Decision Time
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In such a cynical, sarcastic society, oftentimes looking for the negative on anybody or anything, if you're fortunate enough to spend five minutes or 20 minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it.
-Thom Brennaman
"DECISION TIME! DO YOU GO FOR IT?"
"Go. Go. Go. Go. Go"
-Brennaman and Charles Rogers. On third and goal.
Ideally, football games are not opportunities to reflect on just why everyone under 35 has a protective shell of cynicism and sarcasm between the world and everyone's inner Beaver.* But this one was the BCS championship game on FOX, so it was either that or picture Thom Brennaman massaging lotion into Tebow's feet.
Anyway, the reason most of my generation raised outside the state of Utah and I are looking for the negative so often is people like Thom Brennaman, corporate robots who relentlessly praise anyone and anything they're directed to.
The annoying shilling doesn't stop at the commercial break's edge these days; in fact, that guy with the Boomhauer accent saying "that thur is purty dern cool" during one of the six hundred commercials for a pickup truck was probably the most genuine moment of the night. That guy actually believed tool boxes in the side of your pickup truck were purty dern cool, and he communicated that without sanctimony or idiocy. At no point did he turn to the camera and say that if you didn't think tool boxes on your pickup truck were purty dern cool then you are destined for the lake of fire.
If only we could say the same for FOX. I could write a bunch of stuff about what an embarrassment that whole thing was, but other people have taken care of this for me. Fanhouse:
Brennaman was so far over the top in his pro-Tebow hyperbole on Thursday that the game became darn-near unwatchable unless the volume was off.
Assumptions one should not make about this game: … 3) Fox puts on an incompetent broadcast. No. Incompetent doesn't cover how inept their clodfooted work on the BCS has been.
Awful Announcing, which must live for moments like this:
This is so bad, I really don't even have words to describe it.
According to Fox announcer Thom Brennaman—and if you don't agree with him, you must be some kind of deranged lunatic—Tim Tebow just may be the finest human being to ever live on this planet or any other.
Etc, etc, etc. The presentation was such a disaster that a lot of people have been complaining about how bad the game was when, really, it wasn't too bad. Julio Iglesias was nearly decapitated, and there was a critical fourth-down stand and a couple of miraculous interceptions and all in all it was a tense, well-played football game but for the context.
At some point, being directed to interpret everything as history in the making has a downside. Now we expect the Greatest Game Ever Played between the Greatest Players Ever Assembled every time out. And when that's not happening—which it wasn't—no one backs off. They just lie to your face.
So, yeah, I'm tired of all hype. I'm tired of having the "national championship" game between two teams virtually indistinguishable from a half dozen others on a random Thursday night in January on a network that never shows college football. I'm tired of how stupid it all is.
And I think I'm detecting a seismic shift in opinion out there. Bowl defenders outside of newspaper columnists who love them some junket are few and far between—and frankly, I'd rather have Stewart Mandel on the other side of any argument I'm having, thanks very much. Every year some coach and some president gets screwed and converts to the church of playoff. Last year, weirdly, it was Georgia. This year, obviously, it's USC and Utah and Texas. At some point things have to change, because last night felt more like a farce than a championship.
*(60s television version, not unwise quarterback version.)
I purposely did not watch even one second of pre- or post-game coverage, because I thought if I heard one more word about the Great and Good Saint Timothy of Tebow, I would surely puke. If I'm gonna puke, it had better be because I drank too much.
That was the worst broadcast of any game ever. What a joke. The ESPN and FOX message boards were abuzz with it all... and I commented that those two guys would be better off doing War and Peace for books on tape.
And then, of course, I reminded everyone that Michigan buried St. Tim and his followers in the Cap 1 bowl last year.
GO BLUE!
...how everyone think tebows a God or something just because he beat Oklahoma. He was far from perfect in the nc game, throwing 2 interceptions and having a not so good completion percentage....compared to sam bradfords 2 interceptions which were caused because his recievers completely missed catches...furthermore, florida won the game based on its defense which was amazing, and percy harvin, NOT TEBOW
...its funny how so many people jump on the tim tebow bandwagon just because espns all over his balls
Tebow should become a Lion.
doesn't equal more history.
aside from the 66 game, there have been no memorable games (from a national standpoint).
no national implications at all.
Harvard: The MICHIGAN of the East
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
By that logic, bad teams can't have rivalries.
when I watched that live, I noticed that he said "do you go for it?" on third down, but I didn't realize that it took them almost the full two minutes to realize they didn't know the down... in BOTH plays.
Not that I loved Lloyd less, but that I loved Michigan more.
http://www.beersmith.com/
Tim Tebow tastes like roses and communion wine.
Signed,
Gary Danielson
(putting Tebowner back in pants)
www.Mizzourah.net
Tebow will be president some day.
I was born at an early age.
President? Do not offend the Tebow with such meaningless titles; he will be King and Supreme Ruler of All Humanity someday.
sgtwolverine.com
ESPN has its faults, but as far as covering college football goes, they're in a separate and far superior league. Regardless of whether it's Fox news or Fox sports, on radio or tv — it's going to be very loud and very stupid.
I actually heard a raido ad in Detroit that said the game was "Possibly the game of a lifetime!" WTF!!! A game between two teams I couldn't care less about, who are no more deserving than 3 or 4 other teams with one loss, and a lot less deserving than undefeated Utah, will be the best game I have ever seen, or will ever see in my whole, life. The ad actually made me stop, think about it and realzed I didn't give a shit about the game or either team. I went to bed at half-time. I did get to see the only good part of the game - when the announcers messed up what down it was. Priceless.
"Ships, shoes, basketballs, whatever," Lucas-Perry said. "We're burning ours first, because we're coming to take theirs. We want it bad."
The point about having no announcers is a good one. A few years back the NBA broadcast a "silent game" on their network that just mic-ed up the PA announcer and courtside mics.
It would be great if a similar thing was done with the college game where you could just place mics with the in-stadium PA, sounds on the field and the crowd/band so it was as if you were at the game yourself instead of watching it on a tv. Any injuries you could just include as a scrolling update across the bottom of the screen.
More info: http://www.engadgethd.com/2006/02/26/nba-tvs-silent-game/
All this true, obviously.
But this isn't at all relegated to FOX. Every time you tuned in NBC for a Notre Dame game, you were showered with how Zbikowski was boxer. Now, they're always all over Clausen and the brilliance of Weis. Depending on who was playing, you could always count on Musberger over-hyping anything that Mike Hart, Dan Connor (PSU LB), Javon Ringer, etc. did. It's blatantly clear that announcers routinely choose a single player on each team who they make a concious effort to hype every single game. In 2007, watching the UM/PSU game, my father-in-law and I were joking that at half-time they were going to claim that Mike Hart was working on a cure for cancer while showing footage of Dan Connor walking on water. So my point: yes, the Tebow love is undoubtedly out-sized, but it's not new - at all. And Michigan is frequently the recipient of it as well.
If you need further proof, the Griese father/son love during the title run, the belief that Woodson won the Heisman because ESPN and ABC put him in the spotlight to do so, the perpetual references to "The A-Train" Brent broke out during his years in Ann Arbor (that was a drinking game that would have killed you, it's like picking "the ship" in the Love Boat character drinking game), and the love for Chris Perry (if only they had called him "The Commodore" like I wanted him to.)
Anyway, chitown's point is very valid, but I can also seeing it make a lot of sense. The announcers do pre-game prep, so they get hype from the SIDs, they talk to the guys who the Athletic department want them to interview (they know who their more loquacious players are, after all), and they know the story lines they believe will develop, because they do need to pull in eyeballs for ratings. It's no different than when you watch the World Series or the Stanley Cup finals and you have watched all year and now you feel that you're being talked down to, and then you realize, they're not talking to you (I'm looking at you Tim McCarver and "Scooter"), they're talking to people who show up for the big games. And while annoying, it's what they have to do as networks because they have paid the big money for these rights and they need to make it back in ad dollars and they need not just the people who will watch a mid-September non-conference game on a Friday night, they need the people who know that college football exists and might be intrigued by a major event.
So yes, good call good sir.
Craig Barker || The Hoover Street Rag
Oh God - the Musberger "A-Train" drinking game. I did that often in college. Sunday mornings were dark, dark times.
And of course Tim Tewbow got everything he has because hard work, the will to win and his superior moral character....whearas guys like Percy Harvin and Chris Rainey just have a lot of "natural talent" and "God-given ability."
Of course.
We seriously need to revisit the wisdom of putting announcers in the booth.
Serious poll question: does anyone watch a sporting event to hear what the announcers have to say about it? Honestly, I want to know if there are people out there who care what the announcers have to say. Sure, occasionally the commentary guy will add some actual football analysis about why a team is lined up a certain way, or point out a key block that you might not have seen if you were only watching the ball carrier -- but these instances have become so few and so far between, and the rest of the drivel the commentators spew has become so vapid and often so obviously pre-scripted, that I'm amazed the networks don't get more backlash from it.
And maybe this is just me, but don't incredible moments speak for themselves? When we see something amazing happen, do we need someone to tell us it was amazing? Jon Stewart made a comment last night about how it seems like the 24 hour news channels are afraid that if they shut up for even a minute, they'll explode. I'm wondering if sports announcers feel the same way.
When the field reporter asked Percy Harvin how it felt to be a "Fed Ex national champion" I turned my TV off.
You're not the only one who gagged upon hearing this question. But ignoring the "Fed Ex" part for a moment, I think I've finally come to terms with why reporters always feel the need to ask "how it feels." In fact, Brian's favorite David Foster Wallace explains it quite clearly in an essay titled "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart." Highly recommended reading for anyone tired of being subjected to this inane question after every single game.
In the early 80's the NFL broadcast a game w/o announcers. There was just the stadium announcer and the crowd. (I seem to recall it was a Jets-Dolphins game, but it was 20 plus years ago so I could be wrong about the teams.) I remember that it really sucked. There were long periods of silence and it was just, well, weird. Of course, weird and totally sucking would have been better than the Fox coverage last night.
I still can't believe that OU went for it on 3rd down! Those crazy Sooners . . .
"Ships, shoes, basketballs, whatever," Lucas-Perry said. "We're burning ours first, because we're coming to take theirs. We want it bad."
My favorite part of the broadcast being the explanations at the end of the game on what it means to knee the ball. So that's what that means!
The announcers couldn't get enough of the comment made that Tebow would be the 4th best QB in the Big Twelve. I believe the exact response was, that is the most idiotic statement ever made (I may be off but it was definately along those lines). Really!?! That's the dumbest statement ever made?!?
I will say I think Sam Bradford is totally overrated, and that Threet would be close to a Heisman candidate with that o-line. Sam didn't do anything once there was a hint of pressure, if he didn't get 6 seconds in the pocket then the play was done. Looks like we got another Jason White (who?) on our hands.
Has the whole world gone CRAZY!?!
was pretty good last night, I was impressed by his accuracy, and he would have had a couple of big pass plays were it not for penalties and a monster hit. Also, his two interceptions were much less horrid than the two Tebow threw. Having not seen a defense near as good and fast as Florida's before last night, he had the type of game most good QB' do, which is sketchy under pressure. We see that with the best, I recall Manning being average at best when faced with Florida's defense back in the day.
You are worthress Arec Barrwin!
Whoa there. Threet would be close to a Heisman candidate with the Oklahoma OL? I'm sorry but that is insane. The kid just wasn't very good this year.
I may have mis-read him, but perhaps his comment was trying to top the "dumbest statement ever" about the 4th best Big XII Quarterback...
FOX, and all the networks, know that we are going to watch the BCS title game. It doesn't matter who plays or what channel it is on - we are pretty diehard football fans and will be tuning in. Same with a lot of us and the Super Bowl. So they do nothing to cater to our tastes, because hey, what are we gonna do, watch Office reruns?
So the whole broadcast is designed to appeal to the people who only watch the "big game". That's why they slurp Tebow - it's an easy storyline for your grandma or cousin that doesn't like sports or uncle who pretends to like football to digest and understand. And that's why the Super Bowl commercials are popular - so 38 year old middle manager at your office who doesn't watch football can talk about "the big game" with you without having to watch the actual football, and instead focus on Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.
We're all delusional if we think ESPN is going to handle it much better. Sure, Brent and Herbie probably won't get 3rd and 4th down confused and we might have an actual playclock instead of a retarded clock ticking up to the next OU snap, but the hype and the catering to the casual fan will still be there. A playoff won't change that either.
great and omniscient Grand Poobah of the WLA
the.corner a tigers blog
That is worse than the NASCAR mouthpieces telling their audience that Dale Earnhardt was a 4 (5maybe i dont know) time SPRINT cup champion.
The big thing is that it wasn't a great game, not every game is going to be USC/Texas 2006, nor does it need to be, but don't try to tell me that this game is something it isn't.
Similarly, I want to enjoy the player on his own merits. I want to believe that Tim Tebow is a great player, and I think he may very well be a great college player, but I do not need Fox selling me a bill of goods on MORE reasons why I should like him. Let me make my own decisions.
I sometimes suspect that Fox presumes that because they have not aired any college football leading in to the BCS bowl games, that no one else in the country has watched any college football either. It's just maddening.
Also, I realize that these are times calling for greater fiscal responsibility, but DirectTV could you not at least make two different versions of the ad showing you that you can DVR things from your computer so I don't have to believe the guy in that meeting has recorded Hellboy 2 approximately 74 times during BCS season?
Craig Barker || The Hoover Street Rag
The Dennis Leary and Howie Long truck ads are next.
Póg mo thóin, poguemahone.
I could not quite put my finger on it . . . Fox covers the BCS games not just like they are the only college games they air all year, but like they are the only college games they even watch all year.
M'Dog
how do they mess up what down it is. it's on the screen. all you gotta do is count up from 1. you don't even have to go past 3 usually
horrible job. just horrible. not only did they get the down wrong, more than once, they also had the distance wrong. they don't know that after a "dead ball foul" (after the play), the yardage is lost but the down and distance both stay the same?? after a personal foul, these 2 bozos kept calling it first and 20 when it was still first and 10 albeit from a different spot. many, many stupid comments belieing their lack of knowledge. and the big hit early on by the florida db (major wright) was interference. the receiver was hit before the ball arrived, not much before but i could see it from the screen. why did they think stoops was complaining?! and the officials were also clueless. bad job even for fox. isn't brenneman (or was) a play by paly guy for the cinn reds? stick to baseball. i guess with the nfl this weekend, they had to dig deep for this game. and no mention of utah. and the love in with tebow. sorry for the rant. i'm done. :)
bohn49traversecity
just wait to see what is said about Tebow if he comes back for 2009.
They will probably roll back a big stone for him to run onto the field for his last home game.
You can say that again. Oh, wait.
No question, Jim.
http://bleorgblog.blogspot.com/
http://crosschips.blogspot.com/
just wait to see what is said about Tebow if he comes back for 2009.
They will probably roll back a big stone for him to run onto the field for his last home game.
just wait to see what is said about Tebow if he comes back for 2009.
They will probably roll back a big stone for him to run onto the field for his last home game.
It wasn't just during this game with the goofy hyperbole. It's almost become standard. I had to sit and listen to Shon Morris and that BTN play by play guy talk about what a great game the UM/IU game was and how exciting the play was. Guys, it was a terribly played game. Sure, it was close, but that doesn't make it *good*. And to listen to these guys blather on about how great it was just destroyed their credibility. It is the Vitalification of sports annoucing. But he's at least being mostly authentic.
Along with the goofy hyperbole for every game (it seemed like every matchup this season of overhyped Big 12 powers was the game of the year-Texas Vs. Oklahoma, Texas Vs. Texas Tech, Oklahoma Vs. Texas Tech) there are all of the "rivalries" that seem to be doubling every year. At some point this season, it seemed tht sports media types were even trying to insinuate that MSU/ND was somewhat of a historic rivalry. In the past the term rivalry was reserved for such games as UM/tOSU and Florida/Georgia. Now, it seems that every conference game between any intermittently ranked teams is some sort of historic rivalry. Personnel changes also create rivalries nowadays. UM vs. WVU would probably be hyped as a huge "rivalry" game in either basketball or football. Basically, I'm fucking sick of sports networks (and bullshit magazines like the Sporting News) telling me what games should matter to a serious sports fan.
Maybe you have an different definition of "historic," but the facts indicate that the rivalry between MSU and ND is in fact more "historic" than the rivalry between UM and ND.
Michigan State and Notre Dame have played 72 games total since their first game in 1887, and they've played virtually every year since 1948. The 1966 game was perhaps the first modern TV media "game of the century."
By contrast, UM has played ND only 36 times, with our first game against them in 1887. We've had stretches of 33 and 35 years between games against the Irish, with the latter stretching between 1942 and 1978. During that same time, MSU played ND 28 times.
The decline of MSU football since the late '60s may have dimmed the luster of the rivalry with ND in most years since then, especially in comparison with Michigan and ND, but history is history.
Maybe I wasn't clear. What I was trying to say is not that the Teams haven't played each other for eons, but that the "rivalries" are not very meaningful. My opinion is that each team has maybe one blood rivalry game each year. The rest of their games are important, but not the must-see action as they are characterized by media establishment. MSU has played ND for a long time, it is true, but I don't think anybody else in the country ever gave a fuck when they played. Then some flag-planting issue gets sensationalized and presto! we have Iron Bowl II. THat might be exaggerating things a bit but the hype machine is out of control. There are maybe a half -dozen annual games that, over a long period of time, have been meaningful in determining final conference and national standings. MSU/ND may at one or two points in history may have had this stature, but not consistently. UM/tOSU has consistently had this characteristic.
the way they were talking up Tebow parallels how Brent and Kirk were all over USC's nuts during the Rose Bowl. Halfway through the 2nd quarter when they called the game and anointed USC the National Champs.
Did anyone else hear Brent's awkward comment during a lull in the action,
[depressed tone]
"Well, Kirk, let's just hope 2009 is better than 2008."
[silence]
Not that anyone was specifically criticizing him here, but there does seem to be a bunch of anti- Tebow sentiment out there, I think driven by the over the top platitudes showered on him. I would only say that it's not his fault that every college football announcer is trying to saint him, and even though you'd be forgiven for thinking he has a personal publicist, he doesn't, other than the job the networks and ESPN are doing for him. Simply on a football basis, the dude is one of the best college players i've ever seen though.
You are worthress Arec Barrwin!
the thing is: I've never seen anyone actually criticize Tebow except 14-year-olds who use "Gayturds" unironically. How could you? He's a great football player and cheerfully does the Heisman pose with babies.
What vitriol is out there is directed at his apotheosis by scolding nimrods.
MGoBlog | NCAA Fanhouse | HTTV 2008 | email
This is the first item of any substance that I disagree with Brian about.
Ive seen people personalize the attacks directly at Tebow, not just the hype. You have players taking shots at him saying he wouldn't be the x ranked player in x conference. Fans citing the religious aspect and almost offering a personal offence that it's included in the package of Tebow. There's more to it than mere hype-backlash.
Jealousy. Insecurity. Pettiness. Most of Tebow's detractors suffer from at least one of those three ailments. I mean on this very thread some clown's panties are in a bunch about how Percy Harvin didn't get enough love. Well guess what homeboy, Harvin's gone. We'll get to see if Tebow can carry the team without him like he did in the SEC title game. And so what? So one announcer went overboard on Tebow? Who won the effing Heisman? Who votes on that? Media, yeah? There was PLENTY of love being copiously ladeled out all over other players, including Harvin.
I respect what this kid's done and he's on a short list of QBs that I'd love to see play that position at Michigan. That he's a better citizen shouldn't be a detraction from who he is, and it sounds like it is to some people. And if someone's offended by that, and yet not equally offended by Pacman or Plax, there's something really wrong with society.
It's ironic that the same Tebow detractors on these forums and the local airwaves loves them some Tom Brady cornbread. Hey, we can talk about Brady ALLL day long, he's the best! But Tebow? Overhyped and we're all sick of it!
"I learned a valuable lesson today. Never trust a pretty girl, or a lonely midget."
How Fox, which does a respectable job doing the NFL, can be so awful on college football defies sense. Is it that they use their NFL bench guys for pre-game and announcing? Harly matters because I agree it was horrible. But nothing about their coverage or Brennaman;s comments will be solved by a playoff, that part does not compute.
You are worthress Arec Barrwin!
he got out of jail to announce the BCS Title game last night?
"Pretty frickin' cool" is how Boomhauer described the Rambox, prompting a discussion in the room about whether this was the first commercial to actually use the phrase "frickin." That Dodge Ram commercial was high on the list of things that needed to shut the hell up last night. An obnoxious and irrelevant spot where Men in t-shirts with their Man Professions printed on them do Man Things like yelling and grunting and Carrying Shovels Around and Driving Through Fireballs. I imagine this has to do with the Ram Challenge they promote; I don't really care to check.
"So, yeah, I'm tired of all hype."
Playoffs are all about endless hype. That's why tv loves playoffs -- there's more to hype.
sgtwolverine.com
They don't proclaim that these will be historic, earth shattering games every year, every time.
They say hey these games will be good with the best teams playing. No one talks about how Joe Flacco may be the best qb ever.
The only thing is that in the playoffs the hype is somewhat warranted as the winner of the game will go on in the playoffs and play a (presumably) more worthy opponent.
The significance of winning last night's game hinges entirely on the amount of hype that was created to justify calling them a "national champion."
That's where we differ, then; I don't think hype is ever really warranted at all beyond the pocketbooks of the networks (and the university athletic departments, maybe). Hype is entirely artificial and completely unnecessary, and I hate every last bit of it.
And when the winner of that playoff game goes on to face a better opponent? Yeah, the hype only gets louder.
sgtwolverine.com
I think the Hype machine has gotten out of control. This happened during the SEC championship game, where the announcers made it seem like everything was the best thing ever. Wow that "slant was just a great throw", "Best Punt Ever". It's getting to be overloaded, where you just get mad and say ok this is obnoxious, especially when it is two teams you are less than fond of.
On Tebow, the hype has gotten so out of hand, I think many people dislike him, the person, while the media hype is to blame. As a society, we are cynical because every celebrity, or person who is in the media' eye so much, has a PR person behind them, making sure when they do charity work that the media knows and everyone sees it. So when we see someone like Tebow getting such good media attention all the time, we are conditioned to think that there is someone in the background pulling the strings.
We get even more annoyed when Tebow makes average plays, and the announcers blow them completely out of proportion. Although Fox did not blame either INT on the receivers, (especially the first)which was shocking to me.
So because of the hype, we begin to hate the person,which is unfair because I don't think he asks or manipulates the media to do so.
Think about this, everyone has gotten sick of the Tebow speech after the Mississippi game. However, if Henne did the same thing after Appy St. last year, and then backed up his words, we would be having parades for him in Ann Arbor. We would all follow him into a battle. The problem is when you see it during every pregame and every game you get sick of it, and the hype of it.