Even though I have been consumed with watching, and now celebrating, your Back to Back WORLD CHAMPION LOS ANGELES LAKERS during the NBA Finals, I have also been able to watch just about every match of the World Cup, even though I am not really a soccer fan and do not understand the finer points of the game. I have been enjoying it at least as much as I did Curling during the Winter Os, and their have been moments of genuine excitement. It seems to me that this is a sport tailor made for the DVR (which is how I watch all of the matches, especially since they start at 4:00 am out here). I have the matches on as background, watch it as I can, turn away to do other things - then if there is an actual score (rare, but it does happen on occasion) I can rewind the TiVo and watch it again. Good thing too, because this is a game in which apparently there is no such thing as a time-out, so ESPN often can't even show a reply of a goal itself, at least for a while.
#1. Very good decision to use the British broadcasters, who seem to understand the game, and make me feel like I am really eavesdropping on an international event, rather than having the Americans swoop in and commodify something the even for domestic consumption. There is some American guy in the booth for the USA games, and even the British guy seems anxious to underline how pro-USA he is, but I guess we can live with that. But how ever is ESPN making money on this thing? There are no commercials during the match, and just a very small advertiser bug to the right of the score. I know they charge cable companies a lot of money - but if they can make money doing soccer like this, why can't they do something similar for (American) Football and Baseball and Basketball? Why are we spared the "Bud Light Free Kick" and the "Red Bull Red Card of the Game" in soccer, yet get bombarded with this kind of crap for most American sports? #2. Like everyone else I have been able to talk to about this, I find those dammed noise makers obnoxious and almost unbearable, and I do miss the sounds of the cheers that soccer fans like to engage in. Can't some creative engineering filter out, or down, the droning sound and amp up the sounds of human voices in the crowd? #3. It seems to me that last time ESPN had announcers in New York - is that right? It sounds like all of this year's crews are on site in South Africa. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
