Nice work, NBC

[Michael_ Gee]

Read Jane Smiley's piece in the NY Times today. That's a novelist writing a fabulous sports column, which says exactly what I would have wanted to say, but far, far better than I could have-on deadline.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

What if Big Brown did not exist?

Eight Belles beats the living crap out of a full field of colts, and is no more, minutes later.

Bizarre. Bizarre. Bizarre.

 

[Moderator1]

Smiley's piece is really good. Kind of summed up how so many feel - so awed by Big Brown and so saddened by Eight Belles.
God, that picture. Just moments to live. So sad.

 

[GuessWho]

I'm not a huge fan of the (AP's) Eight Belles lead ...

"Boy, did Eight Belles hang with the boys."

That sounds like a lede the writer already had cooked up before the race in case the filly ran well. Then, given the circumstances, writer had to immediately follow up in second graf with, essentially, oh yeah, they had to put her down.

 

[2underpar]

I'm quite certain nbc's production truck was in contact with the reporter on the horse. Me, I'd have told her to cut the interview short and go see what was going on with eight belles.
all i'm saying is NBC was slow to react.

 

[Tom Petty]

Good. I was doing some re-evaluating of you for a second there but I had faith that was indeed the case. You are a better man than that.
I don't know why I can be as crass as the next guy with gallows humor but get a million kinds of pissed about animals - maybe because as IJAG said on another thread, they aren't choosing to do this. I don't suspect anyone meant any kind of harm but it is an issue with me.

1. I laughed at the joke.
2. I don't agree with horse racing because, as IJAG said on another thread, they aren't choosing to do this.
3. If you're going to get real upset about horses dying during horse racing, perhaps you shouldn't encourage the sport by betting on it.

Add: But I did like your prototype lead. That was good.

How do you square point 1 and point 2?

If you don't like horse racing, fine, but if you don't like it because of its tragic aspect, why would you then laugh at the joke? Seems contradictory to me.

One of the wire stories implied that it was the first death in the Derby itself. Since this race has been around since the Civil War days, I think it's a stretch to imply that horse racing is a bloodsport.

It's hardly a contradiction to laugh at something sad. I remember reading an interview with the editor of the Onion years back, in which said a lot of the stuff they did was so funny because it's true - and sad. His quote was something like, if I weren't laughing at this I'd be crying.

In short, I'm afflicted with jaded, gallows humor.

I didn't call it a bloodsport, but for every publicly murdered euthanized horse there are thousands more being abused, be it injected with steroids, beaten, killed for insurance or just forced to do something they don't want to do.

I'm hardly an activist, but I am mindful not to contribute money to it.

So jokes about a poor, dead animal is your way of fighting the system? That's about the most pathetic thing I've ever heard. I don't care how inhumane you feel the sport is, cracking wise at the expense a harmless creature who broke both her ******* front ankles and had to be put down is about the lowest form of humanity. I've covered a horse race when an animal has had to be euthanized. Seeing that up close is a devastating experience even for an objective observer. But I'm sure you would have been there, fist in the air a-la Tommie Smith, screaming "Fight the power!" What a lowlife.

why don't you shove a burger in your mouth the next time you pour your dog a bowl of alpo.

 

[JBHawkEye]

From AP this afternoon, concerning NBC's coverage:

The last thing NBC producer Sam Flood does at the production meeting on the day of a horse race is go over the plans to cover a potential tragedy.
That preparation had to be put to use Saturday at the Kentucky Derby when Eight Belles broke down after finishing second, then was euthanized on the track.
“You’re making instant decisions on documenting a story and making the audience aware of what happened without sensationalizing it,” Flood said Sunday.
Flood and his crew had to juggle coverage of the filly’s death with that of Big Brown’s win. NBC pushed back its report from the winner’s circle to the last segment, he said.
“It’s a total balancing act,” Flood said.
Flood’s six years of working NASCAR races gave him experience in dealing with life-and-death situations. He hadn’t been on that job very long when Steve Park was seriously injured in a Busch Series wreck in 2001.
Whether in auto or horse racing, the key is to avoid speculation until definitive information is available, Flood said. On Saturday, the announcement of Eight Belles’ fate was made by Dr. Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian, in an interview with reporter Kenny Rice.
During the next commercials, the crew found its only footage of Eight Belles going down, from the blimp camera. It was aired after the break.
“You don’t want to show anything visually that makes you ill,” Flood said, “that you inside say, ‘I don’t want my wife or child to see that.”’
NBC’s Derby coverage earned a 9.5 overnight rating and 21 share, down three percent from last year’s 9.8/21, when Queen Elizabeth II attended the race. The rating was up seven percent from the 8.9/20 in 2006.
Overnight ratings measure the nation’s 55 largest television markets. The rating is the percentage watching a broadcast among all homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned in to a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time.

 

[DanOregon]

I don't think NBC shied away from the death, they didn't have info, so they went with the victors reaction. NBC didn't cover itself in glory, but they did a reasonable job.

 

[MileHigh]

When NBC had the info and it was announced the horse was dead, it stayed with Big Brown jubilation for a while.

 

[friend of a friend]

When NBC had the info and it was announced the horse was dead, it stayed with Big Brown jubilation for a while.

They cut from the track doctor's announcement to the celebration of Big Brown's posse.

Not the best call.

 

[markvid]

I know it's not really relevant, and am just throwing this out there for information's sake.
The director is Al Michaels' brother David.

 

[friend of a friend]

I know it's not really relevant, and am just throwing this out there for information's sake.
The director is Al Michaels' brother David.

I do not believe in miracles.

 

[Ira_Schoffel]

Two mistakes, by my count.

The obvious one was sending it over to the winning connections after breaking the news about the death. Had to be some sort of transition there ... commercial break or just some quality face time with Costas. Something.

The other blunder, IMO, was going directly with the doc on live TV w/o any kind of set-up from the announcers. They should have alerted the announcers first, and then had them say, "And now, we send it back to the track, where we understand there is some tragic news to report ..."

That kind of news doesn't need to be sprung on the viewers. That way, the viewers could brace themselves. As it was, you didn't know how severe the injury was.

I've been going to the track regularly for 25 years, and the announcement that the horse already had been put down hit me by surprise. I can't imagine how it struck the family that watches one race a year.

 

[Clerk Typist]

The cut from the news of the death to the happy winners was tough to watch, but it was also honest. It was what was happening at the time, and that, not sugar-coating, is what live broadcasting is about. Otherwise, do what they used to do on radio in Poland, and play some Mozart first to get everyone in the right mood.
And Ira, the official news came from the doctor. If he's just found out, then tells the world via NBC, that's perfect. No delay. People want to know. Sad though it is, who really thought the horse was going to get up?
The only problem with NBC's coverage was in taking so long to find the actual collapse, though that's in part understandable, because why would a camera be trained on the second-place horse? I was watching on a wide-screen TV, and when the replay from the blimp came up, the collapse was barely on the screen. It might have been off to the side of a regular screen entirely.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Lugnuts, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

you know what i found weird/spooky/interesting was how big brown was freaking out after he won. it looked like he was trying to eat the cool-down horse next to him and then he tossed desormeaux. that's when nbc finally said that there was a horse down and that's what had big brown spooked. kind of eerie and more than a little sad to realize that big brown knew exactly what was going on.

Actually, that horse was crochety from the minute they brought him to the paddock.

 

[Moderator1]

Today Show just had on the trainer and the vet. Nothing really revealing. We don't know why it happened. We've never seen anything like that, a quarter mile after the finish. It's sad. It happens. The track was in great shape.

 

[Double Down]

Here is a list of headlines if you want to see what most people went with:

http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/read-all-about-part-of-it/

 

[beefncheddar]

I've thought about this a lot, and I know I'm going to **** the horse-racing fans off (pre-emptive sorry, Moddy), but anyone that supports horse racing should have to see that picture. Because that's the end result of horse racing.


And I'm using wiki because I'm feeling lazy today

One tenth of all Thoroughbreds suffer orthopedic problems, including fractures.[22] Current estimates indicate that there are 1.5 career-ending breakdowns for every 1,000 horses starting a race in the United States, an average of two horses per day. The state of California reported a particularly high rate of injury, 3.5 per 1000 starts.[89] As a ratio (of injuries with eventually fatal complications to total competitions), this is far in excess of all other legal human and animal sports, including boxing, motorsports and greyhound racing.[90] Thoroughbreds also have other health concerns, including a majority of animals who are prone to bleeding from the lungs (EIPH), 10% with low fertility, and 5% with abnormally small hearts.[22] Thoroughbreds also tend to have smaller hooves relative to their body mass than other breeds, with thin soles and walls and a lack of cartilage mass,[91] which contributes to foot soreness, the most common source of lameness in racehorses.[92]

89^ a b Rosenblatt "Barbaro's Legacy" Washington Post
90^ Perry "Barbaro's Blood Sport" Chicago Sports Review
91^ a b Casner, Bill (2007-04). The Detrimental Effects of Toe Grabs (ppt). Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
92^ Arthur Diagnosis and Management of Lameness in the Horse p. 872

 

[Moderator1]

Career-ending breakdowns - but how many of them die?
And no need to be sorry. I love horse racing but don't have my head in the sand that there are very serious issues.