If Derek Jeter’s debut for Fox Sports had a boxscore, next to his name it would read 2-for-5 with a double, a single and a run scored in a 6-3 Yankees win.
This is to say, Jeter brought star power, looked comfortable and analyzed from the tao of the captain on Fox’s broadcast of Saturday’s Cubs-Cardinals game from London.
He was solid, but not spectacular in his first time as an MLB studio analyst sitting to the far right side of the on-field desk with David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Burkhardt to his right. But there was a lot of potential.
Let’s go through it:
1. Jeter’s best analysis came when he showed off his most admirable characteristic as a player — his attitude. When asked about the London field conditions, Jeter said you play on different types of infields all the time, but you can’t use it as an excuse. You can’t let that get into your mindset. He made a Boston joke, too, which was a recurring theme of his segments, spurred on by Ortiz.
2. It would be interesting to see how Jeter, the player, would have reacted to Jeter, the analyst, doing a FoxBet segment about how many homers would be hit in the game between the Cubs and Cardinals.
Of course, Jeter said three because of the jet lag, and then there were three home runs hit in the Cubs’ 9-1 win over Cardinals. Jeter nailed the pick, but I could see him rolling his eyes as a player if such a segment flashed on the screen in 2000 or so.
3. Jeter had dad jokes, saying with four kids under six years old, he will go anywhere to get out of his house.
4. Fox played up the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry as Ortiz presented Jeter with a Boston jersey with his name on it in the post-game. Jeter tossed it aside. Leaning in on the Yankees-Red Sox angle was fine on Day 1, but will get old if it is the focus of every show.
5. Jeter did not make fun of A-Rod, but during a segment in which Ortiz acted as a tour guide for the crew, Jeter and A-Rod had matching white button-down-shirts-and-jeans looks. Best friends again! (It probably wasn’t on purpose.)
6. Jeter’s humor is generally to poke fun at things. When he was introduced for the first time by Burkhardt, who after listing some of Jeter’s credentials and accomplishments asked where sitting next to Oritz on set ranked, Jeter replied: “This is right there at the bottom … it doesn’t get worse than this.”
Jeter then pivoted to how he was excited and mentioned the double-decker bus segment, prompting Burkhardt to compliment him that he was already doing teases.
Fox has legit baseball stars, from Jeter to Ortiz to A-Rod, but Burkhardt is the captain of the ship. He is the one that makes the whole thing work and Jeter is lucky to have him manning the point.
Bottom line: This is probably a very good fit for Jeter, because he will be on the All-Star game and then come back out for October. He brings star power to the program and makes it feel even more important. We’ve been told he is into it. Judging by Saturday, that seemed evident. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but Jeter made the whole thing feel bigger. That’s why you pay him millions.
Barber and McCourty take-over continues
Tiki Barber and Jason McCourty will have expanded roles on CBS’s NFL game coverage this season, The Post has learned.
Barber will work a full schedule of broadcasts for CBS after being on a handful of games in recent seasons. It’s been a good run for Barber, who was handed the keys by WFAN to be one of its afternoon hosts.
Meanwhile, McCourty, the “Good Morning Football” co-host, will call a handful of NFL games for CBS. We are very high on McCourty’s potential after he shined working with Ian Eagle on some Westwood One radio broadcasts.
The move is the latest development in the meteoric rise of the McCourty twins into NFL broadcasting. With GMFB, Jason is in the middle of the daily conversation on NFL Network and now has a chance to grow at CBS, while his brother, the recently retired, Devin, got a plum job, joining the top-rated pregame show, “Football Night in America” on NBC.
Quick clicks
Shaun Morash will join Barber and Evan Roberts on the post-Craig Carton WFAN afternoon team. Morash will contribute to the show, though he won’t be on the marquee. We don’t know for sure if it will work with Morash, but he adds some personality with a willingness to reveal anything about himself and legit fanhood. Barber and Roberts could be a little dry as they played off the drivers, Brandon Tierney and Carton respectively, of their former shows. So here comes Morash. … The economics of sports radio may have changed, which has resulted in ESPN, for one, de-emphasizing it, but there are still few media formats that can offer the same real-time intimacy when something big happens. It is still a place to get the pulse of the people. … The Shams Charania hubbub over his report that selecting Scoot Henderson over Brandon Miller at the No. 2 spot in the NBA Draft was “gaining serious momentum” in Charlotte drew a lot of attention, from the Wall Street Journal to the Legal Sports Report. Charania, who works for The Athletic, Stadium and has a sponsorship deal with FanDuel, moved the lines with his tweet, which raised a lot of questions. Though I doubt there was anything untoward going on, it is a tough look. The Athletic is now owned by the New York Times, which doesn’t even let its writers vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame so it doesn’t become the news. …. If the battle for Bristol top chairs is like “Game of Thrones,” then Norby Williamson is the Jon Snow of ESPN executives. Williamson’s latest return from the rumored beyond has him taking over ESPN’s NFL and college football coverage as part of the reorganization. It adds to his oversight of SportsCenter, MLB, NHL, UFC, boxing, tennis, and investigative journalism.
This comes just months after strong rumors swirled that Williamson was going to retire or leave the network. (we looked into it, but there was never any confirmation.) Now, with ESPN’s latest reorganization, Williamson has even more power with stewardship of the most important property, the NFL, as ESPN moves toward a Super Bowl in 2027.
NBA Draft review
ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft on Thursday needed a little more spice. It was very cookie cutter — here comes Adam Silver, pick, highlights and then everyone saying he’s going to be a good pro. Rinse and repeat.
It is not that the team of host Malika Andrews, Jay Bilas, J.J. Redick and Andraya Carter wasn’t informative, it was that there wasn’t enough pizzazz. While the group did attempt to have some fun — such as when Carter said Redick was an “average” shooter — teaming a group together for the first time on such a big stage is a hard ask. Studio shows need chemistry, and while ESPN’s draft group was fine, it was not spectacular.
Bilas may be the most influential college basketball analyst in the game and has the chops to provide the big board, ranking all the available players, but the broadcast really needs to add a Mel Kiper Jr.-type draftnik to give it a bit more outspokenness. The foursome on hand talked about deficiencies in players’ games, but there was not enough questioning of anything that sparks interests. The show needed a little more opinion. I’d also hype Adrian Wojnarowski’s spots more. There is nothing more fun in the draft than when there is news, which in basketball is known as “Woj bombs,” I would play off that.
Clicker Book Club
In his memoir, “From Saturday Night to Sunday Night: My Forty Years of Laughter, Tears, and Touchdowns in TV,” Dick Ebersol describes a career that includes both his personal highs and lows, while taking the reader into details behind his many successful events and shows, including the Olympics, “Sunday Night Football,” “Saturday Night Live,” pro wrestling and the NBA. The sections about his son, Teddy, who died in a plane crash at a young age, are quite moving. Sports lovers and non-fans will enjoy this book that is in many ways also a history of the evolution of television in the last few decades. Papa Clicker, my dad, Herb Marchand, gives “From Saturday Night to Sunday Night” 4.2 clickers out of five.
Programming note
Next week there will be no Monday newsletter due to the July 4th holiday. Have a safe and healthy one.
