One of the joys of watching sports on television is making fun of the stupid things the announcers say. To be fair, we should recognize it when they say something smart.
At the end of tonight's SNF game between the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, the Chargers had the ball and were driving for what would be a game tying/winning touchdown. On the penultimate play of the game for the Chargers the Saints defensive end Martez Wilson got around the Charger offensive lineman (fellow name of Gaither) who was supposed to block him and flattened Charger QB Phillip Rivers, who just managed to get an incomplete pass off. Collingsworth tells us that the lineman (Gaither) "looks lame", and that the Chargers have to get him some help, or Wilson is "going to get a sack to end the game". Sure enough, the Chargers do not get any help for Gaither, Wilson easily gets around him on the very next play, and not only smashes into Rivers, but causes a fumble, and then recovers it, effectively ending the game. I assume there was some kind of producer in Collingsworth's ear pointing out the first play (which we saw in slow mo as Collingsworth described it). But Collingsworth explained it clearly and succinctly, and then made a specific, testable prediction about what would happen on the next play. The fact that he was right was gravy (but really luscious gravy for a NFL color man) - even if it had not happened, it clearly could have, and Collingsworth and the NBC sports team had caught, analyzed and utilized a critical piece of information that eluded the San Diego Charges, and it cost them the game. This is the kind of thing that a fan watching on TV at home (or even at the stadium live) most likely would not have been able to notice on our own. It really added value to what was already a pretty good game (Drew Breeze passed Johnny Unitas for most consecutive games with a TD pass, which was pretty cool). This is the kind of thing TV sports analysts and producers always try to do, and rarely do well. NBC consistently puts on the best NFL games every week, and this was one of the best specific pieces of football analysis I can ever remember seeing on television. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
