ABC-espn coverage was embarrassing

[rezlegal]

I thought the ABC-ESPN coverage of the races was simply awful and took away much of joy in watching two days of great racing. The camera angles were a novelty but hardly useful for spotting any horse you were following until the turn-the angles used around the turn left you wondering where the top of the stretch was and there was not one--not one-immediate replay of a single stretch run of any race including Zenyatta\'s. It took a full 13 minutes before the TV geniuses producing and directing the show thought-hmm-that might be worth watching again. If someone from espn or ABC reads this-take note please-speak to fans re the type of TV coverage that will excite all viewers. Grade F for me.

[miff]

Horrible camera angles and the same \"human interest\" garbage stories in between for the most part.

[MO]

Wha-Wha-What? You didn\'t like \"The Jay Cohen Show\"?

[sighthound]

I only watched the ABC coverage, it was fine IMO.  This is not coverage for gamblers, it\'s coverage for racing PR and the general public.

The saddest thing, to me, is that ABC had to cut away before the big race went down.  The general public (those that watch the Derby, maybe go to a track once or twice a year, or just like horses) didn\'t even know the Breeders Cup was this weekend.  

Racing can\'t be in the public eye, unless it\'s in the public eye.  Put it out there, and make people turn it off and change the channel if they don\'t like it.  Don\'t make them have to go on a secret hunt to find it.

[dehere]

Fractions would have been nice.

[sighthound]

True.

[stu]

I enjoyed most of the ESPN/ABC coverage, aside from the actual running of the races.  Amazing pictures, solid reporting, great reaction shots, a few laughs,  terrific features (save for that pathetic 1-800 Hammer piece).    

The problem is that no other sport would ever allow its championship event(s) to be directed in such a way.

The World Series looks pretty much like every other baseball game, doesn\'t it?  Sure, they have a lot more cameras at their disposal, but when Jimmy Rollins is stealing 2nd base, Bill Webb (the FOX director) doesn\'t cut live to a camera above the right field foul pole, does he?

We saw plenty of amazing shots of Matsui, AROD, Utley, etc., but they were used for replays.  Rarely, if ever, will any director take some bizarre angle live...let alone cut throughout the game (race) from one bizarre angle to another.  

The coverage of the Breeders\' Cup races provided stunning, breathtaking shots, which would have been ideal for replays.  During the live race, they only serve to completely disorient you as to where your horse is, and where we are in the running of the race.

But someone decided this was cool.  Somewhere, there is a mindset that the races, in and of themselves, are terribly boring.  It\'s just horses running in a circle, and who wants to see that, except for a few degenerates?  So if the races are cut this way, that will liven things up, won\'t it?  That will help America fall in love with horse racing all over again, right?  It\'s an utterly asinine concept.  

No other sport would tolerate this...not for 1/3rd of an inning, not for one set of downs, not for one trip up and down the court.  But thoroughbred racing tolerates this...no, embraces this...over the course of two full days of its \"World Championships.\"  Utterly asinine.