Let the AFL Sell Itself
Matthew Pickut
Saturday July 10, 2004
The point is this: anything that tries too hard to impress you will wind up creating an air of disingenuousness. As I watched Arenabowl XVIII, I have to admit I, like Sandomir, was disappointed to encounter the hard sell masquerading as commentary on NBC, but for a different reason.
The ArenaBowl broadcast reminded me of Hooters—the restaurant, not the part of a woman’s anatomy. I hear from a lot of people that Hooters sells great Buffalo wings, and to be honest I like wings. Those who know me know my acts of mass gluttony have littered many a table with chicken bones and empty blue cheese containers, but you know what? If the wings were really that good at Hooters—yes, the restaurant—they wouldn’t need to be named after a slang term that describes a part of a woman’s anatomy in order to get people in the door. Television is filled with this kind of oversell already. Just think of commercials for used cars or anything by Ronco and you will understand what I mean. The advertising can get in the way of the product no matter how pretty the girls are, or how enthusiastic the commentators act.
It’s time the league and NBC had enough confidence to show this sport as it is and call the games straight up. No more saying “these guys are good” or “this is real football,” as if either of those statements mean anything. If the play on the field does not make the point that the AFL and its players are worthy of watching, then vapid statements by the commentators are not going to convince anyone.
Commentators need to handle the AFL the way they handle other sports, with play-by-play that focuses on the action of the game and color commentary that gives meaningful insights into players and on the field strategy. Stories about the people in the game should be reserved for pregame or half time spots unless they help explain something that just happened on the field.
I love a good human-interest story as much, if not more, than the next guy, but without the game itself being worth watching all the good stories in the world do not add up to much. That’s why the Olympics©®&tm; (please don’t sue me for infringement) broadcasts, even though they have great human interest stories, will never make Americans care about events like track and field. Americans simply don’t think that people running in circles is much of an event worth watching—driving in circles is another matter however, we love that—and so all the sappy stories aired during the games fail to inspire interest in the events for more than the few weeks every four years while national pride is at stake.
The kind of approach to broadcasting AFL games I’m talking about requires more work from commentators. You can’t repeat yourself as often and you have to give up empty stock phrases like “real football” or glib analogies that trend more towards exaggeration than towards explanation. The result, however, is that the commentator becomes more believable and the entire broadcast adds to the game as an extension of what is going on between the boards rather than the broadcaster becoming a carnival barker for the league and taking the focus away from the actual game action. This is already being done well in most local markets by the radio stations that carry AFL games and NBC would do well to take the time to listen and learn.
I can remember Commissioner Baker once saying that as the football in the AFL got better the number of hot tubs in the stands went down, and that is the key—the AFL really is a great league that people can fall in love with on its own merits. It grew without NBC because the talent and effort of its players are evident to those who watch the game without the hard sell. New fans do not need all the hyperbole and hype—and if I never hear another player compared to a horse again I’ll be just fine thank you—they simply need to see the game played and hear it explained as it is happening. Have faith and the game will sell itself. It really is that good.
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
