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A few days ago I waxed poetic about how sports on TV without fans in the stands has been pretty great, which was a surprising development for me as I worried about what sports would like when they came back to empty arenas, stadiums, golf courses etc.
Well, the folks over at Fox Sports apparently aren’t comfortable with just letting us enjoy a game with nobody in the stadiums because on Thursday they announced they’re going to be putting virtual fans in the stands during MLB games this Saturday.
Their little preview video of this looked… creepy. And depressing. And as a friend of mine noted on Twitter, like something out of an episode of Black Mirror.
Right now as I write this I’m watching the Yankees-Nationals game (I write this thing the night before and then publish it in the morning thanks to the power of our publishing system) and at no time during my viewing of this game have I wished that there were fake fans in the stands. If anything, it seems it would be like a huge distraction. There is some fake piped in fan noise and that’s fine. Also, all the empty seats behind home plate just look like any baseball stadium where the seats behind home plate are wildly overpriced.
Over the past month or so as more sports have come back it has been nice to just watch a game or a fight or a PGA Tour event where the event is the only focus of the broadcast. It’s a unique experience that isn’t as great as having fans in the crowd but it is still really darn enjoyable.
Why do people think fake fans in the stands will make the viewing experience any better? I know we live in a time where are attention spans are at their worst (my screen report tells me that each week) but can’t it just be nice to sit here and watch a game and look at our phones and not worry about some video-game looking setting with virtual fans doing whatever virtual fans do in the stands?
Am I the old man yelling at the clouds right now? Is that who I am right now!?
Maybe I’ll end up being wrong about this, which is fine with me. I’m often wrong and I’m ok admitting when I am. Fox Sports after all has done some incredible things in their various broadcasts over the years that have become staples of all other sports broadcasts. So maybe they can pull this off.
But hopefully if it stinks they’ll just throw this idea away and we can go back to watching these games with this new, unique experience of empty stadiums.
Thursday’s biggest winner: Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Was Dr. Fauci’s first pitch before the Yankees-Nationals a good one? No, absolutely not. But who gives a you-know-what about that. The guy has been fighting the good fight for all of us for so long and he should be celebrated for that, though I know some Twitter dummies will still crush him for that pitch. He gets a pass from me, though, and it must have been cool for him to be on the field of his favorite team.
Quick hits: Seattle’s NHL team nails its name and logo… PGA Tour’s Tin Cup-like par… LeBron mocks Washington’s football team… And more!
– The Seattle NHL team announced its name and showed off its new logo and jerseys on Thursday and everyone loved them. For good reason, too, as the whole thing is spectacular.
– Sang-Moon Bae had one of the most ridiculous pars during Thursday’s first round of the PGA Tour’s 3M Classic. Think I’m overstating that? Well, he made par thanks to a 250-yard hole out on a par 5 after putting to shots in the water. That’s some Tin Cup-type stuff!
– Washington’s NFL team has a new name and the franchise showed yet again why it stinks so much. LeBron James had fun making fun of the team.
– Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. are reportedly going to fight each other. For real.
– Oh, and J.R. Smith didn’t bring a lot of underwear to the NBA’s bubble.