King Kaufman's Sports Daily

A view from the truck: An insider offers insights about why TV sports broadcasts don't serve fans as well as they should.

July 21, 2004 | A recent column about TV networks feeding viewers junk statistics led to a bunch of letters on the subject, which in turn led to a conversation I had with a reader who works in television. That conversation provided a big insight into how things work in sports television, and with the reader's permission, I'd like to share it with you.

The original column criticized ESPN for providing viewers the context-free stat that the Anaheim Angels scored 40 percent of their runs with two outs. The graphic was flashed after a two-out rally against the Chicago White Sox, and was clearly meant to show that the Angels were good at scoring runs with two outs. On seeing the graphic, commentator Buck Martinez launched into a little riff about how the Angels are scrappy and never give up on an inning.

On doing a little research, I found that the Angels are only a little better than average at two-out scoring, fifth in the 14-team American League, slightly better than their opponents that day, the White Sox. I also found that the leader in this category was the awful Kansas City Royals, and the division-leading New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins trailed the league. Regardless of whether the Angels were any good at it, if you were looking for a stat that said nothing, two-out scoring might have been it.

Reader Dave Perez commented, "They bank on the notion that nobody will take the time to look it up like you did. Just like politicians' ads."

That prompted my TV-industry reader, who will remain anonymous, along with the reader's employer, to write.

"I've been in these production trucks -- those statistics, while indeed context-free, are thought of by people under pressure at the moment, not as a concerted strategy to mislead the public. The pressure they face is to get a stat on the air at the appropriate time of the game, not to place it in a larger context.

"This phenomenon is less forgivable on scripted shows (like a highlight show), but during a live game, announcers need something to talk about, so they ask for and receive statistics of debatable merit."

I responded that while I don't think reader Perez meant that it's "a concerted strategy to mislead the public," I do think that the networks "bank on the notion that nobody will take the time to look it up," or even think too deeply about it. That is the same as the politicians' ads, and the same as many other kinds of ads too, though the motives differ in each case.

Next page: The truth? Hey, we're in a hurry, and we have to make the talent look good