Fox, ESPN, HBO big winners at Sports Emmys

TNT took home the award for outstanding live sports special but it was HBO, the ESPN/ABC family of networks and FOX that dominated the 27th Annual NATAS Sports Emmy Awards on Monday night at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center located in the Time Warner Center in New York City.

Fox grabbed five awards including two for NASCAR coverage: Outstanding Technical Team Remote and Live Event Audio/Sound that it shared with HBO World Championship Boxing.

“I’d like to thank all of the audio guys and people who show up starting on Wednesdays and going home on Sundays and Mondays and doing it every week,” said Jerry Steinberg, Fox Sports SVP, operations. “No matter who the rights holders are this team is made up of racing guys and they show up at Fox, NBC and ESPN and anywhere there is racing. And for us this is special because last year we commuted between Jacksonville and Daytona and there were a lot of long nights and people up and down I-95 to get this done. And this is about them.”

Ken Aagaard, CBS Sports SVP operations and engineering received the George Wensel Outstanding Innovative Technical Achievement Award on behalf of CBS for the SwingVision technology seen during golf coverage. Wensel’s two sons Colin and Brent were on hand as well lending an extra bit of meaning to the award.

“George was a very good personal friend and great partner of mine and I cannot tell you how special this moment is with his two sons here,” said Aagaard. “SwingVision was the brainchild of [executive producer] Tony Petitti who is forever coming up ideas to use technology better and none of this would happen without the support of Sean McManus.” Aagaard also thanked TechImaging, the company led by Matt Kearney and his team at MIT that made the system work.

Emotions also ran high when Jeffrey Ross, PGA Tour Productions editor, received the award for Outstanding Editing, the PGA Tour’s first Sports Emmy. “I lost my father three weeks ago and the day before he passed away he was introducing me in the hospital as his Emmy-nominated son,” said Ross. “I couldn’t be more happy and I’m sure he’s really excited right now and telling everybody.”

It was Bud Greenspan’s, lifetime achievement award, however, that was the emotional highpoint of the night. Greenspan, who turns 80 this September, has become synonymous with the Olympics since 1952, telling the stories of Olympic athletes in a way that moves beyond the competition and touches on humanity.

After shooting his first Olympics in 1952 Greenspan went to the State Department in Washington, DC where they screened his movie and offered to buy it. “All I wanted was my $5 back and they told me they didn’t think they could pay me my price,” he recalled. “They said they couldn’t pay me anymore than $25,000 and I said ‘This is a good business.’”

HBO’s seven awards included outstanding studio show, weekly (Inside the NFL) as well as outstanding studio analyst (Cris Collinsworth) and two awards for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

As for the Disney family, both ESPN and ESPN2 nabbed four awards each while ABC added two and ESPN Classic added one. Among the awards was Live Turnaround for Best of Winter X Games Nine, Sports Documentary for Rhythm in the Rope, and Sports Event Analyst to John Madden. ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage took the award for outstanding technical team studio.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

LIVE SPORTS SPECIAL: 134th British Open Championship on TNT

LIVE SPORTS SERIES: NASCAR on FOX

LIVE EVENT TURNAROUND: Best of Winter X Games Nine, ABC/ESPN Productions

TECHNICAL TEAM REMOTE: NASCAR on FOX: Daytona 500, FOX

TECHNICAL TEAM STUDIO: NBA Draft, ESPN

CAMERA WORK: Cinderella Man: The James J. Braddock Story, ESPN2,
 Red Line Films

EDITING: PGA Tour Sunday USA, “Kevin Hall,” PGA Tour Productions

INNOVATIVE TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT: Golf on CBS, CBS
 SwingVision

ACHIEVEMENT IN CONTENT FOR NON-TRADITIONAL DELIVERY PLATFORM: Off Mikes, ESPN.com
Webcast, Animax Entertainment

STUDIO SHOW – WEEKLY: Inside the NFL, HBO

STUDIO SHOW – DAILY: Inside the NBA – Playoffs, TNT

EDITED SPORTS SPECIAL: CostasNOW – David Robinson: A Man in Full, HBO

SPORTS DOCUMENTARY: Rhythm in the Rope, ESPN2

EDITED SPORTS SERIES/ANTHOLOGIES: SportsCentury, ESPN Classic

SPORTS PERSONALITY, STUDIO HOST: Bob Costas, HBO / NBC

SPORTS PERSONALITY, PLAY-BY-PLAY: Joe Buck, FOX

SPORTS PERSONALITY, STUDIO ANALYST: Cris Collinsworth, HBO

SPORTS PERSONALITY, SPORTS EVENT ANALYST: John Madden, ABC

WRITING: SportsCenter, ESPN, “Finding Bobby Fischer”

MUSIC COMPOSITION/DIRECTION/LYRICS: World Figure Skating Championships, ESPN, teases, bumps and rollouts

LIVE EVENT AUDIO/SOUND: HBO World Championship Boxing, HBO; NASCAR on FOX, FOX

POST-PRODUCED AUDIO/SOUND: Indianapolis 500, ABC,
Speed City Tease

GRAPHIC DESIGN: NFL on FOX: Super Bowl XXXIX, FOX

PRODUCTION DESIGN/ART DIRECTION: Cinderella Man: The James J. Braddock Story, ESPN2,
 Red Line Films

SPORTS JOURNALISM: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, “Soccer Racism,” HBO

SHORT FEATURE: Timeless, “Lama Kunga,” ESPN2, Red Line Films

LONG FEATURE: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, “The Hoyts,” HBO

OPEN/TEASE: World Figure Skating Championships, “Show 1 Tease,” ESPN