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Sorry in advance for the rant ...
I enjoy watching pre-season games to get a feel for position competition, injury recovery, bubble players, etc. My mom used to have fun identifying a player, who was on no one's radar, who stood to her as someone who would make the team. She was very good at it too.
In my opinion, the TV coverage of pre-season games continues to be the wrong focus. Generally, they start off the game talking about the teams, last year's results and this year's expectations, as they should. They spend a little time talking about some of the roster competition. They then try to treat the game as a regular season game with standard play by play. They get bored because it's not a regular season game and is not played that way, and they begin to tell stories unrelated to what's happening on the field, occasionally breaking in to their stories to mention something about the actual game being broadcast. The majority of the time they can't even be bothered to mention who made the play, much less tell us who's on the field.
My hope is that someday a broadcast team will realize what they're watching, and give more of an individual by individual analysis of the players on the field, the whole game. Put some guys in the booth who aren't afraid to do a little work before and during the game. There is so much to watch for during every play. Know the team, focus on roster competition, point out the players who've made good plays, good blocks by linemen, running backs and wide receivers, good angles and solid tackling by defensive backs. The extra things that make the difference for the coaches making the decisions. It's all right out there for them to see and comment on, every play, all game long.
They really need to have people in the booth with a focus that is similar to John Keim, Rich Tandler, etc., Commentators who are focused on analysis of each individual player, their current status on the team, how they've performed in practice and camp so far, and how they're performing right now, while we're watching, all game long. That's the video your network is broadcasting. For most fans that's the only time we get to actually see the players in action prior to the season. Talk about what's going on on the field in detail, rather than giving a cursory play by play and waxing nostalgic about their playing days many years ago.
I enjoy watching pre-season games to get a feel for position competition, injury recovery, bubble players, etc. My mom used to have fun identifying a player, who was on no one's radar, who stood to her as someone who would make the team. She was very good at it too.
In my opinion, the TV coverage of pre-season games continues to be the wrong focus. Generally, they start off the game talking about the teams, last year's results and this year's expectations, as they should. They spend a little time talking about some of the roster competition. They then try to treat the game as a regular season game with standard play by play. They get bored because it's not a regular season game and is not played that way, and they begin to tell stories unrelated to what's happening on the field, occasionally breaking in to their stories to mention something about the actual game being broadcast. The majority of the time they can't even be bothered to mention who made the play, much less tell us who's on the field.
My hope is that someday a broadcast team will realize what they're watching, and give more of an individual by individual analysis of the players on the field, the whole game. Put some guys in the booth who aren't afraid to do a little work before and during the game. There is so much to watch for during every play. Know the team, focus on roster competition, point out the players who've made good plays, good blocks by linemen, running backs and wide receivers, good angles and solid tackling by defensive backs. The extra things that make the difference for the coaches making the decisions. It's all right out there for them to see and comment on, every play, all game long.
They really need to have people in the booth with a focus that is similar to John Keim, Rich Tandler, etc., Commentators who are focused on analysis of each individual player, their current status on the team, how they've performed in practice and camp so far, and how they're performing right now, while we're watching, all game long. That's the video your network is broadcasting. For most fans that's the only time we get to actually see the players in action prior to the season. Talk about what's going on on the field in detail, rather than giving a cursory play by play and waxing nostalgic about their playing days many years ago.