The NCAA Baseball Tournament is Must-See Television
By Kyle Koster
I didn’t watch an inning of college baseball all season until last Friday. Then I spent three consecutive days enthralled, getting up only when it was absolutely necessary, ensconced in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
Stumbling upon ESPN Bases Loaded unlocked a door to hours and hours of non-stop, high-stakes hardball and conjured up nearly forgotten memories of a world where coming to things organically without the influence of social media was commonplace.
By Sunday night my couch had a deep groove and there were remnants of snacks strewn about the place. I was a walking, er, stationary cliché — but I regret nothing. Self-respect is a small price to pay for mainlining what, surprisingly, turned into the best sports television weekend of the year.
That’s right. The best sports television weekend of the year. And you may not have even known it was going on.
Bases Loaded launched four years and employs the same model as ESPN’s Goal Line and Buzzer Beater coverage –a whiparound broadcast of every NCAA Baseball Tournament game with minimal interruption and commercial breaks.
“We saw that there was an audience for it,” coordinator producer Baron Miller said. “We tried to base our model on trying to service the fan, to get them the most and best action that we could.”
In short, it’s baseball without the pesky mound visits and between-innings breaks. The goal is to show as many key hits, web gems and pivotal moments as possible — preferably live and with minimal turnaround time if not.
The Charlotte-based control room monitors a feed from every game while studio hosts have access to eight or nine at a time and use a gamestream for the rest. Nearly 58 hours of coverage last weekend provided live looks at all 64 teams at the 16 regional sites. Matt Schick and Brendan Fitzgerald anchored the marathon sessions, joined by analyst Kyle Peterson.
“I started doing games in February this year,” Peterson said. “You follow all of these different stories but the reality is, starting Friday at noon, all of these stories start re-writing themselves. It’s cool when you get to the end of the day because most years you have no idea what the hell is going to happen. That’s what’s fun — the uncertainty of it.”
And it is most certainly fun.
College baseball is dwarfed in popularity by both football and basketball but all three share a commonality in that they are a totally different game than their pro counterpart.
Small ball is prevalent. Aggressive base-running is the norm. Position players emulate Bryce Harper during his rookie year when he seemed to be playing the game at 110 mph at all times. Add in the pressure of elimination and it’s the perfect storm for drama.
“Sometimes it’s a little bit maddening because there’s some things that happen that you’re not exactly sure why they are,” Peterson said. “But there’s so many more hit and runs and guys in motion. We saw Missisippi State take a pitcher out with two strikes [on a batter]. That would never happen in the pro game. There’s a component that allows for more mistakes, allows for more strategy and sometimes it makes it more interesting.”
Peterson admits being a bit overwhelmed the first year, trying to juggle the fast-paced environment. He not-so-fondly recalls struggling to keep 12 tabs on his computer while commenting on the action.
“It was almost like having too many toys and not knowing which one to play with first,” he said.
Four years in, some of the rougher edges have been smoothed out.
“More than any other show that I’ve been a part of or done, it is really leaning on [Peterson and the other studio hosts] to help produce the show in the moment,” Miller said. “We’ll show a three-box and say, ‘analyst’s choice.’ That’s not a gimmick, it’s a real-time decision being made by the guy who knows the game the best.”
This is a snapshot of the decision-making process that goes on countless times over the weekend. Correctly predicting which game will yield a rewarding payoff is impossible, but the crew relies on context and experience to make an informed choice.
“The nice thing about baseball is you have a decent idea when something dramatic will happen just based on baserunners,” Peterson says. “When there’s guys in scoring position in a tight game then there’s the possibility for something dramatic to happen. The game lends itself pretty well to that platform.”
“If you are the casual fan and you’re not a die-hard Florida State (partisan) fan, you see action. It’s a societal thing. We want to see more stuff. It feeds the senses.”
News-gathering and dissemination is a large part of the broadcast because of the uncertainty of the tournament. There is inclement weather, if-necessary games and delays due to extra innings. Unlike the NCAA Basketball Tournament or a college football Saturday, information isn’t as readily available. College baseball rarely sees the front page of ESPN.com (or The Big Lead for that matter). On-air personalities carry a bigger burden when it comes to keeping viewers informed.
Keeping up to date requires constant communication between the studio and the far-flung host sites.
“Every Tuesday after the Bases Loaded weekend, I probably delete more emails than any other time,” Miller said. “It is unbelievable. I’ll give credit to the hosts and the entire organization. I am on a headset and on email dealing with all of the sites. Mother Nature was not our friend this weekend, so there were a ton of changes.”
Beginning today, ESPN will air Super Regional action on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The best-of-three series will determine which teams advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
Unlike college basketball and football players who make it to this point of the season, the guys playing this weekend aren’t typically household names. For many of them, this will be their one opportunity to perform on the big stage.
“One of the coolest days of my year is the Friday of the College World Series, which is when every team practices,” Peterson said. “When you see the guys’ faces when they get out onto the field for the first time, you can’t make it up. It’s the most honest emotion an 18-to-20-year-old could have. When you talk to kids it’s like a fantasyland, the potential for them to actually get there.”
Images via USA Today Sports