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?