Plea to Sports Producers

I'll come out and say it right now - I'm a Seahawks fan. When it came time to pick a favorite team, I had the choice of my dad's Browns or the local Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Ray Perkins creamsicle Buccaneers at that. So my dad went away to Seattle on business, came back with a Seahawks shirt and I was hooked. It didn't matter that Rick Mirer or Jon Kitna was starting. 3-13 meant that for 3 Sundays out of the season, I could watch Sportscenter and be proud to see highlights. This, of course, was back when Olbermann and Patrick had highlights, Plays of the Week, and the Sunday Conversation and not the NBA 2nite crew talking about the color of the stool left by Kobe Bryant in the 2nd half (I hear it was green.) It was about Warren Moon leading the Seahawks to a win in the 10,000th game in NFL history.

But something bugged me all last night, and it's a pandemic in sports broadcasting.

Showing the crowd too much.

It's fantastic that these people have enough money to have great seats that are in the field of vision of cameras. But I really don't need to see reactions of people in the crowd after a first down. I don't need to see Rockies fans sitting in Coors Field contemplating which overpass they'll trow themselves off of because the Red Sox won the Series in their ballpark. I'm glad that the 500 pound man in a Darrell Jackson jersey made a SEA-Fence sign. I know he's there. He's been there every home game. I'd be willing to bet that Shamu is under doctor's orders to stay in his seat. So please, STOP. SHOWING. HIM.

I'm not saying stop showing the fans altogether. A touchdown, home run, goal, white out, brawl that ends up in the stands after a fan throws something at a moody player... these are all reasons to show the crowd. But if I'm in agony at watching my team lose, I don't need to see other fans that feel that way. It seemed to me that FOX started this back in 2004 when the Red Sox beat the Cardinals. It might have been sooner, but I have no memory of it. I really don't mind the sponsored Fan Cam or the camera guy showing the 2 blonds that showed up at the game together.