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Joe Buck’s ESPN debut will be on … golf.
Buck will lead a “Manningcast” for the PGA Championship later this month, The Post has learned. He will be joined by ESPN golf analyst Michael Collins, who is known as the “ESPN Caddie.”
Unlike Kay-Rod, featuring Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez on “Sunday Night Baseball,” this Buck-cast will be produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions.
Omaha Productions, along with ESPN, is in charge of Peyton and Eli Manning’s alternative broadcasts during “Monday Night Football.” In ESPN’s new deal with Omaha Productions, Manning’s company is creating alternative broadcasts on golf, UFC and college football. The Buck-cast is the first one.
In March, Buck left Fox Sports to join Troy Aikman on “Monday Night Football.” Buck signed a five-year deal for in excess of $75 million to call MNF games.
Aikman’s NFL spotter, David Moulton, who worked with Buck on golf, is also expected to be involved in the Buck-cast. The show will likely emanate from a studio in Buck’s hometown of St. Louis.
The Buck-cast will be on all four days of the PGA Championship, beginning Thursday, May 19. The first and second round Buck-cast shows will begin on ESPN, while the traditional live golf coverage starts on ESPN+.
The Buck-cast will be the main presentation when linear coverage begins. The show plans to book “A list” guests.
After an hour, Buck and Collins will move to ESPN2 when the main golf coverage transfers to ESPN.
For the final rounds on Saturday and Sunday, Buck-cast will have an hour on ESPN to start the day, while traditional coverage is again on ESPN+. After the first hour, the Buck-cast will move to ESPN+ with the main crew moving back to ESPN.
CBS still will have the final hours of coverage on the weekend day.
On Mother’s Day this Sunday, NBC/Peacock’s new “MLB Leadoff” exclusive games begin as the Red Sox host the White Sox at 11:30 a.m. Jason Benetti will be the play-by-player each week, while NBC/Peacock will rotate new analysts each Sunday. For the first game, Benetti will be joined by his usual White Sox partner, Steve Stone, and former Red Sox Kevin Youkilis.
“It’s going to be a hyper-local telecast with a national flair,” said NBC’s executive producer Sam Flood.
While it is hard to keep track and understandably frustrating and expensive for fans to have yet another streamer involved, give NBC and MLB credit for the format that pushes the rest of the Sunday schedule back a manageable half hour so no other game begins until 1:30 p.m. This will create a real exclusive window at the top of the day with Peacock and at the end of the day with ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” NBC will pay homage to its long-gone National Game of the Week when a random national game had more relevance. In a fragmented and abundant media world, regular-season baseball is only an OK national TV product as the exact same game is available at least two other times within three days. However, with the setup created, MLB/NBC is at least taking a good cut.
If you need further evidence that the cable bundle is still being sustained by sports, look at what is happening right now with the NBA and NHL playoffs on ESPN and Turner. Basically, for the next six weeks, those networks have either hockey or basketball playoff games on most nights. If you want to watch those games, you need those networks, hence you need cable. … ESPN went to a split-screen during the NHL playoffs for an ad for the – Stanley Cup playoffs. We are already watching. It may be written into the contractual terms, but those ads make no sense. … The Memphis-Golden State series has so much momentum that it is a shame that there is a delay from Tuesday to Saturday between Game 2 and Game 3. That’s too long.
In “Red Barber, The Life and Legacy of a Broadcasting Legend,” Judith R. Hiltner and James R. Walker detail how Barber impacted the evolution of both television and radio sportscasting. Barber, who called Yankees, Dodgers and Reds games, was not only a broadcaster, but also a newspaper writer and author. He also is in the media wing of the Hall of Fame. Papa Clicker gives Hiltner and Walker 4.35 out of five clickers.