Bristolmetrics: Marcus Lattimore's Injury Tests SportsCenter's Policy On Showing Really Gross Things


Note: Hurricane Sandy knocked out our television capturing software for Monday-Wednesday of last week, so totals are for four days. Apologies.

Total time: 206.5 minutes
Time (minus commercials):158

NFL: 49.5 minutes (31.3%) (last week: 30.6%)
College football: 45.25 (28.6%) (last week: 14.2%)
SportsCenter staples*: 18.25 (11.6%) (last week: 10.8%)
NBA: 18 (11.4%) (last week: 6%)
MLB: 17 (10.8%) (last week: 34.5%)
NASCAR: 4 (2.5%) (last week: 0.5%)
College basketball: 3.25 (2.1%) (last week: 0%)
Other sports: 2.75 (1.7%) (last week: 2.8%)
Golf: 0 (0%) (last week: 0.4%)


San Francisco Giants (MLB): 17 (10.8%)
San Diego Chargers (NFL): 13.75 (8.7%)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (college football): 8.25 (5.2%)
Los Angeles Lakers (NBA): 5 (3.2%)
Kentucky Wildcats (college basketball): 2.5 (1.6%)

Rather than break down the amount of time a specific athlete or figure was covered, we counted how frequently names were mentioned in the transcripts from the week. The 15 most-mentioned sports people for Oct. 26-Nov. 1.

Philip Rivers: 26
Peyton Manning: 23
Tony Romo: 20
Collin Klein: 17
Marcus Lattimore: 12
Drew Brees: 11
Kobe Bryant: 10
James Harden: 9
Ryan Vogelsong: 9
Dwyane Wade: 8
Hurricane Sandy: 8
Jeremy Lin: 7
LeBron James: 7
Everett Golson: 6
Manti Te'o: 6

Total time: 19,056 minutes
Time (minus commercials): 14,350

MLB: 2,855.5 (19.9%)
NFL: 2,833.25 (19.7%)
NBA: 2,737.75 minutes (19.1%)
SportsCenter staples: 1,946 (13.6%)
Other: 1,695.25 (11.8%)
College basketball: 1063.5 (7.4%)
College football: 762.75 (5.3%)
NHL: 456.75 (3.2%)


Marcus Lattimore's shredded knee posed a problem: Last Saturday, the South Carolina running back suffered one of the more gruesome leg injuries this side of Joe Theismann. In-game, ESPN showed the replay from multiple angles, and in slow motion. That night's SportsCenter provided a conundrum: show the injury, or not? Their solution was exactly right. They ran the play at game-speed, followed by a close-up of Lattimore that didn't show his leg, then a shot of him being carted off the field. The stomach-churning video was available online for anyone who wanted to see it, and including it on SportsCenter wouldn't have added anything to the package. Good stuff.