#SOLSC23: Quirks

I wanted to take a quick “selfie” that included the specific logo on my shirt, but I paused as I looked at the shot I had captured. Part of the shirt, my phone, and earbuds. What wasn’t evident was the game on the TV. It took two distinctly separate devices for me to “watch” my team. My team. Winning. Cautiously beginning to prep for that “first time in the Final Four” in 30 years. Wow! 30 years! With a three-year-old at that time, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t really following along in 93. Aware but not invested in the outcome is my best guess for the time. What was disconcerting about my picture? I was following the visual on the TV without sound. I was appalled by the ignorant, shoddy, and arrogant sportscasters. I was listening to a team-based radio broadcast on my phone. The professionalism oozed from my phone. It wasn’t over-the-top coverage, instead it had a knowledgeable team covering the events.

What made the radio team successful?

They reported play-by-play calls. ⁰ They didn’t argue with the calls made by the game referees. They named fouls. When it wasn’t obvious who the foul was on, they actually waited for identification from the officials. The focus was on the two teams playing. Halftime did include mention of other teams but not in speechifying mode ad nauseum. They were comfortable with short bursts of silence. They did not spend over ten minutes speculating on the “Player of the Year” award who was not playing in the current game. Are we excited? Of course, but the average ticket for the Final Four is $367 so that doesn’t seem possible. And we know that being there in the room is the best possible way to watch a great sporting event. So I will settle for watching it on TV and listening to the play-by-play coverage on the radio.

Two final gripes!

Do we believe that we have the national Player of the Elite 8 bracket? Of course, we do. No female or male basketball player has ever had a 41-point triple-double in an NCAA tournament game. And the fact that this same athlete had a triple-double in the conference tournament championship game as well as this game! And when do the Women’s Basketball championships finally get their own major network coverage? Title 9 is 50 years old. Let’s not leave Men’s basketball at a better viewing location on CBS if Women’s basketball doesn’t get equal access.

As March winds down, what quirks have you discovered this month?

___________________________________________________________________________________ Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for this daily forum in March. Check out the writers and readers here.

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