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News comes to a crawl
2007-12-13 18:41
by Bob Timmermann

In a sign of how information is disseminated now, ESPN is trying to summarize the Mitchell Report in a news crawl that appears underneath the action of the NCAA women's volleyball semifinals.

There's no better way to learn complex information than in crawl form. I'm going to go out and buy a newspaper tomorrow and have someone cut out each line and then paste them together horizontally and then have them pulled right to left in front of me.

Would I have learned more in college if all my textbooks had been presented to me in a similar way?

Comments
2007-12-13 18:49:17
1.   Vishal
since when did the word "crawl" replace "ticker"?
2007-12-13 18:54:54
2.   Bob Timmermann
I don't think that's the point.
2007-12-13 19:01:24
3.   Scott Long
The crawl should exist solely for who it was initially established for. Gamblers. If there isn't a line on it, don't show me the info on the crawl, ticker, etc.
2007-12-13 19:17:54
4.   Philip Michaels
3 I had the Clemens-F.P. Santangelo parlay. I really cleaned up today.
2007-12-13 19:40:27
5.   Shaun P
4 My three-guy-teaser of Varitek-Nomar-Nixon, which looked like a sure winner earlier in the day, did not do so well.

In all seriousness, I hope you've sent the ombudsman at ESPN a note about this, Bob. Because you're absolutely right, and its horrible. She'll take them to task. It might not result in any changes, but she'll definitely take them to task.

2007-12-13 19:47:10
6.   Bob Timmermann
I'm wondering how USC actually won the first game against Stanford. In the next two, the Cardinal wiped out USC.
2007-12-13 20:33:20
7.   Bob Timmermann
That match was good enough to overcome the annoying crawl.

Stanford prevails in five games winning the last one, 16-14.

2007-12-14 00:08:16
8.   joejoejoe
ESPN's ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber does an excellent job. She recently wrote how ESPN execs are always answering her questions with "That's just the way the 24/7 media is today." and Schrieber rightly said she's not the ombudsman for all of the media, just ESPN and ESPN should be accountable for their own actions as "worldwide leader".
2007-12-14 06:57:49
9.   dianagramr
8

Hmmm .... didn't ABC speak of themselves as the "worldwide leader in sports" for a few decades? Which brings up the point that the "merger" of ABC sports and ESPN sports has degraded both.

Sigh ....

2007-12-14 07:45:00
10.   bobsbrother
I find the crawl most annoying if you're watching something on a slow news day when there are few results, because then you will see the same unimportant news -- first round results from a tennis tournament in Tanzania -- running across the bottom of the screen again and again and again for two hours, followed by some suitably obscure baseball transaction. If they don't have actual results or serious breaking news, they should be able to shut the fool thing off.

Not that it bothers me.

2007-12-14 08:09:43
11.   Bob Timmermann
Stanford vs. Penn State in the final for those not scoring at home.

ESPN has the info on the ticker/crawl in categories "NFL" "NCAA M" "NHL" "NCAA W" and for last night, there was a category "MITCHELL"

2007-12-14 10:15:07
12.   popup
Bob, the "crawl" is just one more item of pollution on my tv screen. Thank goodness I am not a football fan. I do nontheless happen upon a NFL game at times on tv and I am as much amused as appalled at what I see: multicolored lines that make a football field look like a hockey rink, big directional arrows that I assume are for the drunks in the bars watching the game, and the "crawl" that turns my tv screen into something resembling a postage stamp. Amid all the clutter it is difficult to see the game.

Stan from Tacoma

2007-12-16 22:35:39
13.   das411
YES!!!! Good lord Bob, any man would learn more in college if his textbooks were converted into crawls beneath womens' volleyball telecasts. Let's get on this right away, for the sake of all mankind!!

--replays tape of Game 5, PSU 15 - NotTheBird 8 --

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