Awful Announcing recently questioned whether WNBA-in-game interviews are more trouble than they are worth.
The answer was a resounding yes, but that was without even asking Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, whose recent spot with ESPN not only had a hilarious ending but provided the exact opposite of what an in-game interview is supposed to be with a coach or player — informative for the viewer.
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And wouldn’t you know, it’s since happened multiple times…
This time, it wasn’t Hammon or Indiana Fever head coach Christine Sides, though.
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Saturday saw Chicago Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon forced to juggle media and coaching responsibilities for an in-game interview trend on ESPN that needs to change.
During ESPN’s broadcast of Saturday afternoon’s matchup between Chicago and the Indiana Fever, announcers Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo were tasked with interviewing Weatherspoon at the start of the second quarter.
Ruocco even mentioned that Weatherspoon was trying to hear him and Lobo but was having trouble doing so.
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As she attempted to block out the crowd noise in Indianapolis, Weatherspoon fielded questions from ESPN while also attempting to coach her team during an offensive set. Weatherspoon tried to battle through the elements to answer the questions from Ruocco and Lobo, particularly about what she saw out of her team’s defense in the first quarter.
And as Lobo attempted to ask the Sky head coach a question about the “relentless on the offensive glass,” Weatherspoon didn’t bother to answer as she focused on coaching. Lobo did get in a question, but it was only during a stop in play.
That’s when Ruocco recognized that perhaps having Weatherspoon mic’d up was the better option at this point rather than struggling through the rest of the interview.
While she couldn’t hear the broadcasters try to ask her questions while she was coaching, viewers did get a nice up-close glimpse of her in action. Perhaps the best outcome of the interview —if you even call it that— was the mic’d-up coaching aspect of it. But even then, it was purely by accident and not by design.
But maybe that needs to be intentional and what ultimately replaces these awkward and hard-to-watch in-game interviews.
Following a string of awkward in-game interviews with coaches like Hammon, Sides, and now Weatherspoon, one has to wonder — are these interviews even worth it? Fans seem to prefer uninterrupted game calls from announcers like Ruocco and Lobo rather than overlays with coaches who might not be in the mood for questioning.
However, mic’d-up coaches offering live commentary during the overlay could be a different story. That might be more engaging for fans compared to the awkward interviews we’ve seen lately.
