One of the most attractive aspects of sport is the fact that
every event is unique and unpredictable. While other forms of entertainment are
pre-determined, it is sports unscripted nature that attracts spectators,
viewers and fans in their millions. While there is always a place in the
sporting landscape for highlights programmes such as Match of the Day or trips
down memory lane on ESPN Classic, the live element of sport is so important to
it that if it is removed it can diminish the enjoyment that fans take from it.
It was always possible to record games using
a video recorder, but the advent of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and
Video On Demand services such as BBC iPlayer now mean that watching sport “as
live” is easier than ever but it leaves you at the mercy of technology.
The live aspect of sport is so important to me that if I
know the result or a major incident in a match, my interest wanes. It is the
unpredictability that gives me the strength to sit through sometimes
excruciatingly boring passages of play in the hope that something exciting is
just around the corner. The live aspect is also important to me because I
cannot cope with just seeing a result afterwards. Watching a football match for
ninety minutes gives you time to accept the 5-0 thrashing, something that
looking up the score on the internet does not afford you.
Formula One and American Football are but two sports that can
take place at unsociable hours for British fans and watching them live requires
serious discipline or being nocturnal. Before I acquired a PVR I would either
have to watch a repeat, which would leave me in danger of finding out the
result before I viewed the event. Although video recorders were an apt
solution, I found it a complicated and occasionally fruitless procedure whereas
now I can push a button and watch the match at my leisure without fear of
finding out the result.
I did this last weekend for the inaugural Korean GP which
was broadcast on the BBC and woke up eager to view the latest instalment in a
thrilling climax to the 2010 Formula One season. Sky+ has the useful feature of
being able to detect when a programme has been extended and adjusts the
recording accordingly. Sadly, as good as Sky+ is, it is unable to account for
torrential rain and the decision of the BBC to switch channels as the race
overran its original timeslot. As it became apparent that the recording was too
short, I was furious and I was not alone. I checked BBC iPlayer and although
Part 1 of the race had been uploaded (the part that had been shown on BBC One),
but part 2 (the part shown on BBC Two) had not been. In the end, since I am
incapable of insulating myself from the internet and sporting media for longer
than a few hours, I blinked and checked the result and discovered that I had
missed out an eventful end to the race.
Another example of my new found dependence on technology
thwarting me was when I recorded Monday Night Football on ESPN a few weeks ago.
Green Bay travelled to Soldier Field to take on Chicago and a tense game was
approaching a crescendo. Almost exactly at the two minute warning, my recording
ended. This time there was no other way to view the final two minutes so I
looked up the score and saw that the Packers had lost 20-17. The time invested
in watching an event only to miss the end feels all the more wasted when the
ending does not have a happy outcome.
The spread of PVR technology now means that sports fans can
enjoy far more of the action ‘as live’ and has certainly changed the way we
consume sport. The technology means that the live and spontaneous nature of
sport isn’t removed and results in much of the attraction is retained. I can
imagine that many baseball fans are grateful for that this week, given that
much of the World Series will be broadcast while they are asleep.
