Thank You, Captain Obvious

So being a proud New England sports fan, I was watching the Patriots suck today. It was a rather sad display, watching them lose to the Jets, but I digress.

During the second half, one of the amazingly talented announcers said, "that interception would have been a game changer," when one of the Patriot linebackers almost intercepted a tipped pass near the Jets' 15-20 yard line. No shit. I would have thought that an interception during the last few minutes of a game, deep in the opponent's territory while down by a touchdown would be insignificant. That must be why he gets paid the big bucks, and I'm a mere whack-a-mole.

Really, what is the point of sport announcers? Are they there for the casual fan type that rarely watches and might not have a damn clue of what's going on? I mean, sports themselves are pretty easy to follow, especially football. One dude has the football, while 11 guys on the other team try to pummel him. What's not to get? Why do I need some jerk making obvious statements while all this is going on?

To his credit, at least the announcer didn't go all Madden on us and write "game changer," across the screen in yellow writing during the replay, and make random doodles over the players involved.

Mic up the players. That will definitely be more entertaining, even though the game might only be allowed to be viewed on HBO or Pay Per View without it sounding like some form of Morse code on the TV. At least we would hear the crashes a bit better, and feel more of the pain that football players endure during a game. Better yet, none of them will be making dumb comments like, "that would have been a touchdown if he didn't get tackled," or playing etch-a-sketch while the game is going on.

Another problem I have with sports coverage is that national coverage is supposed to be non-partial. They're supposed to call the game as-is. I can understand bias when you're watching a team's home station (i.e. Red Sox on NESN or Yankees on YES). But the CBS announcers were practically getting themselves off on the Jets before and during the game. The whole time, the announcers were gushing over Mark Sanchez, and how Rex Ryan is doing SO MUCH for the Jets. Granted, I don't really care about the Jets, but just the simple fact that things like this happen all the time when announcers on national coverage just dwell on how much they love a particular player or team... it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. I would expect such self massaging on a team's own station, but keep it to the facts and balanced coverage when you're someone like CBS, NBC, FOX, ESPN, etc. Fans of both teams are watching, and you're just pissing off a lot of people when you're slanting your coverage (and yes, I would be just as annoyed if they were getting off on the Pats).

So here I am in a catch 22. I love sports. I love watching sports. I have no way to afford season tickets, so I'm stuck watching the appropriately named boob tube. Maybe I'll just mute it? Maybe try listening to radio coverage while the game is on? Music? Maybe you have season tickets you'd like to let me borrow? I have to do something. I just can't endure another, "oh, that would have been a catch if it didn't hit the ground first." Dumb asses.