Best Show or Series – Sports

With its skillful editing and choice of footage and music, this doc brings fans closer to the action that takes place over a season of Big Ten Football. It takes a cinematic approach to representing the game, with great success. Moreover, the stories portrayed in series, such as players overcoming injuries and first-hand accounts of dealing with adversity, are inspiring and exhibit the players’ dedication. The “Journey” brand’s previous incarnation, profiling Big Ten Basketball, has already excelled. But football’s inaugural “Journey” deserves a straight up win here.

 

Backstage: Lakers – Time Warner Cable Sports – This fly-on-the-wall docu-series gives viewers all access to practices, locker rooms, manager duties… and the fun stuff: like rookie responsibilities and goofball antics among teammates. It’s a Laker fan’s dream.

 

The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2013 – Big Ten Network – Now in its 4th season, the series is a look at the conference’s student athletes, coaches, leaders and most compelling visual elements.

MLB Tonight – MLB Network – It’s baseball broadcasting with hosts sporting great comedic timing and insightful commentary on game analysis, stats, live game reportage and more.

 

NBA GameTime – NBA Digital – NBA GameTime is back, but this time with a new set and better guests like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who was able to parlay some of his wisdom on the new demo court on set.

 

NBA TV’s Open Court – NBA Digital – In this roundtable discussion led by NBA greats, any basketball topic is up for debate: from Lebron James’ career to super teams to something as simple (and significant) as the advantage of being tall.