Hussein story spills into sports
The sports world can be a bit insular.
Channel 4's Bob Lobel said during yesterday's postgame "5th Quarter" that he had received an 8 a.m. phone call and was greeted with "We got him!"
"We got A-Rod?" was Lobel's response.
Not yet, but the news that United States forces had captured Saddam Hussein dominated Sunday morning TV. "It was a Level One news alert," said Fox's Ileana Pena. However, by noon it had been pretty well covered, with CBS and Fox ready to switch to their NFL pregame shows. Channel 4 already had preempted much of its "Patriots Game Day" for the network news feed with anchor Dan Rather.
Then, with President Bush scheduled to address the nation shortly after noon, CBS (and Channel 4) elected to stay with news. Fox went to its "Fox NFL Sunday" right at noon, switched to Bush's three-minute speech, did a short news recap, and went back to the pregame show.
Fox studio host James Brown caught the moment with his opening greeting: "If you notice at the top of the show, we ran our military salute, and for good reason. Congratulations to all the courageous men and women of the armed forces for all they have done culminating in the capture of Saddam Hussein. President Bush is expected to address the nation in just about 15 minutes."
By halftime, the weather led Channel 4's news update, followed by a recap of the Hussein capture, and a teaser that last night's "60 Minutes" would have the full story.
After the game, Channel 4 had meteorologist Melissa Bell, Lobel, and Bob Neumeier out in the snow in the best Shelby Scott tradition, as news, postgame interviews, and weather merged during the "5th Quarter."
