On Friday, January 6, Channel One turned over a very large portion of their “news” segment to help their advertiser, the U.S. Army. The Army sponsors a high
school all-star game every year. Incredibly, Channel One made this game their most significant “news” story of the day. Time yourself as you read these words out loud and then multiple those minutes and seconds by 3,000,000 (the number of students we believe still watch Channel One) and you get a truly troubling number.
Schools are turning off Channel One because of this absurd use of time. Wasting school time on Friday isn’t enough for the “hard news journalists” at Channel One, they run a follow-up story on Monday.
From Friday’s script:
BE BACK
RICH: THAT’S A LOOK AT OUR TOP STORIES. WHEN WE COME BACK — THE BIGGEST, FASTEST AND MOST TALENTED ATHLETES HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL HAS TO OFFER WILL SOON GATHER ON ONE FIELD. WE’LL HAVE THE STORY AFTER THE BREAK.
INTRO GAME
MELISSA: ALL RIGHT, IF YOU WATCHED THE BIG ROSE BOWL GAME WEDNESDAY NIGHT, YOU KNOW WHAT TEXAS QUARTERBACK VINCE
YOUNG AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S REGGIE BUSH CAN DO. BUT WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW IS THAT BEFORE THEY STARRED IN THAT SHOWDOWN THEY PLAYED IN ANOTHER ONE … THE U-S ARMY ALL AMERICAN BOWL. TOMORROW, 78 OF THE NATION’S HOTTEST HIGH SCHOOL PLAYERS LOOK TO MAKE THEIR OWN NAMES IN THE GAME. YOU COULD CALL THEM HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL’S A-TEAM.
ALL STAR GAME
MELISSA: THESE GUYS ARE READY TO RUMBLE. WITH BIG HITS… AND BIG PLAYS … THEY’RE THE NATION’S BEST. FROM THE SHORES OF NEW JERSEY TO THE ISLANDS OF HAWAII, 78 TOP HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PROSPECTS HAVE COME TO SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS TO SHOW THEIR STUFF IN AN EAST MEETS WEST BATTLE FOR THE ALL AMERICAN BOWL. EVEN IN PRACTICE, IT’S COMPETITION THE LIKES OF WHICH MANY OF THESE GUYS HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
KAI FORBATH — KICKER:
HERE, IT’S JUST AMAZING TO SEE HOW BIG AND FAST THESE GUYS ARE.
COACH JIM RACKLEY — JUDSON HS;
CONVERSE, TX: THESE GUYS ARE SO GOOD THAT IT’S A LITTLE BIT ON THE SCARY SIDE.
MELISSA:
BUT IT’S A LEVEL THEY BETTER GET USED TO. MOST HERE ARE BEING RECRUITED BY SOME OF THE PREMIER COLLEGE PROGRAMS IN THE COUNTRY. PLAYER: FRESNO STATE, LOUISVILLE… PLAYER: TEXAS, TEXAS A&M… PLAYER: NOTRE DAME, UCLA, CAL…
MELISSA:
MYRON ROLLE’S ALREADY COMMITTED TO FLORIDA STATE, AND WHEN I SPOKE WITH HIM LAST MONTH HE WAS READY FOR BOWL WEEK. NOW HERE, MATCHING UP WITH OTHER ALL AMERICANS HAS BEEN EVEN MORE THAN HE BARGAINED FOR.
MYRON ROLLE — DEFENSIVE BACK:
A LOT OF THESE PLAYERS ARE SOME OF THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY, AND I GUESS IT’S A GOOD PREVIEW OF WHAT I’D BE GETTING IN COLLEGE.
THEY’RE VERY FAST, THEY’RE VERY PHYSICAL, THEY’RE TALENTED AND I’VE HAD TO STEP MY GAME UP TO MATCH THEIR LEVEL OF INTENSITY.
MELISSA:
FOOTBALL IS THEIR SPORT, AND THEY’VE PROVEN THAT THEY ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST AT WHAT THEY DO. BUT IT’S WHAT THESE ATHLETES
ARE CAPABLE OF OFF THE FIELD THAT MAY SURPRISE YOU. KYLE PETERSEN — PUNTER: I GOT A 3.68. FOOTBALL’S JUST A SIDE THING THAT I USED TO DO, BUT NOW THAT IT’S BECOMING A MAIN THING, I STILL GOTTA KEEP UP MY ACADEMICS. CHRIS STEWART — OFFENSIVE LINEMAN:
I’M HOPING ONE DAY TO BE AN AMBASSADOR TO A SPANISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY. MELISSA: HABLAS ESPANOL?
CHRIS STEWART:
HABLA MUCHO.
MELISSA:
SMART, BILINGUAL AND SOME HIDDEN TALENTS…
JOSEPH FAIFILI — OFFENSIVE LINEMAN:
IT’S A WAR CHANT DANCE TYPE OF THING. IT’S FROM NEW ZEALAND, IT’S CALLED THE HOACA. THEY CAUGHT ME DOING SOME OF THE MOVES
IN THE LOCKER ROOM AND THEY WERE INTERESTED, SO I TAUGHT THEM AND WE’RE GOING TO DO IT AT THE GAME.
MELISSA:
COME SATURDAY, THE WEST HOPES THE EAST WILL SUCCUMB TO ITS WARRIOR STYLE … WHILE THE EAST HAS OTHER PLANS. BUT THE BATTLE WILL REALLY COME DOWN TO EACH SIDES’ ABILITY TO GEL AS A TEAM. BLENDING DIFFERENT STYLES AND SKILLS ON AND OFF THE FIELD IS A CHALLENGE THE PLAYERS SAY HAS BEEN BOTH THE HARDEST AND MOST REWARDING.
MITCH MUSTAIN, QUARTERBACK —
SPRINGDALE HS; SPRINGDALE, AR:
WE COME FROM A LOT OF DIFFERENT PLACES AND DON’T KNOW EACH OTHER, BUT I THINK WE’VE COME TOGETHER GREAT, WE’VE GOTTEN TO KNOW EACH OTHER AND TALK TO EACH OTHER AND UNDERSTAND THAT WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO PLAY AS A TEAM AT LEAST FOR THAT TWO OR THREE HOURS TO WIN, AND I THINK THAT’S WHAT WE ALL WANT TO DO.
TAG GAME
MELISSA: AND IF YOU CAN’T BE IN SAN ANTONIO FOR THE BIG GAME, YOU CAN CATCH IT LIVE ON NBC. KICK-OFF IS AT 1:00 P-M EASTERN TIME TOMORROW. AND AT OUR WEB SITE, YOU CAN TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF SOME OF FOOTBALL’S GREATEST TEAMS, PLAYERS AND COACHES IN OUR ‘FOOTBALL DYNASTIES’ QUIZ. AND IF THAT’S NOT ENOUGH, CHECK OUT THE ‘TOTAL FOOTBALL PACKAGE’ FOR EVEN MORE. LOOK FOR IT AT CHANNELONE.COM.
On Monday, January 9, Channel One News of course had to devote even more “news” time to the high school football game:
FOOTBALL GAME
CALI: SATURDAY, THE BEST IN HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL MET IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS FOR THE ARMY ALL-AMERICAN BOWL … AND IN THIS ALL-STAR BATTLE OF GRIDIRON GIANTS, IT WAS ALL EAST. RUNNING BACK CHRIS WELLS WAS THE NAME OF THE GAME, SETTING THE TEMPO
WITH THIS POWER PLAY INTO THE ENDZONE FOR AN EARLY EAST LEAD.
THE WEST ANSWERED BACK IN THE SECOND AS QUARTERBACK JEVAN SNEAD HIT KEN BEASLEY FOR THE 21-YARD TOUCHDOWN. AND THIS 72-YARD KICK-OFF RETURN BY CHRIS CAFLISCH SET UP KAI FORBATH FOR A FIELD GOAL. BUT EVERYTHING THE WEST COULD MUSTER WAS NO MATCH FOR THE EAST’S GROUND GAME. WELLS EARNED M-V-P HONORS AS HE SCORED TWICE MORE FOR THE EAST, RUSHING 67 YARDS ON 13 CARRIES FOR THE DAY. RAESHON McNEIL SECURED VICTORY FOR THE EAST WITH THIS 65-YARD BLOCKED FIELD GOAL RETURN.
FINAL SCORE… EAST 27 — WEST 16.
AS M-V-P, CHRIS WELLS OF GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL IN AKRON, OHIO JOINS AN EXCLUSIVE LIST OF PLAYERS THAT HAVE DEFINITELY TAKEN THEIR GAME TO THE NEXT LEVEL. TEXAS QUARTERBACK VINCE YOUNG WAS NAMED ARMY ALL-AMERICAN BOWL M-V-P IN 2002. HE JUST ANNOUNCED THAT NEXT SEASON HE’LL BE HEADING TO THE N-F-L.
