AussieRulesBlog just doesn’t understand the fascination with knowing the time remaining in the game.
When there is a tight finish, as there was on Saturday night in the Bombers–Cats clash, not knowing how much time is left maintains the tension right up to the moment that the siren sounds. To our mind, this is far preferable to seeing a countdown clock and knowing that the final ten or fifteen seconds are dead.
Predictably, there were commentators and radio talk back callers complaining that Channel 10 chooses to go with a count-up clock from five minutes to go.
Geelong fans were hoping there was enough time for yet another sortie forward and the opportunity to run over the brave but tiring Bombers. Bombers fans hoped the siren would sound sooner rather than later. So much tension! Such an explosion of joy/disappointment at the siren.
We agree that Channel 10 shouldn’t change their time system at a crucial time of the game. We all survived for many, many years with rudimentary clocks that only counted up and didn’t take account of time-on and we all got through those dark days unscathed.
Perhaps some keen AussieRulesBlog reader will provide us with a cogent and compelling reason to know that the last seconds in the game are meaningless.
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2 comments:
I think it's silly to know how much time is left - I completely agree about the tension. In '09, in the Cats-Saints Grand Final, I was at a bar, and with 5 minutes to go and scores tied (I think) at 67-apiece, you could cut the tension with a knife.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that not knowing the time unites every single spectator and player - the guys on the ground don't know it, the spectators in the stand down know it, and neither should the TV viewers. I love the 5-Minute Warning on Channel 10, and wish 7 would adopt the same system (since I like their commentators more).
G'day again, Navaneethan. It's getting to be like a mutual admiration society here, but I'm OK with that.
Personally, I'd like to see countdown clocks banned, even from the coaches' boxes. It's not going to happen though, because Seven seem committed to a full countdown because the bogans can't manage a little suspense. Likewise Foxtel.
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