12/03/24
February 03, 2015
Hey, NFL, Let Anyone Commentate the Next Super Bowl: Robert McMillan wants more choices for Super Bowl commentary than the same-old network announcers calling games the same-old way. "What the Super Bowl needs is a YouTube of color commentary," he writes. "We need to trash the boring veneer of impartiality that dulls down today’s NFL broadcasts. Tune into the Seahawks Fan broadcast and hear some real tears at the end of the game. Want to listen to a woman call the game? This is the way that could finally happen. Gamblers’ Super Bowl? No problem. You enjoyed Drunk History? Wait till you try Drunk Super Bowl. Personally, I’d go for a data heavy, FiveThirtyEight-style broadcast: the Databack. Let a thousand flowers bloom in color commentary land. Many will be terrible. But some will be brilliant."
ESPN's Megacast of the College Football Playoffs Championship (do we have a short name for that yet? The Championship?) might be an instructive model.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:03 PM on February 03, 2015
This discussion reminds me of one of my favourite videos.
posted by grum@work at 01:01 PM on February 03, 2015
I've said it before, I'll say it again -- I will pay cash money to watch a game with a broadcast team consisting of one decent play-by-play guy and one avowed superfan of each team. Just let them go at it, using every crappy joke about the players, the hometowns, the rivalries...
posted by Etrigan at 01:45 PM on February 03, 2015
I like this idea - kind of like a live podcast where you'd mute the TV and stream it instead. It seems pretty unlikely the NFL would actually implement it directly in an app, as the requisite product placements and sponsor words wouldn't be enforceable at all, plus someone like me would mercilessly berate the commercials and products.
Particularly during the Super Bowl, a live stream that included popular prop bet results would be pretty damn popular at parties, I suspect.
posted by dfleming at 02:36 PM on February 03, 2015
posted by yerfatma at 04:09 PM on February 03, 2015
All Michaels most intelligent statement during the Super Bowl was when this game is over one team will win. Isn't is time to take a closer look at who you put on television during the Super Bowl. I guess we could always get Dan Dumbdorf back.
posted by Bradyman at 05:24 AM on February 04, 2015
I know this probably comes off as crankypants old-person talk, but I've always wanted the ability to just turn the announcers off but still hear the crowd and on-field sound. The only sport I really enjoy the play-by-play in is Hockey.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:19 AM on February 04, 2015
The only sport I really enjoy the play-by-play in is Hockey.
And Vin Scully doing baseball, all by himself.
posted by grum@work at 11:28 AM on February 04, 2015
I've always wanted the ability to just turn the announcers off but still hear the crowd and on-field sound
Announcer comment from the TV broadcasts of the Pats victory parade currently in progress (the announcers on every channel are in full breathless Odie mode) :
"You know, every once in a while, it's nice for us to just let you listen to the sights and sounds of the crowd and the cheers as the parade goes by".
More than every once in a while would be great, bucko. Way more would be ideal.
posted by beaverboard at 12:22 PM on February 04, 2015
I used to have a TV/DVR combo that would occasionally glitch and drop the announcing booth while still airing game sound. It was cool -- like being in the stadium.
posted by rcade at 02:15 PM on February 04, 2015
If you have a 5.1 or more sound system, you can probably simulate the "no announcers" feel by unplugging the center speaker. That's usually where the announcer voices come from in the audio mix.
I had a buggy connection for my center speaker a while ago, and when I was watching a hockey game, it dropped out after a commercial break. I then heard all the sounds of the skates, ice, sticks, body checks, the crowd...but no announcers. It was great.
I wasn't in a hurry to fix that problem until we needed to watch something other than sports.
posted by grum@work at 03:36 PM on February 04, 2015
McMillan compared Cris Collinsworth to Walter Cronkite rather than Mister Ed.
I must be shopping in a different aisle of the discount pharmacy than he is.