Amongst the many balancing acts we try to perform on Match of the Day is the one between match action and analysis.
For every letter or email we receive asking us to cut the yap and get on with the action, another one arrives asking why our studio team failed to dissect team x's admirable defensive performance away to team y last Saturday.
It's generally more reassuring to receive stick from both sides in any particular argument than it is to have all the detractors saying the same thing.
In less accountable times, it was rumoured that one particular editor of Grandstand when faced with, say, an enormous mailbag from the pro- and anti-snooker lobbies - "why did you interrupt the crucial 15th frame for a horse race?" vs "you stayed with those two idiots in bowties and only joined the big race just before the off" - used to reply simply by sending them each other's letters. I don't think we could get away with that in this day and age!
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There was an interesting phone-in debate on Radio Five Live last week about . One of the main questions: is there one this year? Five Live listeners voted as one of their early favourites, though there was a strong lobby for Mr or Ms Nobody. is someone else voting Cooke.
Well, the show will happen as usual and many millions will tune in as they always do. It is, of course, a review of sporting events in 2006 - and from the World Cup to the Winter Olympics, there's been plenty to talk about. And it's interesting just how many times Sports Personality is mentioned in the papers - who's in the running, who's up, who's down. It's an award that means a lot to the winners, and if ever you're stuck in a Pub Quiz in remembering who they all were there are
So who is in contention this year?
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Simon Hattenstone has written which is one of those drab and outdated attacks on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Sport. No, Simon, we won't bother with a letter of complaint. But the argument he puts is a classic one of someone who Just Doesn't Get It.
Let's deal quickly with the argument about TV rights. It's more than the FA Cup and Wimbledon: there's England home internationals, the Six Nations, the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, Open Golf, the Grand National, the Derby, Royal Ascot, the Rugby League Challenge Cup, World Snooker and a lot more. I greatly respect Sky Sports, but in the same way as we had a relatively thin TV weekend in August I suspect they had a quiet day when we were doing the Men's Singles Final at Wimbledon and the World Cup Final from Germany. And
We should also quickly note that our "cold portions of the Premiership" attract rather more viewers than Sky's live coverage. The number of people watching Sky Sports' Premier League match last Sunday afternoon was 1.7m, whereas 2.7m tuned in for MOTD2 that night. From those figures and your comments to Paul Armstrong's blog, there's no doubt Match Of The Day is still a vital programme for millions of viewers. When people have a choice of live football coverage, they overwhelmingly choose the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ - by a 10:1 margin for the FA Cup Final compared with Sky and by a 5:1 margin for the World Cup Final up against ITV.
But Simon's real sin is not spotting that the media world is changing, and ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Sport is now rather wider than just television...
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Five weeks ago I mentioned that I was working my contacts in a bid to unearth a new columnist for the 2006/07 season.
We talked to a number of managers and players before making our final decision, but I am pleased to be finally able to reveal the name of our new football columnist.
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We've produced a lot of football shows since 7 May, but the return of the Premiership is always welcome.
Much as we enjoyed the adrenaline rush of the World Cup - and love going on the road to cover England and the FA Cup live - league highlights from Television Centre remain the heart and soul of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ TV's football coverage.
I first edited MOTD in the 1998-9 season. Back then, the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ only showed two live games all season (the UEFA and Cup-Winners Cup Final, since you ask) and a Sunday night show was expressly forbidden under the contract.
We also had to pick two main matches in advance, and stick to them regardless.
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Hello, I'm responsible for sports journalism on national ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ radio - that's Radio 1, 2, 4 and primarily Five Live.
It's my first blog entry so I thought I'd give you an idea of an average day for me, how decisions are made and how our reporters chase (and hopefully break) stories.
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I was at the Brit Oval yesterday, not in any professional capacity but purely as a fan hoping to see England battle their way out of a tricky situation. Like any other supporter I'll be claiming 40% of the ticket's cost back today.
are to comment on the sporting aspects of this, but what struck me was was the accuracy of the bush telegraph of rumour in the seats and bars at the ground - and that seems to me to be yet another example of the way the media is changing.
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A new season, and a new-look relaunches on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔi tomorrow at 2.30pm.
Weβre introducing a new graphics look from a new presentation studio which has meant a lot of work over the summer for me, producer Emma Josling, head of presentation Simon Buglione and new graphics company Delta Tre.
Both Emma and myself were in Berlin for the World Cup producing Football Focus and several of the Match of the Day highlights programmes so it's fair to say it's been a busy summer.
You'll see a few changes when you access the programme via the red button.
Firstly, the studio now fills the whole screen - looking much more like a traditional football show.
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As the Premiership kicks off and with the rest of football having been up back for weeks, I know that some of you have been asking here and elsewhere about what is happening with the 606 service.
After all the changes we made earlier in the summer that is understandable. So let me apologise for recent silence and give a brief update.
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We have been running this blog for a few months now. You may or may not know that it is part of a wider trial across the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ.
The trial was set up because we didn't want to assume that the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ - being (let's say) a Big, Strictly-Governed Organisation - necessarily had any reason to launch its own blogs (an emerging medium, but the contrasting characteristics of which could be said to be Small, Anarchic, Anti-Organisation..).
Anyway - we'd really like to know what you think of this blog and our World Cup blog. So please let us know here and in return I've shared a few lessons we've learnt along the way..
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This is a tough time for sport. We seem to be going through one of those phases when there is nothing but bad news on the back pages.
Cycling and athletics have been hit by highly damaging drug scandals involving their champion performers. The World Cup was blighted by the dark art of βsimulationβ (please, canβt we just call it diving and have done with it?). Italian football has been rocked by corruption. Englandβs national stadium seems further away than ever.
And money simply dominates everything - from The Open golf, where most of Tiger Woodsβ βchallengersβ appeared reluctant to take him on for risk of losing out on the small fortune that comes with a top 10 finish, to the Premiership, where Chelseaβs summer purchases look to have made next season even more of a one-horse race than last time.
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