Behind the Mic: Raftery, Hill To Call NCAA Final Four; ESPN Re-Ups Steven A. Smith
Story Highlights
CBS Sports and Turner Sports have selected Bill Raftery and Grant Hill to serve as analysts for their combined NCAA Final Four and National Championship this year, replacing the recently suspended Greg Anthony, who made his Final Four debut last season. Hill and Raftery will join the team of Jim Nantz and reporter Tracy Wolfson to call games together throughout the 2015 NCAA Tournament, culminating with the Final Four and National Championship from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Raftery, who joined CBS Sports in 1983 and has been elected as a 2015 inductee for the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, is entering his 33rd year calling the NCAA Tournament.
Hill, a College Basketball Hall of Famer and game/studio analyst for Turner Sports, will debut this year as a game analyst after joining the collective NCAA Tournament coverage last year as a studio analyst. Nantz, Raftery, Hill and Wolfson will team for the first time to call the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament semifinals on Saturday, March 14, and championship game on Sunday, March 15, on CBS…
…On the heels of the Greg Anthony scandal, Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Warren Sapp has been terminated from NFL Network following his arrest for soliciting a prostitute and assault in Phoenix following the Super Bowl on Monday. Sapp has been an analyst with the network since 2008…
…NBC Sports Group has reached an agreement with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett, who will serve as a pre- and post-race analyst during live coverage of select NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series racing on NBC and NBCSN. Jarrett, a three-time Daytona 500 winner and 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion. He will team with Krista Voda and Kyle Petty open up NBC’s live pre-race coverage from Daytona International Speedway this 4th of July weekend. In addition to handling pre- and post-race coverage, Jarrett will also serve as a booth analyst during select NASCAR XFINITY Series races and contribute to NASCAR AMERICA on NBCSN
NBC Sports Group has also brought on USA TODAY Sports auto racing writer Nate Ryan in a full-time position to serve as an on-air reporter during NASCAR coverage on NBC and NBCSN, and play a leading role within NBCSports.com’s expanding NASCAR and motorsports coverage. Ryan joins as Lead Writer for the soon-to-be-introduced NASCARTalk franchise on NBCSports.com and will also contribute long-form stories to the recently introduced NBC SportsWorld…
…On the opposing side of the NASCAR behind-the-mic equation, FOX Sports will have some big names in the booth for its first season of NASCAR XFINITY SERIES coverage, as Michael Waltrip and a rotation of NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES drivers will join play-by-play man Adam Alexander in the booth, including reigning champion Kevin Harvick, four-time champ Jeff Gordon (who has announced he will retire following this season) and 2012 champion Brad Keselowski. Vince Welch leads reporting on pit road for every XFINITY Series race, joined by a rotation of Matt Yocum and newcomers Jamie Little and Chris Neville.
Meanwhile, Fox’s Spring Cup Series coverage will see the return of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds in the booth. They will be joined on pit road by a rotation of Little, Neville and Yocum. Chris Myers hosts FOX NASCAR SUNDAY alongside Darrell and Michael Waltrip…
…FOX Sports has acquired John Strong’s exclusive services to call play-by play for its coverage of MLS, FIFA Women’s World Cup, international soccer events. Strong joins Alexi Lalas and Brad Friedel as recent Fox Sports additions to the soccer on-air lineup. Strong has regularly contributed to its coverage the UEFA Europa League, CONCACAF Champions League and CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying. He called the 2013 UEFA Europa League Final and hosted studio coverage for FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup and the whip-around UEFA Champions League show, MultiMatch 90. Most recently, Strong served as lead play-by-play announcer for MLS and called Barclays Premier League matches for NBC Sports. Strong was previously the radio and television voice of the MLS’ Portland Timbers, with many of those telecasts appearing on FOX Sports Northwest…
…Recently retired MLB on Fox lead analyst Tim McCarver confirmed to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he has reached an agreement to call about 30 Cardinals games this season for Fox Sports Midwest. The move follows the announcement this week that Cards radio broadcaster Mike Shannon will drop about 50 road games from his workload. FSM analysts Al Hrabosky and Rick Horton are to replace Shannon, 74, on a rotating basis on those radio broadcasts. That makes it easy to add McCarver to the TV side…
…CBS golf analyst Peter Oosterhuis has announced his retirement after a 20-year broadcasting career that followed a successful stint as a player. Oosterhuis, 66, began working as a TV analyst in 1995 and since then has been heard on golf broadcasts at Golf Channel, CBS and BBC…
…As one door closes, another opens as CBS Sports will add veteran broadcaster and 14-tournament winner Frank Nobilo as an analyst beginning in 2015. He will work select tournaments, including the Masters and PGA Championship. Since retiring from full-time competition in 2002, the New Zealand native has served as an analyst for Golf Channel on its coverage of the Champions Tour and PGA TOUR, and will continue in that role…
…Up north, Sportsnet announced that Tim Micallef and Sid Seixeiro –co-hosts of the sports-talk radio show Tim & Sid – will be moving to television, while the new radio morning show Dean Blundell & Co. will be debuting on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. Tim & Sid’s move to television will be headlined by a new show, airing weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, starting July 1. Details of the new show will be announced in the coming months. The duo, whose last radio show airs March 27, will make special appearances on other Sportsnet programming throughout the spring.
On the radio side, Dean Blundell joins Sportsnet 590 The FAN to co-host the new morning show, Dean Blundell & Co., alongside Andrew Walker. Dean Blundell & Co. debuts on March 2, and will air weekdays from 5:30 to 9 a.m. ET. Greg Brady, co-host of the current morning show Brady & Walker, will take over the 1 to 4 p.m. ET timeslot previously hosted by Tim & Sid, starting March 30…
…ESPN’s SEC Network has hired five former U.S. Olympians as part of a 10-person commentating pool for ESPN and SEC Network’s coverage of SEC Gymnastics. Kathy Johnson-Clark (1984), Bart Conner (1984), Courtney Kupets (2014), John Roethlisberger (1992,1996,2000) and Alicia Sacramone-Quinn (2008) will be a part of three different commentating teams covering 21 meets scheduled across SEC Network, ESPNU or ESPN2. Coverage of the sport will be highlighted by television veterans – Conner and Clark – and new to ESPN analysts – Kupets and Quinn – as well as a talented roster of reporters with personal connections to gymnastics…
…ESPN Audio is unveiling a revamped national weekend lineup, with eight new shows being added, including the two-hour espnW Presents: Spain & Prim on ESPN Radio, co-hosted by espnW’s and ESPN Chicago 1000 Radio’s Sarah Spain and ESPN anchor and analyst Prim Siripipat. Additional shows debuting in the new lineup are: Marty & McGee, Dave Rothenberg Show, Dickerson & Hood, Robin Lundberg, Coachman & Bretos, Ian Fitzsimmons and NBA Lockdown: Insiders. The ESPN Audio weekend schedule is headlined by hosts from across the country including Baltimore, Bristol, Conn., Charlotte, N.C., Dallas and New York…
…In other radio talent news, 1973 British Open and 1995 U.S. Senior Open Champion Tom Weiskopf has joined the roster of hosts on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio. He will host The Swing on Things with Tom Weiskopf, which will debut Wednesday, January 28 at 1:00 pm ET and air monthly throughout the year. Golf World magazine named him “Golf Architect of the Year” in 1996. He has also worked as a golf analyst for CBS Sports where he covered the Masters for more than a decade.
Pete Bevacqua, the PGA of America’s Chief Executive Officer, has also been tapped to host a new monthly show on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio dubbedState of the Game. Bevacqua and co-host Brian Katrek will discuss the world of golf, focusing on the important role that the PGA of America and PGA Professionals play in growing the game and putting on some of the world’s most high-profile championships. They will also examine the health and growth of the game in the U.S. and abroad. Bevacqua became the PGA of America’s third CEO in 2012
Lastly on the SiriusXM front, famed instructor Claude Harmon III will host a new monthly series on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio alongside his father, legendary instructor Butch Harmon. The new show will showcase the unique teaching ability that has made the Harmon family name so respected throughout the golfing world. It will be dedicated to helping players at every level improve their game and listeners can call in to the show to ask questions, seek instructional tips, or discuss the headline stories from the world of golf.
