Tape Delay Does Wonders for West Coast Fans
I’m probably not the first person to say this, but tape delay has ruined Olympic hoops for those of us on the West Coast. I know, I could watch it on my laptop. Or go into a self-imposed media blackout until the game actually airs, which creates such a time warp-y mess that I might never recover from it. Those would be ideal, pure, and remotely enjoyable. Instead, I end up trying to do the latter, but ending up peeking at live blogs, and then end up only half-interested in seeing the (one-sided contest) to the end when it actually airs.↵↵Skeets just said something about respecting the die-hards who watch the game even though they know the score. I don’t. I mean, I think it’s admirable the same way Buddhist sand painting is, or reading a book after you’ve seen the movie. But really, why do the “die-hards” have to bear the brunt of NBC’s scheduling? I own an expensive, flat television; my laptop’s screen is tiny, smeared with fingerprints, and usually cluttered with other stuff I need to do when I first wake up (another peril of operating on the West Coast...). No, I can’t realistically watch a game with any fidelity.↵
↵↵I know, NBC doesn’t care about me exactly because I care. If I’d be willing to get up at 7AM to watch on television, why not wait till 10AM, live with the delay, and open the door for all those people who can only tune in after 10AM (the unemployed? self-employed?). The prime-time packaging of the previous day/night’s big events is so messed up it’s beyond repair. Also, with that NBC’s going for the most casual fans, some of whom might even hate sports or America. Watching a three-hour NBA game thing early in the morning. . . how exactly does the tape delay, which alienates people like me, open up the door to thousands of sets that would otherwise be tuned to The View?↵
↵↵I’m sure NBC is right, and I’m wrong, and somewhere there are the numbers that bear this out. I have to say, though, my enjoyment of—hell, even my connection to—the Redeem Team has been noticeable slackened by this broadcast philosophy.↵
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↵(Editor's note: U.S. beat Argentina this morning by 20 in a game the west coast still hasn't seen yet. No one tell Shoals.)
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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