Reflections, Reflections

So I was watching the national coverage of this big international Track and Field event where the TV people managed once again to irritate me profoundly with a certain practice. You've probably seen this a million times. They place one of their reporters/commentators next to the track to catch every single one of their athletes (same nationality as the TV crew), before the athletes are able to escape to the locker rooms. All for that immediate flash interview right after the athlete has participated in an event. The reporter will always ask one of two questions, depending if the athlete has won or lost. If the latter has lost, the bright lightbulb will stick the microphone to the athletes' face and say with a slight but unmistakable reproachful tone, «So, very disappointed with having lost ? » I mean, seriously. Then they cut back to the studio where all the idiots up there go, "Yes, we are ALL very disappointed that so and so lost our gold medal for us." And if the athlete wins, the stadium reporter will be all peppy and say, « So, are you very excited with having won? » D'uh. First of all, in the no-gold case, just leave them alone, they don't want to talk to a stupid reporter right after having lost. Second of all, whether they win or lose, the continued repetition of solely these two questions gets to be so irritating, since we already know what the reporter will ask and we also know that such questions can only elicit stupid 30 second answers in turn. It's like a show of moronic marionettes, all dancing to the same manipulative hand, which pulls the same string every time. It would be nice if for once, an athlete replied, « So, do you realize that this terribly futile interview circus does not add anything of value for the people watching and 15 million people have just zapped their remote control to surf other channels the minute you opened your mouth. Congratulations to you too.»

Related posts – The fabrication of a false hero.