Friday, October 17, 2003

Cut to the Game!

Fox Sports continues to find ways to annoy the sports fan. While they've been the inventors of some great stuff like the on-screen scoreboard and swooshing sounds while graphics come and go (and come and go), they've also been leaders in sports annoyances. With the current baseball playoffs, Fox has been trying to make as much money as possible by airing as many ads as possible. So many ads in fact, that pitches during the game are missed because a commercial is finishing up. And it's not just an occassional thing, it's pretty consistent - the beginning of any inning seems to be cut. What's crazy is that Fox says that even though the series have gone to seven games, they will be losing money. And this is with clear disregard for showing all pitches. Of course, we can also count on Fox not showing the game and instead showing close-ups of every random fan and player in the dugout. Seriously, I don't need to see every zit or in-grown hair. I'd much rather get a view of the runners or the pitcher-catcher communication. Let's not even talk about the commentators (Gimme Vin Scully any day!) Heck, it might be a lot to ask, but maybe even seeing the pitcher's wind-up would be nice! Of course, in their day, NBC annoyed the hell out of me with their basketball coverage, so it's not just Fox.

To get off my pedestal, let's talk about the teams themselves...I can't say I love (or hate) the Yankees or the Marlins. The main reason I was watching the two series was because of the hype around the Cubs and Sox. I don't really care that they both lost, but I doubt I'll be watching much of the World Series. Last night's game was definitely intense, what with the extra innings and the series on the line. Of course, I was thinking about how annoying the Fox coverage was throughout the whole thing, but you already know my thoughts on that...

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