Outdoor Games The In Thing at ESPN
(USA Today) -- When it comes to log rolling, speed-climbing poles and ''boom'' running across floating logs, Sean Duffy once saw a bleak future: ''If ESPN hadn't come along, it's possible that in 15 years those sports might be dead!'' Duffy, a TV analyst and competitor in ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, doesn't see that any-more. ESPN, always hunting for events it can own, this weekend held 19 hours of Outdoor Games coverage on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. And Sunday, ESPN launched its own Bass Week -- bass fishing on every day for a week -- which conveniently helps promote the B.A.S.S. fishing circuit that it bought for $40 million. In the Outdoor Games, Big Air again will be the featured event, including previews Saturday on ABC, more action Sunday on ESPN and the prime-time finale Monday on ESPN. Its premise is magnetic: Running dogs see how far they can jump off docks. Capturing such action obviously is more complicated than TV sports made in the usual stadiums and venues. Tina Thornton, an ESPN coordinating producer, notes 67 cameras were used at the Outdoor Games, including one that wood choppers could step on as they were chopping. One new TV shot that's long overdue: A camera, smaller than a pinkie fingernail, hidden in sunglasses and worn by a han-dler in a ''dog agility'' event.
(USA Today) -- When it comes to log rolling, speed-climbing poles and ''boom'' running across floating logs, Sean Duffy once saw a bleak future: ''If ESPN hadn't come along, it's possible that in 15 years those sports might be dead!'' Duffy, a TV analyst and competitor in ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, doesn't see that any-more. ESPN, always hunting for events it can own, this weekend held 19 hours of Outdoor Games coverage on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. And Sunday, ESPN launched its own Bass Week -- bass fishing on every day for a week -- which conveniently helps promote the B.A.S.S. fishing circuit that it bought for $40 million. In the Outdoor Games, Big Air again will be the featured event, including previews Saturday on ABC, more action Sunday on ESPN and the prime-time finale Monday on ESPN. Its premise is magnetic: Running dogs see how far they can jump off docks. Capturing such action obviously is more complicated than TV sports made in the usual stadiums and venues. Tina Thornton, an ESPN coordinating producer, notes 67 cameras were used at the Outdoor Games, including one that wood choppers could step on as they were chopping. One new TV shot that's long overdue: A camera, smaller than a pinkie fingernail, hidden in sunglasses and worn by a han-dler in a ''dog agility'' event.