anything it can after scoring a sub 1.0 rating for the Breeders Cup. If they hire people that show competence and are attractive then that's great. If they just go for attractive people and ignore competence I see it being more a detriment than a positive unless they keep them in a segment like doing the weather where their incompetence can be amusing.

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by Balletto

One would think... but its just been proven time and time again its not the case. Im not saying its going to hook fans... but if it makes a thousand viewers watch it for the novelty factor... and they get hooked by the rest of the coverage... then mission accomplished. The average American Male has a 7th grade reading level... dont over-estimate your sex. And i'll be the first to admit women arent much better.

Reading, what's that?

Okay then, here's an idea. Replace the regular outriders with models wearing skimpy bikinis. How about lingerie ads in the racing form?