I shouldn't complain, since most airlines wouldn't dream of showing you personalized television, but the stations I would most enjoy conspired last night to prevent anything especially interesting from reaching me. Instead:
Comedy Central showed a roast about which the less said, the better. At least three people at that event desperately need to be politely ignored forever. Shame especially on a particular ESPN columnist for using an entire piece to whore out publicity for that show.
Game Show Network devoted half an hour to amateur-quality pool hustling. Why not turn beer-league softball into a game show?
I did realize one thing from their Celebrity Blackjack telecast: Blackjack is a surprisingly boring game. At least, the optimal strategy is very straightforward and uninteresting. Compared to this, hold em poker really is interesting and complex, hence the craze.
ESPN Classic's "Top Five Reasons" gimmick is severely grating. I couldn't give a rat's tailbone what particular sports columnists have to say after the fact -- show me the primary source. In fact, the best content from ESPN Classic shouldn't be randomly doled out to arbitrary time slots (or worse yet rationed and hoarded, as opposed to the crap that's typically on Classic if you flip there any given moment), it should be available on demand. Wouldn't [insert Game 6 here] make a lot more money if people could pay $5 to see it whenever they wanted to than it does on marginal ad revenue whenever it does happen to be shown?
As for contemporary ESPN: Apparently Terrell Owens did something lately I should care about one way or another.
Posted by Matt Bruce at August 16, 2005 12:18 PMI've never really understood the appeal of blackjack for exactly that reason - it's one step above slot machines in the entertainment scale.
I guess that's not true - I do understand the appeal of blackjack, which is that it has a reputation of being the game where you can beat the house. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of players can't, that's still enough to make them want to play it. On the other hand, I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch it on TV.
Posted by: David at August 17, 2005 12:32 AMAnd on a related note, I did once see some sort of blackjack championship on TV, and the thing that struck me as most ridiculous about it was that the two competitors weren't even playing against each other, they were sitting at different tables. I didn't watch for very long.
Posted by: David at August 17, 2005 12:34 AM