TV Sports: Gimme a Break

Armchair fans like televised sports. They make Sunday afternoons more interesting and make it possible to enjoy the action without braving inclement weather or paying admission.

Networks also like televised sports. They bring in a lot of viewers and generate advertsing revenue.

Most viewers don't mind "a few words from our sponsors," provided they are relatively brief. After all, those few minutes make it possible to snag another beer from the fridge.

But many fans who actually attend sporting events hate televised sports. Television programmers require referees to create dead time so they can run advertisements. Commerical breaks are a lot more annoying when you're at the game because you can't change the channel.

Yesterday's Harvard-Boston College Beanpot consolation game provided a particularly egregious example of the way television can ruin a decent sporting event. Harvard lost, 4-2, to Boston College and neither team played particularly well. The stands were almost empty, save those few who trickled in early for the championship game between Boston University and Northeastern.

In all probability, no one was tuned into the New England Sports Network's (NESN) broadcast of the game either, especially since Channel 38 was going to broadcast the B.U.-Northeastern game.

But some advertiser purchased NESN time, and those commercials had to run. So virtually every time the referee blew the whistle for a face-off, the Harvard and B.C. players had to sit around twiddling their thumbs for about a minute while the few viewers at home watched a commercial for new cars.

For the most part, the dead time was only mildly irritating. The game itself was marked by less than inspired play, so a few extra minutes here and there made little difference. But in the final minutes of the game, the TV breaks seriously interrupted the game's momentum.

Things were not going well for the Crimson. B.C. Co-Captain Dan Shea had scored his 18th goal of the season to put the Eagles ahead, 3-2, with 62 seconds left in the game. Harvard Coach Bill Cleary took the obvious next step--he decided to pull freshman goalie Michael Francis when the puck was safely in the B.C. end.

Seconds after Francis left the ice, the ref called for a face-off. Harvard now had 51 seconds to win the face-off and score. The Crimson got set B.C. got set. The next minute promised to be very exciting, nailbiting was definitely in order.

But no. NESN needed another commercial break. Everyone on the ice relaxed. Several people started skating in circles. By the time the game got going again, the thrill was gone. Somehow it was predictable that the whole confrontation became irrelevant 14 seconds later when Shea put an 80-ft. slapshot into the empty Crimson net.

Advertisements are necessary to keep television stations solvent so that they can broadcast more hockey games. But creating commercial breaks in ordinarily fluid games is artificial and just plain annoying. And that reduces sports to one long excuse for a commercial.