How to Watch Sports on Television
WATCHING SPORTS ON TELEVISION
[Disclaimer: Watching sporting events — indeed, watching television at all — is mostly a waste of time. However, let’s move past that and talk about ways to maximize watching spectator sports on television.]
I can’t watch sports the way I used to anymore. Remember the old days when we used to turn on the TV, watch the entire game from start to finish, sit through all the commercials, and were pretty much captive to whatever the networks spoon-fed us? Well, it’s different now. We’re in control. We have the power.
Now, watching a game — any sport, no matter who is playing — is impossible under the old way of doing things. Pre-game, post-game, the halftime show……everything pales in comparison to the biggest time waster of all which are commercials. Consider the average NFL regular season game now includes about 50 minutes of commercial air time. One study found there are around 15-25 commercials per quarter, adding up to as many as 100+ commercials total during a football game! And that’s not including pre-game, post-game, or (gawd forbid) overtime. Who could possibly subject themselves to that much torture?
The average fan (who doesn’t make adjustments) will watch…….brace yourselves…….3,000+ television commercials during the course of one football season. THREE THOUSAND. [READ MORE HERE]
Not me.
Fortunately, the NFL Sunday Ticket (and specifically–features like the Red Zone channel) allows us to filter out the clutter. I can watch 18 straight weeks of NFL action without ever seeing a single commercial. However, it’s not that way with other sports. Aside from some golf tournaments which have minimal interruption (The Masters does a terrific job on this) and soccer, which also has fewer interruptions, most other televised sports are nothing more than a constant billboard of parading products. We even see ads now attached to the sideboards, on the ice, behind home plate, and even on the playing field. There’s not much we can do about that, and advertisers know it. They figured out millions of fans are fast-forwarding through commercials, and now impose themselves directly into the game.
If and when I do watch sports, my experience must include a few options. Preferably, I have all of these options available:
(1) More than one television. If there’s a live sporting event on TV, with no lag or time delay, I need another television tuned to something else inside the same room. My wife and I have TVs all over the house (8 at last count, not including laptops), including 2 in the living room and 2 in the bedroom. She can watch her favorite show (with the sound up), and I usually have my game on (with the sound muted). I don’t want to listen to annoying announcers anyway.
(2) If I have just one TV turned on, which happens sometimes such as in cases where it’s a playoff game or late game and no other sporting events are on TV, I sometimes try to let the DVR lag about 10-15 minutes behind. That way, when a commercial comes on, I can zip through it with a fast-forward button. However, if I’m betting on that game, I don’t like the delay option, especially with live betting and halftime betting. So, the delay button doesn’t cut it for me as a bettor.
(3) Obviously, laptop-tablets-smartphones are an essential accompaniment to any sports-watching experience. I have to argue politics with a stranger I don’t even know on Facebook during NBA timeouts. I think this is called “multi-tasking.”
(4) I’m increasingly more interested in watching all sporting events with a laptop and connection to a site with statistical logs. Most of the clutter in sports coverage is of no interest to me. It’s also more fun to watch and follow social media platforms with a roving commentary of my friends and contacts. When something big happens, it’s much more fun to scroll onto a page and check out a rant rather than hearing a talking head in the studio discussing it later. I think everyone now is pretty much in tune with interactive experiences, instead of passive viewing.
(5) Finally, I love the PAUSE button. It’s my best friend. I also love being able to rewind the broadcast and watch a play over again. Years ago, instant replay with a big thing, and even a novelty. Now, we have our own “instant replay” at the press of a button. This goes not just for exciting plays, but little things, as well. Some of the little things you see in a broadcast (rewinding and watching again) can be really advantageous if you’re betting. Oh, and the referees end up looking much worse than we thought.
Addendum: While I was writing this, there was a soccer game showing on TV. I just checked and the score is still 0-0. So, I didn’t miss a thing.
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