Da Big Game

[filkertom]

Thirty years ago, the idea of Michigan playing Ohio State for the number one spot in the nation would've sent me into the same screaming fit it's already sent a lot of people.

Twenty-five years ago was already too late. I'd discovered gaming. And, as Brother Rob sez, "He wargames through weekend, leads armies and legions / He doesn't care how well you putted."

Still, the modern gladiatorial arenas are damned popular. It may be said best by Garrison Keillor in today's installment of his Writer's Almanac:

It was on this day in 1968 that NBC executives made one of the worst broadcasting decisions in the history of network television, interrupting their coverage of a football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets in order to show the scheduled movie, Heidi, about an orphaned girl who goes to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps.

There was one minute left in the game and the Jets were leading by 32 to 29, when NBC went to a commercial. No televised football game had ever gone longer than three hours before, and executives weren't sure what to do. Timex had paid a lot of money to advertise during Heidi, and network executives figured the Jets would win the game anyway, so after the commercial break, the movie began.

Football fans were enraged. So many people called to complain that the NBC telephone switchboard in New York City blew 26 fuses. People were right to complain. What they missed was the Raiders coming back to score two touchdowns in the final minute, winning the game 43 to 32.

It was that game, and the storm of protest by fans, that forced TV executives to realize how passionate the audience for football really was. Two years later, networks began showing football on Monday nights as well. And because of that game, the NFL now has a contract with the networks that all football games will be shown until their completion.

On the other hand, I think the networks were completely clueless about their audience from the git-go. They were dreaming dreams of the great love a certain segment of the population has for The Sound of Music. I mean, going from a testosterone-laden war in miniature... to Heidi?

So... all that's on TV tonight is football and Heidi. The internet doesn't exist yet. What do you do for fun? No, wait, the real question: Do you really much care about your local sports team(s)?

Comments

[blackpaladin.livejournal.com]

As one of, apparently, the minority of people around here who actually enjoy watching football -- and Tom, you know me, you know I'm not a big, athletic, thinking-with-my-muscles kind of guy -- allow me to pipe in with why I'd take football over Heidi any day of the week.

First of all, it's a sentimental thing. Growing up in the DC area in the early 80s, watching Redskins games was was one of the few things that my father and I could do together. And I don't mean just sitting on the same couch watching the same TV, I mean he'd explain to me how the game was played, why players did the things they did, why penalties were called and the impact they had on "fair play," etc.

Second, honestly, it's a strategy thing. I'm a huge fan of strategy games, and so I look at it as much from the viewpoint of football as an athletic competition as I do of football as play-calling strategy. In the time before the next play starts, I'm going through in my head and asking "OK, what offensive play would I call?" or "With the offense doing <X> all game long, and with <team they played last week> having tried <Y> to stop them and failed, what do you try next?" (Playing football video games is great for this, because you really do have to think about play-calling from a strategic, bluff-your-opponent point of view.)

Third, it's a performance thing. Just like you go to see a play or a movie, or watch something fictional on TV, watching sports is watching and appreciating people performing at the skill to which they've dedicated their lives. And in that same vein: I played flag football when I was a kid, but just don't have the build for it, and I don't think I could have even if I had worked at it. Therefore, watching football is kind of living vicariously through the athletes I'm watching.

As far as local teams: yes, I am a fan of my local teams, both "currently" local (Pittsburgh) and "hometown" local (DC). Why? Because Pittsburgh has an immense amount of team spirit, especially for our beloved Steelers. As hearth_spirit alluded to: at least in my opinion, it's not a matter of "brotherhood" so much as "community:" it gives what is normally a relatively diverse and sometimes disparate city (Pittsburgh has often been described as "not a city, but a collection of neighborhoods that share a common 'downtown'") a common connection.