I thought their coverage would be bad.
And it was.
Yeah I didn’t have much confidence in the B.B.C. broadcasting the Super Bowl this season and it looks like are doing their best to prove me right when they showed highlights of the Giants / Dolphins mudbowl from Wembley yesterday – all that money spent you think they could have fitted a retractable roof.
I had asked the B.B.C. sports editor on his blog who was going to present the show in my usual pleasant tones, basically saying which yoof muppet are you going to get to front it and for god sake please keep that useless bint Gabby Yorath away from it. Oh and also just show the damn highlights of the actual game.
The question to my and doubtlessly everyone’s surprise wasn’t published on the blog, so we had the programme fronted last night by some kiddies TV yoof muppet, Gabby probably too busy crying over being dumped from some stupid dancing show aimed at the mentally challenged – I typed this sentence and then googled for a link for those who didn’t know what I was on about only to find the daft cow had been crying about it.
Now when five show highlights of the Sunday night game on fiveUS, because they can’t show it live when the baseball season is still going on, the show starts and you are straight in. No talking head walking to camera telling you what you are about to see, just Al Michaels saying one team is kicking off. You then get as much highlights as they can fit into an hour minus the ad breaks.
Not the B.B.C. a 50 minute show and they were nearly ten minutes in before you saw any action, useless yoof muppet talks to camera, idiots guide to the game – badly done – shots of the crowd in the rain. Six minutes of action then interview with John Cusack, now I like John as an actor I have no interest in seeing him talk about a game I could be watching, much as I hate it when they do the same thing on ESPN’s Monday night game. Then there was the riveting highlights of players standing about chatting in the rain and of various soaked spectators, don’t know how they came up with a figure of 90,000 watching, that’s the official capacity but there was a lot of seats cordoned off in the first few rows.
It does not bode well for next February and Super Bowl XLII, still doubt the Skins will be there anyway.
One thing the Beeb did get right this weekend was having Jimmy Armfield back co-commenting on 5Live’s Sunday Premier League broadcast. It’s great to have him back after he’s been fighting Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, he is by far one of the best on radio and TV.
Unlike so many of the muppets employed to cover the game he knows what he’s talking about and he’s not scared to say what he thinks, as good behind the mic as he was at right back – the best right-back in the world and so unlucky not to be involved with ’66.
The radio section certainly do have the better bunch, while on TV we have to put up with useless articles like Alan “let me repeat what you’ve just asked me and then say they done well” Shearer, Mark Bright and Gavin Peacock on radio they have the likes of Armfield and Chris Waddle who may not be able to say the word penalty or indeed kick one but he gives far more honest insight into what’s going on than his fellow Geordie. Still on radio’s down side is they do have Alan Green for us to put up with.