So: I don't know if I said that I'm in New Orleans at the moment. Being busy and traveling, it has been hard to blog, as always.
I am here for the American Meteorological Society meeting, where on Wednesday I spoke on this panel about science communication. Audio should be available at some point. I'll link it.
And I'm sticking around until next week, when I do a Storm World speech at Tulane University. More info on that here.
But I'm also hanging out with the hometown crowd, and in that context, I recently went to a New Orleans Hornets game. Fun stuff, and the Hornets beat the Blazers, 96-81.
But at the same time, I couldn't help noticing the following three annoyances:
First--and I've blogged about this before--the game opened with a prayer. Gag me. Totally distasteful and inappropriate.
Second, every time there was a three pointer, the announcer described it as an "Entergy Power Shot." Yup, that's right. Someone sold the three pointer to Entergy.
Third, every time there was a blocked shot, the announcer described it as an "H&R Block." No, I'm not kidding. Somebody also sold the blocked shot to the company that does your taxes.
Now, I found all this beyond distasteful. It's like the religious right and corporate America both had simultaneously come in and trashed basketball. ("The Republican War on Basketball"? Hmm...)
And of course, I blame it all on George Shinn...the Hornet's owner, a "Christian businessman" who has tried to put prayer back in the NBA.
As I said, gag me.
- Log in to post comments
Over here in England, when soccer players are announced or a sub comes in, they're sponsored--"John Smith, sponsored by HSBC, comes on for Mark Doe, sponsored by Subway". Hilarious in a sad way.
Chris,
Um look around, you're in the South. Religion there, of all kinds, is much more interwoven in the fabric of life then elsewhere in the country. Hailing originally from Baton Rouge, I see nothing wrong with prayer to start a basketball game. We always have them before SEC football too, which is not exactly a sport of civility. But it does guarantee church going fans two religious expereinces a weekend!
Seriously, why do you think LA has Parishes instead of Counties? And for that matter, don't both Houses of congress open with prayer each day? It's Ok for Senators to pray and not basketball fans?
Yeah, I have been repulsed by all the religious and shameless commercial intrusions into sporting events. I was going to note that these organizations were private when it hit me that many enjoy using facilities that have been publicly funded.
Perhaps there is some constitutional recourse to have at least the overtly religious messages removed, but I doubt it.
There is always a good old fashioned boycott, but unfortunately the owners of these franchises could probably increase their ticket receipts by counter-punching with a pious appeal to religious fans, along the lines of "Religious Freedom Night" or "We're Playing for Jesus Night".
More importantly, you have an out of date picture. That's Rashard Lewis trailing the play in a Sonics uniform, and he jumped to Orlando last summer. Come on, get your basketball trivia up to speed.
Gag me? The San Fernando Valley called. Please return the catch phrase via DHL.
I think you're right to blame the owner. In LA, NBA basketball is plenty commercial, but they haven't sold announcing the three-point shot or the block to sponsors. On TV they have lots of gimmicks (Extreme Slow Motion from so-and-so) but again, they haven't actually tried to brand aspects of the game itself. I doubt most NBA franchises have. It really is enough to make a basketball fan a little ill.
Hey...I live in LA now. I can say gag me all I want to!
I can do you one better on the commercialization. My brothers and I took my dad, a West Point grad, to the Army-Navy football game last fall at the Baltimore Ravens stadium. All through the third quarter they were stopping the game to give out awards in the end zone -- literally like every other play, I've never seen anything like it -- the players would just stand around as the award was announced and handed over. And of course the awards were all sponsored by M&H Bank and Nextel and everyone else. My poor father, who attended his first Army-Navy game in 1935, was pretty much disgusted by the end of the game. The whole thing was kind of straight out of "Idiocracy."
Some things remain sacred, seemingly immune from commercialization, or are they? Public pressure has, at least for now, ended the Golden Gate Bridge Commission's intention to increase revenue by selling advertising, naming, etc. Now, they are trying to close a 5 year, $95 million projected revenue short-fall with a $1.00 per trip toll increase )$5 -> $6).
We will see if that goes over better... my guess is that the answer will be "yes"... but then I don't drive the bridge every day.