Readers of this blog know that I am quite restrained in public expression, but it is all I can do to keep from letting loose a string of invectives regarding the National Broadcasting Company.
We have already discussed how frustrating it was that those of us who live in the U.S. did not get to see the Nadal-Soderling match live. And today, we were deprived of seeing both the Gonzales-Soderling and Federer-Del Potro matches live.
At least one (and perhaps both) of these matches were available live on ESPN 360, but I cannot access ESPN 360 because my ISP is Charter, another entity that that has occupied a top slot on my hate list for some time.
I am so sorry, NBC, that Andy Roddick and James "the fake" Blake were not in today's semifinals. They weren't, and they probably never will be, but perhaps you have heard of Roger Federer? Here were two of the biggest matches imaginable, and I have to follow them on an electronic scoreboard, and watch them on television after the fact.
14 comments:
I don't know where you live, but you may want to double check this. Both finals are live on NBC on the east coast. They're also NOT being broadcast on ESPN360, if that's any consolation. :)
So I just checked the listings again--and they had changed. As of yesterday, the NBC listing I had, plus my local listing, plus my cable company listing, did not have the finals scheduled to be live. Now they do. That is great, but it also brings up another issue, which is that the listings are totally unreliable. They change, literally, all the time.
Thanks, Anon, for bringing this to my attention. It does little, however, to mitigate my fury toward NBC (though I have edited the post, thanks to you).
"Great minds" think alike, Diane. I committed a great deal of time to slicing up NBC today, too. ;)
Today's coverage -- let's just call it the WORST EVER -- was bad enough, but for it to occur on a day in which neither ESPN nor TC had live coverage to take up the slack (were PREVENTED from having it is more like it, I guess) is truly astonishing.
It's like the network lives in it's own little bubble.
if it is an emergency - I switch to live Internet streaming (pirate, of course). I know it's not right... but missing some epic match because of some stupid TV schedule is a crime! :/ it's unacceptable. especially because we live in telecommunications era!
I often do (legal) live streaming, but I just didn't bother this morning--my luck with that is so inconsistent.
How is James Blake a "fake"? I'm not too familiar with him but he always struck me as being a pretty genuine person. What am I missing?
Yes please tell, how is James Blake a fake? Do you know something that the tennis world dosen't know? Safina's not arrogant but James Blake is a fake....
I don't like the way Blake represents himself in some cases because it is just not accurate. His writing is a good example. But what especially irritated me was his continued passive-aggressive support of the J Block's inappropriate behavior. Yet the mythology surrounding him is that he is such a
"stand-up guy."
An argument could be made about the fake aspect of his tennis, too, but I'll leave that to someone else :)
Inappropriate behavior? "Myth" of him as being a stand-up guy? His passive aggression when it comes to his fans or the "J" block. Do you know this person personally? or do you "SEE" want you want to see.
Anon, there has been a lot of contention about the J Block's behavior, including the (legitimate) complaints of Blake's opponents. I've watched probably all of Blake's on-air interviews about the J Block's behavior, too, and I stand by what I said.
Of course you stand by what you said about James Blake and his fans and Serena Williams and her attitude. Thats what you want to "SEE" and thats what you write about. Everybody else gets a pass because they never have attitude and their fans are always courteous, thoughtful and well behaved.
Well, you're wrong there. I am not a particular fan (meaning I am emotionally neutral) of Serena Williams; I simply don't think she's arrogant when she says she's the best in the world. But--as I noted--I do think she's inappropriate when she (or anyone) fails to give her opponent any credit, as was the recent case with Kuznetsova.
So perhaps you saw what you wanted to see?
Different things bother different people. Serena and Maria, for example, annoy the hell out of some people, but--for the most part--they don't annoy me. Jelena annoys people, and I totally understand why, but she doesn't annoy me.
If you really read this blog--or any of my other writing over the years--then you are already aware that I do my best to stay away from black-and-white thinking, and other rhetorical fallacies.
Sure you don't. And what lovely comments Safina made about how good her opponent was today. Safina gave her no credit at all and she gets a pass, tell me another country story.
I do "give a pass" to statements like "She deserved to win," and "All credit to Sveta." Obviously, you wanted more--fine. But I consider such statements as giving credit, and I don't think that makes me unreasonable. (Nor have I felt a need to resort to sarcasm.)
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