Nbc’s Playoff Return A Long-Distance Affair

The baseball playoffs started this week, with the return of NBC and the absence of catcher cameras.

The cameras, mounted on catchers’ masks, were successfully used by Fox and ESPN during the regular season. Now they’ve been sidelined by managers and catchers not wanting any postseason disruptions.

That doesn’t bother Fox producer John Filippelli: “We’re not there to be a distraction, we’re there to cover the game.”

Wednesday night’s game was NBC’s first since Game 5 of last year’s ALCS.

“There’s always some rustiness when you haven’t done a game in a year,” NBC’s Bob Costas said before the game. “It always takes a couple of games to get up to speed.”

NBC’s first-round coverage is complicated by doing three games over four days in three different cities. NBC heads to San Francisco today for Game 3 of the Marlins-Giants series before traveling to Cleveland for Game 3 of the Yankees-Indians series Saturday.

“The first round is kind of a hodge-podge, so you don’t get to develop themes as much,” Costas said. “The preparation is more difficult, but it’s fun. It’s like a nationwide field trip.”

Silent Holtz

When he was coaching Notre Dame, Lou Holtz was always the first to talk about the Irish’s weaknesses and deficiencies. But now as an analyst at CBS, getting Holtz to talk about disappointing Notre Dame is harder than scoring against some of Holtz’s defenses.

During a segment on CBS’ studio show last weekend on the biggest disappointments in college football, host Jim Nantz asked Holtz to talk about the problems at Notre Dame.

“They’ve been sort of a disappointment, but you can’t write them off altogether,” said Holtz, who was visibly uncomfortable as Nantz asked the question.

Break up the Bucs

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the surprise of the NFL, have become the media darlings of the league.

On Sunday, Fox sends its pregame show and its No. 1 announcing team to Lambeau Field for the NFC Central showdown between the Packers and Bucs.

It’s the first time since 1987 that John Madden and Pat Summerall have broadcast a Tampa game.

What once looked like a breather on the Packers’ schedule now could be a must-win game if Green Bay wants to stay in the division hunt.

Ditka’s return

During TNT’s Sunday night game between the Bears (0-5) and Saints (1-4), the cameras may spend more time focusing on the sidelines than the field. With neither team going anywhere, the storyline Sunday is Mike Ditka’s regular-season return to Chicago.

“The real story is not what happens on the field, but Ditka coming back to the city with which he is so identified,” said TNT analyst Pat Haden. “Ditka is a caricature as well as a character. As much as we watch the players on the field, Ditka is the story.”