Friday, March 21, 2014

Some Thoughts upon the current state of Motorsports Television viewing...



As I started to scribble in my elongated rant upon the F1 Season Opener Down Under in Bloody 'Oz, those proverbial Hits just keep going on.

 As perhaps it's a sign to Mwah of the impending change not only in Formula 1 but life, as this past January I managed to completely Booger UP my very 'Ol School trusty VCR recording device, which I was still using thru last November's USGP at Austin, Texas, which like always, I've somehow never gotten round to watching, which probably will never occur now...

Y'all S-E-E, (Pun intended) as a legally blind 'Vurd Botcherer Ja Volt! Or Word Butcher, Keyboard Warrior or just plain 'Ol blogger, I've stuck to this nefarious method of recording racing on thy 'Telie since I cannot read the ridiculously small coloured print DVR's utilize. (At least when I last investigated them a few years ago...)

Hence, I've kinda given up on ever recording anything anymore, as its simply too much of a hassle for somebody who CANNOT read today's mushrooming array of teeny, tiny hand held Digital devices.

Which is just one more sign to Mwah that motor racing is going down the toilet... Although I do concur with Tacoma Bureau chief Mary Ellen's assessment that I give up way too easy - as there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with the VCR other than I've done like my late GrandMaMa and scrambled the channel settings masterfully, having NO idea of what buttons I've pushed; YIKES!

Fortunately I'm not part of those emphatic Nielsen ratings contributors, even if I've been watching Open Wheel Racing religiously for over 25-years now, or is it 30? Since instead I'll most likely be switching off when NBCSN fails to provide a Grand Prix (race) replay at a reasonable hour of the day - Can you Hear me now NBC Sports Network?

As 3:30AM Sunday morning (Pacific) isn't gonna do the trick Me thinks! Especially if Yuhs can't even bother showing the whole race-block, i.e.; Pre-race and F1 Extra, both of which were NOT shown upon the race's re-airing - according to my TV Guide.

Thus once again NBC Sports did NOTHING to impress Mwah, besides the unexpected airing of both Friday Free Practice sessions, but I DON'T ever wanna hear them bellyaching over poor TV ratings, since they chopped off the end of the Post-race Qualifying Top-3 interviews - while Leigh Diffey claimed they'd been having a "Technical Issue" when showing us Kevin Magnussen being drowned out by an overhead Helicopter  at nearly 12:30AM! Not to mention that the first three Dazes 'O F1 coverage were running in David Letterman's middle 'O the night time slot.

while is it just Mwah? Or is it a sign of just how little F1 cares about the US market since I  find it really disgusting to have Tony Siragusa  telling me how to Guard my Manhood; Err "Shield my Leaks;" Aye Karumba! Whilst shilling for Depends being played twice during the first half hour of 'Qualie coverage with nearly every commercial break running a promo for NASCAR coming to NBC in 2015; BARF!


Yet then again, I suppose I shouldn't be railing on 'bout NBCSN, since once again, having thought that the long overdue Sports Cars Mergification would lead to better TV coverage upon that BASTARDIZED SPEED channel; Err Fox Sports-1; NOPE! Apparently I turned on the 'Telie too late in the morning since there weren't NO Sebring 12 Hours race on; as Earth to TV Executives, I DON'T wanna have to chase some car race around Zed Internetz - where I have NO idea where to look, or pulling I-T up upon some 3-inch Smartfone screen for said device I DON'T own, or planning on upgrading to anytime soon!

Hmm? Y'all did see that nail-biter finish at Sebring where Marino Franchitti won by just a scant 4.7-seconds, right?

While I won't even get started on the demise of Wind Tunnel and to a lesser extent The Speed Center, which were once weekly stables in my continuous information quest upon A-L-L thingys Motorsports, albeit NOT so much the 'RASSCAR side of the fence, since in years past, at least we could get a fairly succinct race recap of the 12 Hours of Sebring race, etc from that 'LUV-able 'Ol Windbag Dave Despain or Adam "Double-A" Alexander.

thus the long winded point is, that while I get the push for going Digital and pushing for us to pay extra money for DVR service or hand held devices; all things I-powered. It seems to me that the Television Channels cannot have it both ways; constantly droning on 'bout how HORRIFIC IndyCar and F1 ratings are when they aren't willing to air the respective programs in a time slot when the majority of us are awake!

Not to mention having some sort of stable Tuesday morning re-air slot for those of us who can't record the abysmal weekend airings time slots, whilst lastly NOT bothering to show promos for the upcoming IndyCar race yet constantly bombarding us upon NASCAR coming in 2015 and the weekly 'RASSCAR Talk Show.

Like I mean, I haven't even heard yet who ABC's picked for its 2014 IndyCar Broadcast team; Uhm? When's St. Pete? Oh Never Mind!