Guilty Or Not, Albert Hurting Nbc
Marv Albert is scheduled to begin announcing NFL games for NBC when the season opens Aug. 31.
Albert has been charged with sodomy and assault against a Virginia woman and as evidence mounts that he is guilty of, at the very least, conduct unbecoming a public figure, NBC can’t simply bury its head and wait for this mess to go away.
Face-saving action is needed, and soon. Albert has embarrassed NBC, there is little question about that.
The story is getting tremendous media attention. On CNN the other night, it was the focal point of consecutive shows, “Burden of Proof” and “Larry King Live.”
Albert, meanwhile, has been careful not to say much. He has categorically denied “all charges,” without claiming he wasn’t with the woman in question on the night in question.
Over the years, Albert has been one of our favorite network sportscasters, both on and off the air. He has always been pleasant and easy to talk to. He also is a talented sportscaster who is popular with his colleagues. And in these days of corporate coldness, loyalty to a longtime employee is admirable.
But for Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC Sports, to pretend it is business as usual is a mistake.
Maybe accusations by the woman that she was bitten on her back as many as 15 times and forcibly sodomized by Albert don’t require action by NBC.
Maybe the DNA evidence, by itself, isn’t enough, either.
Maybe for Albert to have his name in the little black book of slain dominatrix Mistress Hilda doesn’t require action, either, even though Hilda was known to service clients who paid $150 an hour to be whipped and tortured.
But it all adds up to one ugly mess. A suspension, with pay, would not seem to be out of line until the law has taken its course.
National Geographic hits the NFL
How about a film about the making of a film? That’s what the producers of the “National Geographic Explorer” show have done. A National Geographic crew followed around the NFL Films crew that shot this year’s Super Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans. The result is an excellent 1-hour segment that will be shown on Sunday’s two-hour TBS show, which begins at 7 p.m. The segment also provides a good history of NFL Films, which was formed after Ed Sabol bid $3,000 to film the 1962 NFL Championship Game.
Steve Sabol, Ed’s son and the president of NFL Films, said, “Every year we’re approached by people from “EXTRA” to E! to VH1 to CBS to do this type of feature on us. But I’ve always turned them down because the Super Bowl is so important and chaotic without having another couple of crews there.
“National Geographic was the only crew we would tolerate. They were so good at what they did it didn’t affect anything we did.”
Notes
Good news for PGA viewers: Leader John Daly tees off today at 8:55 a.m. and TBS comes on the air 10 minutes later. Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Justin Leonard tee off at 10:07 a.m., meaning TBS should get in all of that threesome’s round… . CNN’s “NFL Preview” makes its seasonal debut Sunday with host Vince Cellini, newcomer Bob Golic and retired NFL coach Ron Meyer.