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November 11, 2009Why are the Cavs struggling so far? Responses from the Nation of Cleveland Cavaliers Fans
November 11, 2009
Timeout Guy
Last night while watching Mad Men on my Time Warner DVR, something occurred to me. Some day we are going to look back at the refusal to have a commercial skipping feature on the remote control as a complete joke. I believe early on with Tivo there was a commercial skipping button, but after having pressure put on them by the TV industry it was removed from the remote control. The point is that an archaic industry standard like commercials on television stood in the way of easily achieved, obvious technology. That got me thinking even more about commercials as they relate to NFL football.
Call me a bad fan, but I don’t go down to the stadium all that often for Browns football. There are a variety of reasons for that. First of all, I don’t really do the whole tailgate thing. I don’t party all that much, so it has never really occurred to me to spend all that time not getting plastered in a parking lot. As a result, now when I do head down to an actual live game I notice just how slow the games have gotten with the commercials. The title of this post is the one that gets me the most. After a team (probably not the Browns) scores a touchdown, they kick the extra point and the TV crew sends it to commercial break before the kickoff. That makes sense to me, I guess. The field is going to be changed over as the special teamers take their places. But then, after they come back from break and kick it off the TV crew sends it back to commercial before the offense takes the field. That seems crazy at home, but at the stadium it is borderline unbearable. And to think that things got to this point in the modern age where TV commercials are actually getting marginalized is laughable.
Someday, I honestly think we will look back at these days of incessant commercial breaks torturing live crowds and home audience members as the dark ages. Just like I was remarking to my brother today about the fact that I had to purchase Toxicity by System of a Down twice because my first copy got scratched. Doesn’t that seem like the dumbest thing you have ever heard with MP3s and iPods today?
I don’t know exactly how it will happen. I don’t know if teams will have logos on their jerseys. I don’t know if they will continue to paint electronic images on the field of play. Somehow or other though, I just think it has to happen. As we progress as a culture further and further away from the concept of “commercial breaks” the NFL will just have to catch up and find different ways to collect their money from TV broadcasts.
32 Comments
I tell you I absolutely HATE “commercial, kickoff, commercial”.
College isn’t so bad, the bigger games my have this issue, but for the most part you can see the kickoff, then commercial.
see this is where soccer has it right. the games are admittedly different; soccer being free-flowing 45 min halves, football as a series of drives with quick bursts of action followed by a huddle (most of the time). however, soccer games do not break for commercial regardless of goings-on. they slap ads on the jerseys and all around the perimeter of the field so that every shot of the game has some sort of product being advertised but never have to break up the action for ads. must more pleasing to the viewer AND a much shorter expenditure of your time. You are done watching a soccer game in about 2 hours. as opposed to what seems like an eternity when watching football or an NBA game.
This article is shocking. I had no idea people still bought CDs.
The worst part to me is when there’s a momentum-shifting turn-over or punt return or kick return, and the crowd’s energy is immediate sapped because they have to wait three minutes to cheer again as nothing is happening while there’s a commercial break.
Furthermore, I don’t want to hear people talk about players (most notably on defense) getting winded for having to go back on the field after a 3 and out.
3 plays and commercials should be PLENTY of time to catch your breath. Hell, at good old West G. we had a bunch of players go both ways, and there were no TV timeouts.
The commercial, kickoff, commercial trend was started when CBS got NFL football back and I’ve hated their coverage ever since. I recall a Browns/Bengals game from a few years back when I counted in the course of 6 game plays being run, 5 commercial breaks.
The lack of TV “timeouts” is one area where soccer has the other major sports beat.
TV timeouts, along with the advent of games in HD, NFL Sunday Ticket, overpriced “beer” (seriously, with all the incredible microbrews in the Cleveland area the stadium still serves Bud & Miller Lite?) and Eric Mangini make it extremely difficult to attend games in person.
@4. Completely agree.
@ 5 Ammo:
Well that’s because us Wolverines are just plain amazingly athletic people!
Has anyone else noticed what some commercials for movies are doing now? They put the name of the movie on the top of the screen during the whole commercial so that when you fast forward you still know exactly what they’re advertising. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing this for other products.
West Geauga Wolverines FTW!
Not sure what model DVR you have but it’s worth looking on the bottom for the number and searching the interwebs. Most (like Tivo, and my DirecTv DVR) have hacks to restore the 30sec skip functionality.
http://www.wackbag.com/showthread.php?t=97181
If you think this is archaic, imagine having to cross the room to change the channel.
welcome to the modern NFL. Everything bad about corporate culture is prominent in the NFL game.
CBS is the absolute worst.
but I get more aggravated when I’m watching an NBA game on TNT.
They advertise the game starting at 8 but its really 830 by the time their stupid pre-game show is done.
Like they can’t go without that episode of Bones no one likes instead of giving their pre-game show its own time slot, its annoying beyond belief.
TNT is bad with commercials as well, even though otherwise their coverage is pretty good. The commercial breaks are always a little longer than for those games on FSN. And the playoffs…ugh.
I never thought I would think looking to soccer is the answer. The MLS gets it. The World Cup gets it. 2 Hours. Done. There is no reason an NFL game can not be completed in 2 hours. All we have to do is convince the networks that they could make more money with a tripleheader of games at 1, 3, and 5 PM and show more of the sport…
what’s the big deal about 30 second skip? i fast-forward in 3x speed and get through a commercial break in, i would guess, 5 seconds or so. granted i have never had the 30 second skip feature so i may not know what i am missing, but it seems like it would have the potential to mess you up and take even longer to get through an entire break than just fast fast fast-forwarding.
Sadly, the NFL has found a way to squeeze in more time outs in recent years.
Injures and instant replays.
Early in a game, when a player is slow to get up, they’ll go to commercial. Sometimes, as the network signs off to commercial, you can see the player up and walking to the sidelines looking OK. Still, off to commercial.
Now, when a challenge is called for, there is a two-minute commercial. What I noticed when I attend games, the referees don’t even look at the replay until the networks RETURN from commercial.
Something has to be done. It’s taking away from the flow of the game for the viewers at home as well as inside the stadiums. Is it squeezing that much more money from advertisers?
How about fewer breaks, but when the network does break, how about four minutes instead of two?
And don’t even get me started for the times the Browns have played the 4 p.m. game… the 1 p.m. game goes late. Yet instead of directly going from the 1 p.m. ending to the 4 p.m. in progress, the networks still must get in all the between game commercials. Meanwhile, fans are missing the first 10-15 minutes of the game.
AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!! LOUD NOISES!!!!!
Steve nailed the NBA games. I caught on to this last year, Cavs vs. Celtics starting at 8! Oh I don’t think so as I laughed and put the game on at 8:30 and didn’t even miss tip off! The NFL is even worse with this ESPECIALLY Sunday and Monday night games! Just wait til the Superbowl, the pinnacle of a game taking all night.
@15: O man, that 30 second skip is the most wonderful thing ever. Whenever I have to DVR a game, I can watch a 3 hour game in about an hour now, give or take.
Typically, as soon as a player’s knee hits the ground, I hit the 30 second button, then – like magic – they’re in formation with 10 seconds on the play clock! If the play they just finished was awesome, then I just let it play out, but typically I hit the button and the next play is just about to start (thank god for the 40 sec clock). Just don’t do that for hurry-up offenses.
For commercials, just hit the 30 second button four times, and you’re already back to game action. I don’t ever watch commercials; even if I’m watching live, I leave the room or do something else for those 2-3 minutes.
i still can’t believe the rest of the world hasn’t caught up with soccer. AIG paid Manchester United 56-million pounds (over $100 million) over four years for the rights to drape their name on the front of United’s jerseys. If it were American sport, with the amount of people who follow sports, it would be twice that. We’re talking $50 million per year for teams. They could still have their little commercials, but just less of them. Wouldn’t it be great if there were only commercials after scores and quarter breaks?
additionally, i have begun tivoing football games and watching them about 90-minutes in. that way, after every play, I can hit the 30-second fast forward button and it takes me just up to the next snap. This, of course, is only for Browns games since I can’t sit through 3 freakin hours of those guys.
dj – i must have missed your post. you just said the same thing.
great minds think like mine!
@4:
Really I call BS. When was the last time you experienced that at a Browns game? You lie!
On the radio they have built the ads into the play-by-play announcing. I always feel sorry for Jim Donovan when he has to work in the sponsor’s phrases, which seem to get longer and longer, like “Now we go to the AT&T long distance call of the game to hear from the referee on the penalty and remember AT&T has great long distance rates.
He also has to give a 15 second sponsored speech each time they go to the sideline announcer, which doesn’t leave very much time for the sideline announcer to say anything of value.
BTW, The AT&T UVerse remote control has a 30 second skip button.
@ 5 9 and 10, So you guys all are from West G?
Go Chagrin Falls Tigers….you bastards
Nice picture of the TV timeout guy(s). Do they really need to pay two guys to stand on the field and tell the referee when the commercials are over? I’ll bet it takes a lot of practice to learn to wear orange oven mitts and wave your arms in a circle on cue. And what does the green hat guy do? Is he the supervisor? What could possibly be on that clipboard? Instructions on how to call TV timeouts?
college games are the worst…unfortunately i watch a lot of the ND games and they are routinely 4 hours + long. i guess i don’t mind the nfl because they are good about keeping the games to right around 3 hours…as is abc and espn on the college side when they want to.
@5,9,10 and Scotty: Being a former Bomber you can all suck it. My senior year we were 17-1 against Chagrin in sports and swept West G in basketball (not so lucky in football).
GO BOMBERS!!!!
So it seems like the CVC makes up about half of the posters on the site apparently, kinda crazy
s-dub, scotty, ammo:
when did you guys graduate?
’05
07
FWIW the timeout guy’s name is Bob. Great guy, don’t hate the man, hate the position. I cant remember what the guy in the hat does, perhaps I need to send an email to Bob.