NBCOlympics.com offers a unique take on the Olympic games and the way they are broadcasted

SCOTT JACOBS

We’ve all asked this same question at one point or another since we became a sports fan: What would it be like to hear the announcers doing play by play for the game, while we’re at the game? The answer inevitably never comes. But flip the script: ever wondered what it would be like to watch a game from home on your computer without the announcers? It’s like you’re there, only without the whole, Beijing part.

Having missed the much hyped USA-China duel in Beijing yesterday morning, and unable to watch highlights on ESPN, I was searching for a way to see something from the game. That something took me to NBC’s official online coverage of the games: NBCOlympics.com.

Well aware that NBC was going for the most coverage ever of an Olympic games, I had known about the site, but this was to be my first venture onto it.

Wow, what a cool site. NBC had everything covered. Want to watch live archery at 3 am on a pretty nice quality picture from your computer? Sure, take your click!

How about rowing, synchronized swimming, whatever was playing live in Beijing that you couldn’t see from home, you could watch from your computer. When NBC said they had these games covered, they literally meant from head to toe. It was like watching March Madness on Demand all over again, only the picture quality was good.

Finally I found the US men’s basketball video, and I excitedly clicked onto it. They had highlights, meh. And they had the whole game. I wanted to see and hear the game and how it went down, so I quickly went for the latter.

And that’s when I was delivered a sports experience unlike anything I can ever recall.

The video started playing, and you could hear the warm ups, the anxious crowds, and even a little bit of the players talking. What you didn’t hear: the announcers. I watched to see if the announcers were just waiting to let you take in some of the sights and sounds of the games, but no, they were nowhere to be heard.

This was it. This was the first game I’d ever seen without announcers.

Of course, the scoreboard and time were posted neatly in the left corner so you knew what was going on, but the rest was up to you.

There was no commentary, just the roars of “China, China” and “ooo, ahhh.” I can’t recall how odd it was. It sort of reminded me of the first time I went to a Marlins game, and I asked my dad, what happened to the announcers. “Son”, he told me. “You can’t hear the announcers when you’re at the stadium.”

Here I was yesterday, watching the game from home, and there was no announcers.

All of a sudden, I really had to pay attention if I wanted to truly be able to follow the game. There was no Doug Collins to point out that the US was taking some ill-advised shots. No Mike Breen to scream “Bam!” when Yao Ming nailed the first three pointer of the game. No sideline reporter to ask the coach at halftime, how do you feel. It felt, all wrong.

Yet here it was. The game in it’s purest form. Kinda.

A part of me felt like I was there. A part of me felt a little lost.

I was ready to walk out at the end of the first and go to the hot dog vendor. Of course, there are no hot dog vendors in my house. And my house is light years away from China. But watching this game, this all important game, without announcers, sort of took out the hype.

It made me wonder: would pro sports succeed on TV without announcers? Sure, we love to bash them and ridicule them for the ridiculous things they say sometimes, but think about it: sports in its purest form, not live, is kind of uh, boring.

There, I said it. Boring.

This comes from a die hard sports fan, who watches practically every sporting event known to man. But the truth is this: if you’re not at a game, and if there’s no announcers it’s hard to stay focused on a game. Because there is no announcers to tell you how important this foul shot is, or how bad of a pick that guy just set.

If you don’t watch every second, you don’t know what’s going on.

I made it to the end of the first half, when I said enough is enough. Team USA dunked their way to victory over a Chinese team that stuck around early but was exposed late.

After watching the first half without announcers I found the video of Mike Breen and Doug Collins recapping all the action. Ahhhh. That’s more like it.

Love em, hate em, don’t care for em: we need our announcers in a need to know now world. So next time you go to curse out your play by play guy for saying, “If they score more points I like their chances,” remember: your television and internet would be a lonely and confusing place without them.

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