I assume you meant without fast-forwarding. I skip the commercials, of course, but also the timeouts, the reports from the sidelines, the inane interviews with coaches, any shot of the announcers chatting with each other, and all the studio promos where the guys clown around and tease upcoming games.
All in all, I can watch a full game in about 1:45 without missing a play.
As much as the OP hates all the ‘Traylor’ fawning attention at Chiefs games, I imagine the announcers and broadcast staff who are directed from on high to do so, hate it even more.
It’s been a few years since I watched much NFL; I’m not anti-, I’ve just been doing other things.
Anyhow they used to have a show (NFL Replay?) where they produced a cut-down version of the game with all the non-playing BS removed, no replays, and all the unproductive plays removed too, except for a couple that were especially exciting or athletic.
The net result was you could watch the entire consequential action of a game in 25 minutes. This wasn’t exactly a “highlight reel”, since nearly every play that moved the ball was included. I’d call it a “wasted time removed reel”.
They were great to watch and really fit my attention span. Don’t blink; you’ll miss something that matters! Of course with a DVR you could supply your own replays as needed, but only from their one angle. Which was plenty good enough.
I forgot to include those. Especially the inane interview with the coach as they are trying to duck into the locker room at half-time. The reporter, usually female and attractive, stops the coach in his tracks to ask a couple of questions he clearly would rather not talk about, like “Hey coach, you guys are getting your asses kicked out there in the first half. How do you feel about that, and what will you do different in the 2nd half??” - and the answer is the same each time “Well, we gotta do better. We can’t turn over the ball if we want to win this one.” I am sure the league has told players and coaches this is part of the deal now, but it’s still inane, filler BS.
I don’t mind replays (although sometimes they go overboard), and unproductive plays are part of the game. I like watching every play and getting some analysis – I just can’t stand the inananity.
Like this. If he’s winning, he’ll say, “We just need to stay aggressive and play like it’s 0-0.” If he’s losing he’ll say, “We have to stop [doing whatever they were doing badly in the first half].” Why the networks think anyone needs to hear this is beyond me.
In general I agree. I’ve watched most of the football and baseball in my life that way, only FFing through all the commercial breaks and football half-times.
I found those super-edited games to be exhausting to watch; almost more work than entertainment. I was sharing the story more to prove the point of how little meaningful game-affecting content there is in a 3-hour broadcast (4-1/2 if you count the especially inane “pre-game show” and “post-game analysis / wrap-up show”)
Can we add espn dot com to this pitting? Every time I went on their site to get an update it was a new picture of Swift in the owner’s box.
With pleasure!
I blame ESPN and the ideas behind it for the overall enshittification of professional sports.
ESPN was simply brand extension by the media industry, not the sports industry. Take the idea of overwrought soap operas that chicks loved and bring the same tale of never-ending overwrought personal drama to the male arena of sports fandom.
GI Joe is, and always was, a doll. ESPN is, and always was, a soap opera.
Screw that useless shit.
I used to be a very avid sports fan. The older I got, the less I cared. In 2017 I cut the cord so I didn’t have easy access to sports and I barely missed it. I still kind of follow what’s going on for some reason though.
In January I was thinking about how I missed the NFL playoffs so I signed up for a free week of Fubo to watch the conference championships. It was awful. All of the commercials and promos, many of them repeated multiple times. I suppose people get used to it over time as I did back in the day.
I’m down with Taylor Swift though. They know exactly what they are doing. It’s bringing a whole new audience of young people, women in particular to watch games and a reasonable slice of them will become fans. The NFL is benefiting from Swift way more than the other way around.
Wait. Are you suggesting that the typical NFL viewer wont be intrigued enough by this to go and check out her new album?
This sure sounds like a tough strong man.
I never watch the broadcasts anymore. I only watch the highlights on youtube. All the action and none of the filler!
I was watching the game last night, because it was on, and I could have it mostly in the background while I did some dishes and some other cleaning. Also, I wondered how well Russ would do (and it was bad; two turnovers personally by him and under 100 yards passing). I was amused though that they kept using a graphic as a title card that showed Russell Wilson and some other Bronco(s) on one side, and Mahomes and Kelce on the other, with Taylor in a Chiefs jersey behind them. It made it look like she was literally part of the team and directly involved in the game. It was as amusing as it was disturbing.
You misunderstand me sir.
I had GI Joes when I was a kid. I was in the very year group they were invented for. I can vaguely remember the excitement of the first TV ads for this shiny new product category. My objection is labeling it anything other than what it is: a doll. A sub-scale mock human for little kids to bring to life using their imagination.
I’m not a sports fanatic. I don’t own any logo-ed paraphernalia. I don’t know, or care, who the players are. I like watching the athletes doing athletic things. Be they male or female. They could all play anonymously or be robots for all I care. But that was a hell of a double play or pass or punt return or whatever.
The soap opera of who dissed who on TwitFace or which player and coach are not getting along or who might be traded where is … immaterial to watching athletes perform athleticism. Hell, the league standings are immaterial to watching athletes do their thing.
It can be argued that all Pop Music is performative nonsense that sometimes makes you smile.
Besides, wasn’t she playing in the band in the video “You Belong With Me”?
Not sure that she has had five reporter and fan free minutes in her dating life to date, so I wish her well.
( Maybe Bezos should stick to cheerleaders )
I know almost nothing about Travis Kelce other that Aaron Rogers hates him and challenged him to a duel. Given that Aaron is a ‘grifting brain-dead anti-vaxxer getting paid millions to grow hemorrhoids’, maybe I should give Kelce the benefit of the doubt.
Now, now: education is what we make of it.
( You’ll just have to wait until one of us thinks a “Subway Series” has to do with sandwiches )
He’s pretty funny, check out this commercial that cracks me up every time I see it.
He also hosted SNL a while back and had some good moments, I liked this sketch.
His monologue wasn’t bad either, he made fun of himself and he even made fun of Mahomes’ Kermit the Frog voice.
I have nothing to add, but I do want to say that “enshittification” is an excellent addition to the English language. Well done and thank you for it!
Thank Cory Doctorow!
Well, then, thank you, Cory Doctorow!
Don’t forget STINGERS, with DRAMATIC MUSIC and CLOSE UP SHOTS of ANGRY ROBOTS