My Rant About Sports Announcing

Am I the only one who thinks the current crop needs dusting?

The incessant chatter, droning on and on about things remotely linked to the play, irks me. Since when are announcers to fill every moment of airtime with their babble?

Why do they generalize from one play? "That was some catch; he's got great hands" Then later he drops an easy one. We teach young children in school to avoid generalizing from too little data.

We know they can read because they do so from the media guide. "Played nine sports in high school... really liked playing the net at number two doubles...partner went on to Bowdoin College after two years at Division II Hillsdale College...) Do your homework. glean information that makes sense; write notecards, if you must, and label them for moments in the game where they might be important. Like approaching a personal best; who cares that three years ago he completed 6 of 8 passes in the first quarter against Philadelphia in 45 degree weather in the fog and mist--you remember THAT game? Digest it for me, if you want, but do not read it to me.

And finally, even though they watch monitors showing the same view I see, are they watching the same game I am? Their "rush to comment" so often needs correction. Do they need bigger monitors (viewers now have big-screen TVs)? Or should they just let the picture speak its thousand words.

Kathy and I watched much of the NFL playoff games sans audio--remember the experiment a few years back with a game telecast and just the stadium microphone open for audio? Maybe the NFL could broadcast two audio tracks--one with the commentators (better yet, with choices of commentators, the additional ones the studio) and another track with the crowd noise and stadium announcer.

I expect the Super Bowl coverage to be much the same. Where's that "mute" button?

Red Wings

Last Tuesday I attended a Red WIngs game, my first in a couple years. Pretty decent seats--just inside the goal line, but midway up the upper bowl. We could hear the click-click-click of puck hitting stick but not the shush of skates carving the ice.

Atlanta Thrashers' Marian Hossa scored the first three goals of the game, my first live attendance at a natural hat trick. Only one hat thrown onto the ice. Very exciting for me, though Wings fans were upset--more so with the play of the Wings than with Hossa. The Wings did not have their best game though they outshot Atlanta about 2 to 1. Even so, Atlanta continued to "stick it to them" with the Wings scoring a late goal to avoid a shutout--5-1 Thrashers.

I had heard attendance was down at JLA and it was noticeable. Bud Lynch announced throughout the game tickets were still available for Thursday so it was not sold out either. Word on the street is fans are discouraged that the Wings increased ticket prices at the same time the players agreed to a salary cap--understandable.

[There's talk about replacing JLA? Entrances are poor (the main one is outright dangerous in snow and ice), concourses are narrow, decor is concrete moderne. It's still functional. And should taxpayers finance a facility that they cannot afford to use or do not want to? It is a huge cost for so few people. (Pittsburgh is planning one at $225 million and Forbes values the franchise at $137 million. Put the franchise up as collateral--isn't that what most businesses have to do for capital investments?)]

All in all, a great night!!!

Christmas Week With Brenda

We had a great time at Brenda's. Christmas day, of course, we just lounged around, ate dinner, opened gifts, and watched some sports.

We traveled to Stones River National Battlefield. Reenactments of the battle were staged, cannon were fired, "soldiers" explained how they felt and what they thought. A tour of the site gives a sense of the enormity of the battle, the condition of the terrain, and difficulties posed by the cedar woods.




A short way from the encampment of tents, soldiers, cannon, rifles, and wagons is the Stones River National Cemetery which has the oldest Civil War monument--quite impressive. We found a William Reagan from Indiana and an Albert Corey from Illinois listed among the buried. This experience gives me pause to reflect on how much so many have sacrificed to build this nation into what we are today.



The Nashville Zoo was bustling with zoo-goers--infants, toddlers, and kids, young people and older, all out on a cool, cloudy day to see the animals. Impressive zoo. I especially liked the Bengal Tigers, Meerkats (shown below huddling together in the cold), Grant's Zebra and the Toco Toucan. On the grounds is also a carousel and the old homestead of Grassmere. Not yet finished, the plans look to make this an outstanding zoo.



We did some shopping with Brenda and helped select some new furniture and furnishings. We did some geocaching later one nice day but had time for only one find.

Saw Purdue beat Central Michigan and the Titans beat Indianapolis Colts to qualify for the playoffs. In addition Nashville hosted the Music City Bowl between Kentucky and Florida State and for several days bracketing the game we saw fans of both decked out in their colors.

The time went by so fast, but Brenda reminded me that I gained an hour going down so it shouldn't seem that bad.

Return To The Great White North

and about a foot of snow. Far less than that at the airport but about that when we got to our driveway. Fortunately for us Leo, our neighbor across the road, had finished clearing his driveway and had partially cleared ours when we drove up. "Park in our drive until you finish yours." Thanks Leo.

We were about an hour late leaving Nashville on New Year's Day because (we found out through Brenda) other flights were late getting to Detroit earlier so our plane was held to accommodate some of those passengers. Our shuttle driver to pick up our car told us the previous midnight snow was fantastic--flakes the size of silver dollars, family and neighbors out in the middle of the night tossing snowballs at one another. (Might some libations have caused an exaggerated sense of size?) Quickly cleaned off the wet snow on the windshield and rear window and headed home stopping for a bite to eat. We thought the reports we heard in Nashville of 14 inches of snow in some areas were exaggerated. Not so. The farther north we traveled, the deeper the snow.

We talked about how beautiful the white blanket was and how much we look forward to snow. We must be crazy Northerners.