Previous Post ... if I do watch then it'll likely be how I watch most sports these days, with the commentary muted. I've taken a real dislike to today's inane commentator chatter, which is often more about making sounds to keep the airwaves full than about the game itself. Most of the key information like past records or stats get flashed up across the screen anyhow. What do you think? Does commentating help you feel as if you're there? Does it give you insights into the sport? Whip up your excitement? Or is it just former jocks with limited communications skills prattling over the action?

My parents and brother are sports junkies... doesn't really matter what the sport is. (My brother will be attending the Olympics this year.) For me, I like watching football (our kind), and can get sucked into some other sports championships, but that's all for regular viewing. However, I do enjoy the Olympic games, and will watch most any event if it's on... I just don't go out of my way to find it on television.

Growing up outside of Detroit, we used to prefer tuning into the Canadian broadcast of the Olympics from just across the river in Windsor, Ontario. They actually would show the games, relatively unedited and live. The US networks always spend way too much time making "stories" out of their coverage, telling us the entire background of certain athletes, and then editing down the actual events to show the highlights, or time delaying them to show the most watched events during prime viewing hours, meaning you had to avoid "spoilers" in the news all day long because NBC was withholding their coverage of that event until 8pm the next night.

Add to that the chatter that Ian's talking about... US sports are drowned in commentary these days. You never really lose anything if the sound is turned off on a game, and it's often good for one's blood pressure. I will give them credit in that it can be good for someone who is still learning a sport, or for sports that have a great many rules that need explaining, but the rest of the chatter is usually pointless. What drives me up the wall is when the commentators are completely wrong about the play, and yet prattling on anyway. It happens fairly often, especially now that we're treated to high-definition, multiple-camera coverage of sports. We get a better view at home than they do live at the game, and quite often clearly see a fumble that they completely miss out on, leaving us waiting for the "experts" to catch up to the rest of the audience. "I think there may have been a fumble on that play, Dan..."

Sadly, there's only one more football game this season... Next weekend's Superbowl. Then it's back to the occasional hockey game and ignoring basketball and baseball until the new season starts in the fall.