1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

ESPN story on h.s. basketball team

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Boobie Miles, Jun 1, 2008.

  1. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Hey Shockey - Which did you like better - Lauren Mulkey in the page boy look or long hair?
     
  2. shockey

    shockey Active Member


    lol, boom, lol.
     
  3. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    imo, when the kid nails the miracle shot, the story lost its steam. the focus immediately turns to THAT heartbreak for me. espn was hellbent on telling one story but the best stories change. the piece left me with far too many questions so it's disney ending could survive. sorry, it didn't do it for me.
     
  4. Barsuk

    Barsuk Active Member

    All I know is I bawled like a 6-year-old girl whose dog just died. A little dusty? Fuck that. It was the goddamn "Grapes of Wrath" in here.
     
  5. Boobie Miles

    Boobie Miles Active Member

    Yeah, you're right. The fact that a team lost a game on a controversial shot was much more compelling than the team of a firefighter who died in a fire winning the state championship. They shouldn't have finished the story with the story about the trip to the cemetery on the way home from the game. Instead they should have done a real tear-jerker on the losing coach who refused to accept the runner-up trophy.

    But I don't see the need to go back and forth on this. Agree to disagree. If the story didn't do it for you, it didn't do it for you. But I think if you take "manipulative" ESPN out of this and just watch the material it's pretty strong.
     
  6. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    You are probably right about the ESPN factor. With anything they do now you have to watch with your bs filter on.
     
  7. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member

    Kinda ruined it for me when the kid made the shot and had it overturned.

    Refs should never, never, never call something that they don't see. That, to me, is far worse than missing a call. Absent strong evidence, they shouldn't be overturning the shot.

    It makes it feel like the fix was in, even if that wasn't necessarily the case.

    The ONLY thing that would save the refs' call is if one of them had a stopwatch or know for a fact that the time keeper didn't start the clock in time.
     
  8. PopeDirkBenedict

    PopeDirkBenedict Active Member

    First, who in television writes copy that would be sufficient story-telling as a transcript?

    ESPN had great video for this story. From the very first shot of Mulkey telling his team not to win this for him -- which is undoubtedly what he would have told them had he been there for the state title game -- to the fire to the state title game and shots of the widow, ESPN had everything. There is no need to paint word pictures of what the fire looked like or the reaction of the fans when they had lost the game. You can see it for yourself. If Rinaldi had used his voice-overs to paint a Gary Smith-worthy word picture, it would have been the television equivalent of gagging and over-writing a story. Rinaldi let the participants and the video tell the story. All he did was add just enough context.

    And it was getting windstorm in Oklahoma-level dusty at the Vatican during that story. When they talked about the helmet and the firefighter said that it represented love, I lost it.
     
  9. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    guess i'm just a hardened jackass. thing is, the story is no less compelling if the miracle shot counts. just saying the wave-off distracted me from the point, which was they had a great, great season in tribute to the firefighting coach.

    given the distraction real life tossed in espn's way, i just wish the obvious sidebar had been addressed better. but i'm not in tv and can understand how the story rinaldi was telling might've grown unwieldy.

    i'm happy that many more folks were moved than weren't. wasn't quite the perfect ending, though, was it?
     
  10. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Maybe that's what bothered me about it. Life does not always have a Disney ending - perhaps the first ending was more perfect in the grand sceme of things
     
  11. Boobie Miles

    Boobie Miles Active Member

    Don't disagree with any of that. The thing that you both seem to be missing (ignoring?) is that the call was overturned right then by the refs. Now if there was some crazy conspiracy there I have no idea. But it had nothing to do with ESPN or Rinaldi. The team DID win the title. There are millions of controversial endings to games; I don't think that was anywhere near the biggest story here.

    Now if the shot had counted I don't think the story would have been any less compelling. In fact, as you said it might have made it more so because it wouldn't be the perfect ending. But it is what it is. The ending to the game wasn't manipulated to fit a story.
     
  12. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    no, no, no, i'm not saying that the ending was manipulated by or for espn. just that when it ended as it did, espn should've done better with what it had.

    the story didn't generate tears for this hardened vet largely because the most compelling aspect for me -- as a waaaay distant outsider -- became the kid's prayer of a shot that almost won a state title.

    my heartbreak turned toward THAT kid and HIS team, and none of the info was supplied.

    i get that this is an "agree to disagree" situation. i simply don't get the blowjob rinaldi's been getting for a pretty straightforward, heartwrenching piece.

    again, as an unattached observer, my curiousity and heart ended up being with the unanswered questions regarding the losing team.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page