DON'T LET YOUR HEAD GET STUCK IN THE DOORWAY ON YOUR WAY OUT

Bobble Heads courtesy of imwritingsports.com

How many hours have we all waited to shoot interviews with jerks like this who's heads are too big to show up?

Another down, but unfortunately many more to go.

HDNET RECEIVES CLEAR SIGNAL FROM IATSE

Although some of the details remain sketchy, this much is clear: if somebody thought they could hire local crew for a sports remote in Southern California and easily sidestep IATSE, they thought wrong.

We’re told that HDNet found that out on Thursday at Staples Center during preproduction for that night's Ducks - Kings NHL game. In the past, HDNet utilized Pettigrew Crewing to hire and payroll any local crew for their shows. Pettigrew Crewing is one of several companies signed to the LA and SD area IATSE sports contracts, and they also provide similar services for ESPN and Turner Sports.

The motivation is unknown, but apparently HDNet bypassed Southern California entirely and crewed the show through Chicago (Carzoli). The local crew members were all IA card holders, but were told the show was non-union.

To make matters even more awkward, the HDNet show was actually a four camera dual feed with Fox Sports' FSN West, sharing Mobile TV Group's 10 HDX.

Now it gets really interesting.

The President/COO & General Manager of HDNet is Phillip Garvin, who also holds the same titles at Colorado Studios. Mobile TV Group is a subsidiary of Colorado Studios. Who else owns a piece of MTVG? Fox Sports, of course!

In fact, it was Garvin and Fox Sports who teamed to open Mountain Mobile in 1994 (coincidentally the same year the freelancers in Southern California formed a sports local with IATSE).

In 1999, Garvin and Fox opened Lone Star Mobile in Texas, and then Mobile TV Group after that.

So, an active imagination could envision a scenario that Thursday's events at Staples Center may have been the beginning of an aggressive stance by Fox Sports against IATSE freelancers as the two parties head toward negotiations for a new contract next July. If aggressive is too strong a word, perhaps it was just a test to see what would happen.

However, sources say that FSN West and IATSE have had a productive relationship, so an unprovoked act by Fox Sports appears unlikely.

An IA representative was dispatched to Staples and met with HDNet's production team. No aspect of the HDNet show was interrupted and the game was televised as planned. What happens next remains to be seen. HDNet returns to Staples Center on December 8.

Stay tuned for that.

We all know and work with lots of freelancers from Southern California. These were the guys who started the IATSE ball rolling in the regional sports TV industry. Southern California became the model for all the other regions who have unionized in the last 13 years. Many of the members were in their 20s when they felt that health benefits and pension plans were things worth fighting for.

Their fight included a four year work stoppage against LA-based VTE Mobile Television Productions, which played a key role in the eventual downfall of that company in 1998.

Now, those same guys are in their 40s, and they know those are things worth fighting for.

Maybe it would be wise not to test their resolve.

No Votes Needed - SoCal is HOT!

We're all moving west!

First LA had Lisa Guerrero on the air and she posed for Playboy.

Then they had Carolyn Hughes and she got fired for having an affair with married with kids Derek Lowe. And she should pose for Playboy.

Now they have another reporter on Playboy's Sexy Sportscaster poll.

And they didn't even count this cutie who had something other than basketball on her mind during her on-camera.

No wonder Bushner gave up the NFL to work at home.

Lamey lamely joins Jones in blunder book

In the 800 meter final at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Kenyan runner Paul Ereng made a surprising late burst from the back of the pack to win the gold medal in a thrilling finish.

NBC's Charlie Jones mistook Ereng for his Kenyan teammate Nixon Kiprotich during the stretch and declared Kiprotich the winner.

In fact, Jones didn't correct his mistake for more than a minute after the race results were official.

He apologized and added, "We just entered the world record book of blunders", and you had to feel for the guy.

New chapters are added to that book all the time, and the latest entrant is Indianapolis Colts radio announcer Bob Lamey.

Unlike Jones' gaffe however, this one's really funny and pretty inexcusable.

Decision '07: Play along or ignore?

Playboy.com is currently running a poll for America's Sexiest Sportscaster, eight years after their first effort (won by Jill Arrington).

Yes we work with these women and shouldn't look upon or treat them differently than we do any other colleague.

Maybe even more importantly, in many cases they are our friends.

So are we supposed to turn our noses up at Playboy on principle or just have fun with this?

Some TV-types just wanna have fun and have emailed saying so. No word yet from those opposed.

Does anyone know whether a particular nominee is flattered or insulted?

Does anyone know another female sportscaster who is insulted because she isn't on the list?

If Ish can be paraded on national TV as a "People's Sexiest Fan" candidate, is a "Sexiest Sportscaster" so wrong?

While such important questions are debated, the least we can do is show the 2008 nominees.

The rest is up to you.

Oh, but if you can find someone willing to take the rest of the field, bet the house that Erin Andrews wins in a landslide.

FOX: "XMO X'd OUT OF MLB PLAYOFFS"

Feel free to ask Bill Webb or Jerry Steinberg if they were perfectly happy with what the camera output looked like.


Timing is everything.

At 12:46 PM on October 16, SVG.com published a story about how Inertia Unlimited's XMO system was being used on Fox's MLB postseason telecasts.

View in full: http://www.sportsvideo.org/portal/artman/publish/article_8145.shtml

The article emphasized how XMO was being used not only for replays, but as a live camera as well. This was something that had not been done previously.

Roughly seven and one half hours later, Game 4 of the ALCS between Boston and Cleveland got underway. For the Indians, it would be their final playoff victory of 2007 and they failed to reach the World Series.

For XMO, it would be the final appearance on Fox's 2007 postseason coverage, as it was replaced by a regular super slo-mo for the rest of the ALCS and all of the World Series.

Maybe SVG will run a follow-up piece investigating why.