My plan to immediately and drastically improve all sports on TV
Posted by Geoff on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
SAP - Second Audio Program has existed since 1984. It is mostly unused by TV stations, and when it is used it is used primarily for Spanish audio. There are some issues regarding the avaliability of SAP with the switch to Digital TV but I know that DirecTV offers SAP on all of my HD channels and so I assume that Dish as well as most major Cable operators must offer it too.
So we have this unused ability to push thru alternate audio, Id love for it to be ambient noise and the PA announcer. I actually came across this idea watching a Utah Jazz game when the line to "Hot" Rod Hundley was cut but the boom mic was left open. So I could hear the sneakers squeaking, the ambient noise of the crowd and the rip of the net or clang of the rim but I was pleasantly void the constant over descriptions of what was right in front of my face.
There is not one single person who makes me want to watch any sporting event on TV. There are many who drive me to mute the TV. But to have to cut ALL sound with the mute option takes away from the enjoyment of the game. Imagine being able to watch a baseball game on TV hearing the crowd, the stadium announcer call out each batters name the popping of the catchers glove, the crack of the bat and the calls of the crew without having to listen to Bert's time filler ramblings of back in the day when......
Obviously the networks would have to figure out some way to make money filling in certain dead times with audio commercials, but Id still take hearing "Save big money at Menards" between each batter than to have to hear Dick and Bert tell me about how great Punto is for "doing the little things" and what a "genius" Gardenhire is with his "small ball".
This could be easily and effectively marketed by ESPN (the fair and balanced sports network as I like to call it) as well as the original alphabets as "just like being at the stadium" or "the real experience".
I have to believe that the moment this option ever became avaliable and understood fans would FLOCK to the SAP audio sending a wonderful message to the jockocracy, mediocraty and incessant constancy of modern day sports play by play. WE DONT WANT TO LISTEN TO YOU!
Just think how much money networks could save upon realizing that the vast majority of sports fans would actually prefer to NOT have to listen to these self aggrandized retired athletes struggle to string together grammatically correct sentences.
Agree, disagree?? Let me know.
Coming over the weekend - my thoughts on McCains VP choice - looks like it will either be Minnesota Man Pawlenty or Stormin Mormon Millionaire Romney.
Lastly - if any SBG citizens are interested in some football pickem this fall here are some links to my Yahoo pickem leagues with plenty of room for more participants-
-College Football Pickem League ID 22916 Password - geoff
-NFL Pickem League ID 41887 Password - geoff
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put this in "Featured Articles", Geoff.
NBC did that with a football game once, I think in the 1970s or maybe the early '80s. The media proclaimed it a failure, but I don't recall any polls or anything that would indicate what ordinary fans thought about it.
The one thing it did was force you to actually watch the game, as opposed to half-watching it while doing something else. One thing announcers can do for you is get your attention when something important is going on, so that you don't have to be paying attention all the time.
If I had time to actually focus on the game, I'd love it with no announcers. And if it was an option, as you suggest, it could be used by the people who do have the time.
I recall that game with no announcers. I think that's tough. Watching a football game without knowing down and distance is difficult. I like good, crisp play-by-play. But, minimalism on TV is a good thing. Non-stop banter and rehashing ridiculous talking points is of no value.
But, I do like the SAP idea. If you have a big screen with surround sound, that would most definitely be a cool thing.
The improvements in graphics would also make it possible to give a lot of the basic information without announcers. Of course, they could clutter that up with a lot of nonsense, too.
I've never thought the FOX graphics were too invasive (the informational ones, not the animation crap as noted below.) and I think that would give enough information to be able to tell what the situation is.
I think this is the type of thing that I would pay for (if I had money) as an option. That would help with the whole sponsorship/advertising issue to some extent.
But, minimalism on TV is a good thing
I like minimalism in most things to an extent and I think I would like a stripped down broadcast for my sports. Stuff like that peacock feather that shows up on NBC's broadcast displaying down and distance before every snap to me is excessive and detracts from the game. A well-designed on-screen display showing time, D&D, and score is all that I would want on the screen. None of those dopey animations that FOX uses.
A SkySports soccer broadcast is pretty close to the best presentation out there, especially when you get one of the better announcers. The best announcers (not Tommy Smyth) only announce the play, not the fact that Wigan's 3rd string leftback grew up without a mom and overcame a cripling case of scurvy to reach his dream or something like that. I think the constant action allows for less dead time to fill which helps.
The solution: have Vin "Talks Too Much" Scully do PBP for ALL televised sporting events.
I remember the "announcerless" game, and it was proclaimed a failure, much to my chagrin. I thought it was a great idea, and with advances in technology and graphics, it would work even better. Of course, the Announcers' Union would get the other unions involved in a broadcast to strike, and that would end that.
There is a "hack", so to speak, that you can do for some ESPN basketball games. If you took one of your audio RCA cords out, left or right I can't remember, it would cut the mic and left the shoes squeaking. No more Dickie V. Those games were pretty nice. I can't vouch for if this still works or not.
A "hack" to eliminate listening to a "hack". Poetic.
This "hack" entirely depends on what you are using - cable vs a satellite box or over the air. This can also be effected by the switch to digital as to whether the audio feed is via a low band FM signal or whether it is integrated into the video feed. Not to mention that you ALSO have to consider whether the feed is analog, stereo or dolby digital - phew......
All I remember is that I remember reading somewhere that you could disconnect one of your speaker wires and Dick Vitale would go away. I tried it and it worked, and that was good enough for me. It's like hot dogs - I'm not particularly concerned with the how or why, just that it works.
I would enjoy that but I think you'd be surprised how few people would. I think most people like to hear the annoying banter.
If you could hear the stadium PA, that would be cool.
I would be interested to see polls done on this, or to see a network give it a try. I recognize the fact that I don't relate to the "average" sports fan, I also know the "average" person is lazy and lacks critical thinking so 1 - they appreciate having EVERYTHING explained to them and 2 - if getting to the SAP required pushing a button, they either wouldn't be able to find it or would be too lazy to do it.
I agree with Andrew - Sky Sports Soccer is probably the best presentation of any sports on TV, soccer does lend itself to either the extreme of minimization or 90 minutes of some guys opinions and stories. I've never heard of this NBC game done without announcers but it is interesting to watch games on The Fair and Balanced Sports Network Classic to contrast how little announcers had to say in the 70's and 80's compared to today. Its almost as if there is a directive to current broadcasters to eliminate any "dead air".
Ill tell you some major pet peeves I have though that wants me to have this option -
-Missing an entire free throw because the "Desperate Houswives" promo was too long
-Missing a the Whitehats description of a football foul either because of a TV promo or even worse the personal story of one of the announcers.
-When announcers completely get a ball/strike call wrong and for lack of attention (or intelligence) don't correct themselves for as long as another 2 pitches.
This seems like something that could be experimented with on one of those obscure college football games that ESPN plays on its lower level channels. That would have minimal impact on much of anything.
I don't have SkyNet (at least, I don't think I do.), but I do remember thinking how nice it was to just be able to watch the game during the World Cup (which, coincidentally was the first time I'd really watched soccer). It was such a contrast from the "regular" sports broadcasts I've grown up with. I really hope NBC, for example, doesn't take the next one and destroy it with olympic-like coverage.
I don't have SkyNet
Judgment Day is coming for you, cheaptoy.
HA! Whoops. I'm not sure why I said SkyNet. I think I'll leave it though, for posterity's sake. (and for the future of mankind.)
Maybe the Bison should dedicate their season to testing this theory.........
If only there was some way you could adapt this to radio, so I could know what's going on in the Twins game without having to listen to Gordo and Dazzle. In fact, when I listen to them, I still quite often don't know what's going on in the game.
The Lakers did this a couple times last season. Because there are two FSN channels in L.A., on one was the regular broadcast and on the other they set up a camera courtside and just had mikes for the crowd and the court noise so you got to "feel" what it was like be Jack Nicholson. I think this was somewhat well-received. Also, on NASCAR broadcasts, they'll occasionally turn off the announcers for a while and just have the car sounds going for five or 10 minutes so people at home can crank up their stereos and get a feel for being at the race track.
I very frequently watch sporting events with the sound down and listen to music. (I'll also watch football on TV and listen to Twins on radio but that's a whole different subject). If I need to I can always hit the remote to hear what's happening if there is confusion on the field.
What I have found is that very few people want to watch sports in this manner. I don't know if it's too distracting, they like the play-by-play, or need everything explained to them but I have yet to find anyone who will watch a sporting event like this for very long.