In setting up for our weekly appearances for our TV partner WPXI's Sunday night sports talk show, 'The Final Word,' we're often in the big studio getting all wired up even while the 11 p.m. newscast is ongoing. And it's a pretty cool scene. Super-fancy set. Big lights. Giant robot cameras roaming about the floor.
Near the end, either Alby Oxenreiter or Jenna Harner does the standard sports segment. They'll read off the day's local scores, show a couple highlights and sound bites, say a few words, and that's that.
Which got me wondering, with immense respect to everyone who does this for a living: Who still gets their sports news this way?
Clearly, someone must, or it wouldn't exist. Here in Pittsburgh or anywhere.
I know that, when I was a kid, this was appointment viewing for us sports fans. Especially as it related to our local teams, it felt larger than life to see them mentioned on any of the three stations. But today, there are countless options, obviously, for more immediate information, as well as most everything else that can be offered on a 6 p.m. or 11 p.m. hit. Some are newer and might put off older viewers, but most have been around for a long time now, including pretty much everything that's available on the Internet.
For that matter, I wonder the same about the national sports shows. Including ESPN, which remains the flag-bearer for this sort of thing.
YOUR TURN: Do you turn to TV for your sports news? If so, where and why?