Talking heads
 

Greetings:

I was watching the Wis. v Mich. game (which is now at halftime) and the talking heads kept going on and on about Wis. calling an unecessary time out with about 2 minutes left in the half because the receiver already went out of bounds. Little did they know the official kept the clock wound as FP was stopped inbounds but obviously the talking heads didn't know that although it was plain as day on the TV. Just kept harping on it on and on throughout the rest of the half about the coaches inexperince cathing up to him blah blah blah, when actually it was the coaching staff being alert to the offical winding and calling an immeadiate timeout. They even went so far as to telestrate the sequence, but didn't even bother to mention the official keeping the clock going. It just rubbed me wrong the whole way. Did anyone else catch that?

I am watching the same game you are. It is driving me crazy.

Did you see when they went on and on about the BIB calls that they claim were there, but were not. It is really funny.

BTW, there are 3 officials on the game that belong to my association. The Referee, Back Judge and Deep Wing on Wisconsin's side are all Central Official's Association members. All these guys are very active in our association and the Referee gives presentations all the time. It is kind of neat to see guys you know working nationally televised games.

Peace

I've thought for many years that the networks should have a former official in the booth to explain things to the announcers. The misconceptions that they have are amazing. I view it as 2 areas: "old wives' tales" and "Sunday" rules that confuse people.

Nahhh. It's more fun listening to the misinformation belched out by the talking heads and then using their mistaken logic to blame the officials for a loss.

Much like the harping that
 

the NCAA needs to assign officials to "big games" like basketball. I believe that the NCAA should set up a "command center" like the NFl has on Sundays to deal with faulty announcers.

REPLY: I read somewhere that in the NFL, the observer has immediate access to the television booth to inform the talking heads of any rules mistake or techniques mistake (like this one) they might have made. However...whether or not the 'heads' want to 'fess up to their error on air is another question.

I believe that these 'Boobs in the Booth' don't pay attention to what's happening on the field, because they are talking so much. They definitely don't watch the referee to notice that he's giving the administration for a foul.

Is it true that the 'Talking Heads' get paid by the word, no matter how stupid?

Bob

Nope. We get paid the same if we say one stupid thing or several. Thankfully my audience isn't as big so less people notice my mistakes.
.

Why do we get upset about announcers screwing up rules applications? Let me clue you guys in on something, the announcers aren't there to be referee liaisons, if they know the rules it is a bonus. They are there to commentate on the players and coaches. Getting upset at them only raises your blood pressure.

The announcers are feeding the fans with lots of bogus knowledge. They often make up their own rules and the fans believe every bit of it. We all suffer from all this misinformation through the abuse that fans dish out. Anything regarding the rules should be off limits to the announcers.

Back in the 80s, I was a dispatcher for an air courier service that worked for CBS on the 'Game of the Week' films. Our drivers picked up the game films from the Dodgers and Angels, and flew them to NY. I got phone-friendly with the woman at CBS in LA, and suggested that very same thing for baseball and football games. She agreed with me, but said the ego-maniacal announcers would never stand for it.

Bob

REPLY: Correct. And if they kept to that agenda, we wouldn't be talking about this issue.

Or, the announcers could just educate themselves, as I have done.

I have found it to be a great help in broadasting to have been an official, and I think they all (and that includes the armchair critics and the ones in the stands) should try it for a season to see how difficult it is and to understand why things happen the way they did in this instance.

BTW, who were the announcers in question?

Chris Speilman was the color guy and the little short bald guy that works with him. It will come to me, but the play by play guy is an idiot and always has been an idiot when he does football and basketball games.

Peace

Oh, Sean McDonough?

Makes sense. He bores me to tears, always has.