Sports: Best and Worst for TV

To many of us, sports is a religion, watching it on a daily basis and following our favorite teams passionately through the ups and downs of their seasons.  Sports provides entertainment, giving us the stress reliever we sorely need in our lives, especially when coming home from a busy day at work or taking care of the kids all day.    

Entertainment is the number one goal all sports strive for; to bring the viewer into a sense of being a part of something, making them comfortable and anxious on every play.  However, some sports are made for television, while some are not.

Here is my list for the best and worst sports made for television...(they are not in any particular order and just because they are in the worst for television category, doesn't mean I don't like the sport)


BEST (television)

Football-  Television stations pounce on the opportunity to cover football games.  Football is brilliantly made for television, containing stoppages of play that go to commercial breaks every four downs or so, helpful marks to track where the first down marker or line of scrimmage is as well as a comfortable cushion of time to roll replays.  Hard hits, breaking tackles and long passes are all factors to why football is entertaining to watch.

Basketball-  Similar to football, basketball has its advantages of timeouts that create stoppages of play for advertisements as well as replays, which also can be shown when players are at the free-throw line.  It is a fast-paced game where players fly up and down the court, attempting to make a stop or basket during the 24 seconds they have on the shot clock.  Basketball receives its entertainment from thunderous dunks, three-point shots and cross-over moves.    

Soccer-  Even though many of you will disagree, if you think about it, soccer is decent for television, especially during big tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup or Euro 2012, where everyone in the world is involved watching each match.  Although soccer is not necessarily "made" for television with its lack of commercials and advertisements and stoppages of play, the numbers don't lie, viewer wise; almost half the world, 3.2 billion people, watched the last World Cup in 2010, according to Fifa.com.  The game only stops play during halftime, guaranteed to end on time, which is very beneficial for TV stations looking to not go over the time coverage they have.  Soccer has its non-stop action, and has the one play or goal that can ultimately change a game.

Worst (television)

Baseball-  Lacking movement is not entertaining to the human eye.  The game of baseball possesses exactly that.  No disrespect to baseball or the skill to play the game, but the pace of the game is just too slow for television.  Waiting for something to happen like a hit from a batter, usually takes at least six pitches or more.  Knowing there is no time limit enables the pitcher to go through the motions, which in my opinion, the non-presence of a clock in baseball affects the game's level of entertainment.  I know many of you will say, "Well, soccer shares the same aspects of baseball, waiting for the one goal to change the game."  Well, my response to those people is that at least soccer provides movement, which will at least keep the level of entertainment higher.




Golf-  Another sport too slow for television is golf.  Golf requires a substantial amount of concentration and technique I dearly respect.  However, when it comes to television, it is not entertaining.  The most exciting moment in golf is a hole-in-one, unfortunately, happening once in a blue moon.  Again, exception to that, not much other action in golf will bring in viewers consistently.

Hockey-  Although it contains non-stop action, heavy hitting, fights, crafty moves and laser-driven shots, hockey is not made for television.  The sport is the kind of sport where it is more exciting and better to watch in person.  The main reason why it's not made for television because of the visibility of the puck.  I believe if hockey had a wider and longer area to play on, then it would be better for television, thus giving viewers an eye to the action; too much back-and-forth action can also hurt a sport.