Boston TV Coverage:
Left plenty of room for Improvement
- By Doug Kurtis
Free Press Columnist

The Boston Marathon continues to be one of the most prestigious and celebrated marathons in the world. It attracts some of the greatest distance runners and some of the best media coverage.

Unfortunately, Outdoor Life Network's two-hour coverage Monday left plenty of room for improvement.

Hosts Al Trautwig and Lewis Johnson have smooth voices and television backgrounds. Trautwig also announces the New York City Marathon. Neither has considered running a marathon. As in New York, Trautwig continues to call running shoes sneakers. At least they didn't make a joke out of the race like so many local TV newscasters do outside the sports departments.

OLN's sidebar stories also didn't fit with the coverage. Can you imagine some silly guy dressed up in a camouflage archery outfit added to the Masters golf telecast?

Using former Olympic high jumper Dwight Stones as the analyst on the men's lead runners was a bad choice. Couldn't OLN find one person with marathon experience?

Stones' lack of distance running knowledge was evident throughout the telecast. He kept talking about runners trying to find shade on the course when any elite runner knows that you try to cut every tangent you can to shave seconds off your time. He described the chase pack as a peloton (a term for cycling) and said that the winner, Hailu Negussie, looked like a sewing machine. He also continually called the drink from runner's fluid bottles their nutrition.

During his postrace interview, top American finisher Alan Culpepper was more articulate and insightful.

Carol Lewis' coverage of the lead women was also off the mark. She kept talking about how nice the weather was. Nice, when you're not using any energy, sitting in a motorcycle's sidecar with a breeze blowing on you. The weather actually was too warm for the runners -- 70 degrees at the start. Again, OLN picked a non-marathoner who appeared more like Rosie Ruiz than 1980 winner Jacqueline Gareau. Note: This year, Boston officials graciously reenacted the finish for Gareau so she could cross the winner's tape and also made her the Grand Marshal. Ruiz robbed her of the thrill 25 years ago when she jumped into the race with half a mile to go.  

Also, OLN missed one of the turning points in the women's race. An incessant deodorant commercial cut off Catherine Ndereba's breakaway from her only serious competitor.

With the exception of the start, little mention was made of the 20,000 runners in the field. Instead, a drawn-out piece on the history of Patriots Day was used. Covering a marathon is no easy task, but time would have been better spent capturing the essence of the cities the race runs through or remembering a Boston Marathon hero like John A. Kelley, who died last year.

There were some bright spots. Coverage of the Iraq/Boston Marathon -- similar to what the Honolulu Marathon did last year -- was inspiring. In Iraq, soldiers ran a marathon and received medals similar to what runners were given in Boston.

Ndereba, from Kenya, spoke eloquent English after she won. The announcers managed to stay quiet as the winners' national anthems were played giving you a sense of honorable nationalism outside of America. And OLN showed other top finishers after the winners crossed the tape.

The announcers talked about runners rising to their level of expectations. I hope OLN will raise our expectations in the coming years of coverage.

Contact Doug Kurtis at Detroit Free Press, 600 W. Fort St. Detroit, 48226