I confess, football doesn’t interest me very much, never has. But I’m an America and I live in America. So I can’t escape it.
When I was in junior high school and high school I played in the marching band. That required me to attend every football game so we could provide half-time entertainment. We were so good, however, that I suspect some people came to the games more to hear us play than to see the game itself.
That’s the only time in my life that I ever watched football regularly. Of course, we played a bit of touch football in gym class, but that was it. I attended one football game in college. I was in the band. When one half of the band finished a tune eight bars ahead of the other half, that’s when I decided to blow this pop stand.
When I was in graduate school at SUNY Buffalo a roommate bequeathed me a small B&W portable. I watched a number of football games on it. This was during the O. J. Simpson years and I’d watch the Bills games to see him run. He was sensational. Football I didn’t care about, human excellence, that’s another matter.
After that, sure, every once in a while I’d catch a game. At least I assume I did. As I said, I’m living in America. Then, for some reason, a couple of weeks ago I decided to catch a play-off game on Netflix. Why? Why not? So I watched the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m from Pennsylvania, so that inclines me toward the Steelers. (The name “Franco Harris” sticks in my mind, so I must have watched some games when he was playing). I sent to school in Baltimore, which would tip me toward the Ravens, thought it was the Colts in Baltimore when I was there (Johnny Unitas as QB). Fact is, I could have cared less who won. Didn’t even watch the fourth quarter.
A week later it was the Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs. I made it the whole way through on that one. But I would hardly say I watched the game. Us, I did watch it, in fits and starts. But I also cruised the web doing this and that.
Which brings up a question: Let’s say the total elapsed time from the beginning of a game to the end is two to two-and-a-half hours. Only an hour of that is game time, which is interrupted for various reasons for varying amounts of time. During those interruptions we’re either getting some kind of commentary on the game, or we’re getting commercials. Add up the total time devoted to the game and commentary on the game. Add up the total time devoted to commercials during the broadcast. What’s the ratio between the two? My guess is that game time would be the larger number, but I’d guess the ratio is closer to 3/2 than to 2/1 in favor of game time.
So, I guess we could say that the commercials exist so that we can watch the game. But it could easily go the other way. Of course, if you’re a football fan, and so heavily invested in the game, that that’s certainly your priority. But if you’re not a fan, then it could almost go the other way.
Which brings me to the real reason for this note: the commentary. That fascinates me. I’m interested in it as a perceptual and cognitive activity. As I understand it, we generally have two commenters, one commenting on the action (play-by-play) and the other commenting on this and that. I believe the second is doing color commentary.
The play-by-play commenter is expected to comment on what’s happening as it happens. That requires them to have had a great deal of experience watching football games, more experience than I’ve had. You have to be able to instantly recognize hundreds of different patterns of activity and associate them with appropriate verbal comments. This is not a time for careful deductive reasoning. It’s an associative process. The commentary must be so fluid as to be of a piece with the perceptual act.
I wonder how long it takes to develop this capacity to the level we see in professional commentators? 10,000 hours? I don’t know. Let’s do a quick calculation. Ten thousand hours works out to something less than 5000 games, somewhere between 4000 and 4500. Let’s say it’s 100 games a year, two games a week. That’s forty to forty-five years. That’s possible, but I think the pros get in the game well before that. So it’s not 10,000 hours. It’s less than half that.
And then there’s the color commentary. That doesn’t have to track the action moment by moment, so it’s not constrained in that way. But still, it’s not an occasion for deductive reasoning. The commentator has to have access to a large range of relevant information about the players and the game, past and present, and come up with relevant bits and pieces in a matter of seconds. So it’s still pretty much an associative process.
And THAT, those last three paragraphs, that’s why I’m writing this not. As for the rest, why note? It’s context.
