Subject: ESPN2
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 11:14:24 -0500
From: Jon Brown <jrbrown@wellsford.com>
To: "'fkusumot@ix.netcom.com'" <fkusumot@ix.netcom.com>

I'm glad you asked!

1) What did you enjoy about this year's ESPN2 show of the 1998 World
Championships?

The play-by-play analysis by actual Magic players. I wish they could
have covered more games in depth, but there wasn't enough time. It's
better to cover a few games in depth, as you did, than to just say "so
and so beat so and so with his red beatdown."

2) What did you not like about the ESPN2 show?

The crap about "points" - hey, they're life points. You're trying to
kill your opponent. It's not satanic, it's a game - that's how the game
was written, live with it. You can't rewrite history.

Too much time was spent on player profiles. They were OK, but it was
only a 1 hour time slot. If you had that many profiles packed into a
2-hour slot, it would have worked better.

The time slot - how about 11:00 pm on a weeknight or leave it at 12:30,
but try Friday or Saturday night. Also - 2 hours please. I know these
are tough requests without more sponsors, but who's going to see it as
it is now? Not many people.

3) What changes were made between last year's show and this year's show
that was positive?

See #1. Also, the descriptions at the beginning of what was an
aggressive deck vs. a defensive deck were good for beginners and not too
drawn out for advanced players.

4) What changes were negative?

None. Although I did like the Garfield stuff last year (but there wasn't
enough time for it anyway).

5) What changes would you make for future shows?

See #2. Expand the in-depth game coverage. Strategy analysis and
second-guessing are the interesting parts. Explaining how key cards
effect the matches is good.

Jon