jillcarlson's Blog

Believe it or not, we don't play favorites.  So when both of Chicago's MLB teams are playing well, or playing poorly, what is the thought process in deciding which set of highlights should lead your sportscast?  Here is a general idea of what I do on Friday and Saturday nights, or when I'm filling in for Corey.   First, you go with the better set of highlights.  Mark Buehrle throws a no-hitter...that's a no brainer.  No matter which team you had leading off, you're changing it last minute.  But since throwing no-hitters or hitting for the cycle are rare baseball occurences, and you're stacking the rundown at 3pm in the afternoon, then what?  On Fridays when I have two sportscasts, I try to lead Cubs for one, Sox for the other.  Usually the earlier game will kick off the 9pm, because it's over, or close to being done and won't encourage people to turn the channel.  By 10pm, or 10:25 specifically, even a 9pm game will usually have some good highlights, so I'll lead the late sportscast with the late game.   On Saturday nights, both the Cubs and Sox games are usually in the books...or close to being ended.   In that case, I'll usually go with the later game, because there's a better chance people will not have seen highlights of that game elsewhere, or are just getting in from dinner, etc.  But always, compelling video and story lines trump all else.  If Gavin Floyd had a perfect game going until the 9th inning, even though that game was over at 6pm and the Cubs started at 6pm, I'm going to lead with Floyd and the White Sox.  If Carlos Zambrano gets in a fight with his catcher, that's going to be the lead...probably of the newscast as it was a year ago.   It's not an exact science...you have to go with who's hot, but you also have to spread it around so that you're not favoring one team too much.  We understand that there are White Sox AND Cubs fans out there.  We're trying to reach both audiences and give you more than you could ever get on Sportscenter.