Personally, I don’t mind all the sports on TV. It’s scheduled, and though I may not like not seeing my favorite show this week, I can deal with it. I’ve been warned in advance
What I hate is that I have never, ever seen a game end when it’s supossed to. It always goes at least 10 minutes over (speaking mostly about baseball here, though other sports are just as guilty). I either miss the beginning of the show that was suppossed to be shown right after the game, or it gets preempted entirely. Geesh, you guys know that the game is going to last more than three hours, it always lasts longer. Tack on an extra half hour or whatever, and fill the extra time with talking heads. Don’t make me think I’ll get to see the Simpsons when that’s not going to happen.
And my personal favorite incident was when a show I wanted to watch (can’t remember what show now, but I wanted to see it pretty bad) was scheduled right after a hockey game. Game went over. I waited, annoyed. It went about 15-20 minutes past the allotted time (the show coming on after was an hour long, so it still wasn’t half over yet). At this time, I’m like, ‘About time, I hope I didn’t miss anything too exciting.’ And for the next 40-45 minutes, I got to listen to the after-game show, talking about mundane stuff I really did not care about, instead of whatever it was I was trying to watch.
I can deal with sports pre-empting normal television if its mentioned on the schedule. So, no, I don’t have a problem with the Olympics, in fact thats that only time I watch sports on television. I just hate that half hour after the game is supossed to end when you’re not sure how much of the next show you’re going to get to watch.
The nice thing about those making an argument such as this is that, given their intelligence and thirst for thought-provoking activities, they must have stacks of books lying about that they would rather be reading anyway.
As a fan of a few televisions shows (yet a big sports fan), I can empathize to a degree. To those arguing that sports are boring, I am sure that you recognize that this is a matter of taste. There is nothing more exciting and dramatic than watching a sporting event when you really care about the teams or players involved. If you have no allegiances nor interest, sure it could be boring. But, as others have pointed out, the same can be said of any television program, book, movie, piece of music… If you don’t like it, spending time looking at it will not be pleasurable.
The thing that sports offers that little else on television can is the spontaneity and unpredictability of real life. Nothing is scripted, nothing has been edited to influence your emotions. Whatever happens is up to those involved.
It’s the best reality television you’ll ever find.
Ah, yes. I remember when I was so ashamed to be an American that I developed a faux-European accent, began wearing a monocle, and kept sneaking over the borders into Mexico and Canada to escape my hated, plagued homeland.
Then came The Miracle on Ice! Huzzah! At last, I could cast off my monocle, wrap myself in the red white & blue again and proudly proclaim “I Am An American!”
[Does anyone else here know what the fuck the Miracle on Ice is? Is it like a Cosmopolitan on the rocks?]
Fair enough. Guess the answer is to inconvenience the fewest number of people possible. Let’s compare ratings between football and Futurama or Malcolm.
Talking about your fuckin’ whiners. You do know you can watch Sportscenter and get a recap of the 2 minutes of play that actually mattered in a football game and let the other programming run on it’s scheduled time?
And as mentioned before, The Amazing Race has never rerun, nor has Kingdom Hospital, nor certain other series/specials.
The Miracle on Ice was the US winning the Olympic Men’s Hockey gold medal in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games (quibble: is the Mirable them winning the gold, or beating the Soviets in the semifinal game?). The “restoring America’s pride” argument generally has to do with that game being a tonic to the embarrassment of the Iranian hostage crisis.
And while Ellis Dee is clearly exaggerating somewhat, I would bet that more Americans know what the Miracle on Ice is than can point to Mexico or Canada on a map.
Even for non-sports fans, the 1980 US Hockey Team’s gold medal victory (and particularly their victory over the dominant Soviet team in the second to last round) was a source of great pride during very difficult times. As much as one might dislike sports, it is hard to understand disparaging that event. Being ignorant of it, well, perhaps you are too young.
OK, let’s have one rule for all. Your sports runs over its alloted timeslot, the end gets cut off. My movie runs over its alloted timeslot, the end gets cut off. 100% pure fairness.
Assuming this is sarcasm, I do apologize if any of my statement was offensive. I used the term “ignorant” to mean “unaware of.” You implied that you were unaware of what Miracle on Ice refers to.
Just to follow up, however, it is my impression that the Olympic Games are of interest to more than just “sports people,” and that the major events of the cold war were something that people other than just “sports people” gave a damn about.
There is no particular reason to be aggressive about your lack of knowledge, and no reason to pretend that sports have not had cultural, social and political effects outside of the spectators and fans of the sport for centuries.
Oh great, now there’s Mountain Dew in my keyboard.
Listen, nobody said sports fans are Neanderthals or uncultured or anything like that. Different folks, different strokes. It just upsets me that one of the only shows I watch (Malcolm) is pre-empted not by a game (because the game itself is usually over by 7:30) but by talking about a game after it’s already over. Sometimes the post-game analysis is twenty minutes long. Do you really need to hear twenty minutes of wrap-up, after watching a three hour game that’s been commented on throughout? Do they really get good ratings on the wrap-up? It’s just reiterating stuff that you’ve already seen. I think most people would just turn off the game after they know the final score.
Darn tootin’! And to keep with the fairness, we’ll use your movie’s cinematic run-time as the allotted length. They put some commercials in there? Bummer.
I don’t know about your market, but in mine, last season, TAR was being replayed on Saturday afternoons or some such time. I know because there were episodes I watched twice. So, sorry.
I guess to my mind, if there were really that many people that wanted to watch Futurama or whatever in its entirety all the time, the networks would air it that way. Instead, they’ve decided that football and other sports are where the money is. It sucks to be in the minority sometimes, but we all end up there on various issues. This one just happens to be yours.
What a bizarre thing to say. Do you really believe this? You’ve never been surprised by a TV show, movie, book, or stage play?
Yes. I don’t like sports. Making the sporting event bigger doesn’t make it any less dull.
Horsecrap. Sports have no intrinsic value at all. They have enormous subjective value, in that millions of people enjoy them to the point that they will frequently riot when their favorite team wins, but they have absolutely zero intrinsic value.
Mind you, the same applies to any other programming on TV.
That’s one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever heard. “I’ve spent years in a rotting hellhole with a gun to my head while my alternatingly impotent and apathetic government did nothing to help me, but that’s all okay because some Americans can skate real good.” Jesus. Can someone explain how that makes any kind of rational sense?
Again, self evident bullshit, as evidenced by the people in this very thread who don’t like sports.
There’s usually more than one game playing at a time, so they do a brief synopsis of every game that was played. And yes, I do need to see that.
Here’s another really good idea: why don’t you find a way for Futurama and Malcolm in the Middle to make as much money as NFL games do. Then maybe they’ll think twice about preempting them.
Well, you don’t need to see it. You want to see it. Just like I want to watch my shows. What you watch isn’t any more “important” than what I watch, even if it does make more money. It’s all just TV.
I get that more people like football than Futurama. I’m resigned to that. Us televisual minorities just like to bitch sometimes.
For many people, I suspect that it’s not so much that sports fans don’t understand when non-sports fans don’t care about sports, but that they’re somewhat surprised that you’ve never heard about an event that crossed the boundry of sport and entered into the general culture, especially given the cold-war climate of the time. Sort of like someone who was around in the seventies saying, “Jaws? It’s a movie you say? Sorry, never heard of it. I don’t much care for movies” or someone saying, “Woodstock? Oh, it was a concert? I don’t really pay much attention to popular music.” The idea isn’t unbelievable, but it is surprising.
(I was going to use Star Wars instead of Jaws, but there are degrees of cultural phenomena and Star Wars is probably an extreme example)
Now, I can accept the frustration from those who complain about some local sporting event – like high school sports – preempting other programs. Such events don’t really have a large following, I’ll certainly admit. But a lot of the folks in this thread are apparently outraged that NFL football, or the MLB playoffs, could dare put off some sitcom or reality show. Worse yet, some of those folks say that sports fans can watch ESPN to see the “good parts” of what we might have missed. Well, what would you say if I suggested that you get your lazy asses over to Cafe Society, where every twist and turn of damn near every reality show is dissected beginning moments after the show airs?
Yeah, it’d sound pretty damn stupid. So, set your VCRs and Tivos to record the program when it is rebroadcast later that night, or the show will almost certainly be replayed within a couple of months. I repeat again, sports fans don’t have that luxury.
No, the “aren’t you sweet” was for calling me young, not ignorant. I suppose I saw or heard the phrase “Miracle on Ice!” back in, what was it, 1980? And then promptly forgot about it, as I don’t care about sports. And no, I don’t watch the Olympics, or even pay attention to the results. I just. don’t. care.
Jesus, I don’t demand y’all remember where you were the day you heard Bette Davis died, or quote from Madame X on demand!
