Advantages Of TV in Sports
When TV blossomed into the major vehicle for sports, the bigwigs of those sports had two worries: that fans would stop attending games, leading to swaths of empty bleachers, and that people would prefer watching sports to playing them, making
American children fat and slow. Yes, as a nation, Americans may be a couple pounds south of svelte, but it's not sports television's fault. People report that interest in sports is heightened by watching great athletes perform, and young people report wanting to emulate their sports heroes on the playground [source:
Coakley].
Rather than jailing people in front of their sets, sports television inspires people to participate themselves. In the end, television itself has a hand in creating the future of the great sports it shows.
3)Death of the Minor Leagues
Image Gallery: Evolution of TV
Image Gallery: Evolution of TV Television cameras can give you a whole new perspective on your favorite games. See more pictures of TV's evolution.
Scott Boehm/Getty Images
In the stands, a baseball game is about hot dogs, foam hands and soft ice cream that you eat out of a plastic baseball cap. Oh, and there are some guys trying to hit a twine-wrapped cork with a stick way down there on a field. When they do, you cheer or boo.
But on television, it's another story -- you watch from the batter's eyes as the pitcher shakes off one sign, then another, then nods. He spits once, delivers, and you can see the curveball's arc. The batter swings and misses. And then it's time for commercials.
Television hasn't done much to baseball, other than making it more up close and personal -- a story instead of a backdrop for a sunny summer's eve. Other sports have followed similar televised trajectories. Football is full of color, cheerleaders and end-zone dances -- all of which you might miss without television.
But what about those pesky TV timeouts? And instant replay? And changing golf's match play to stroke play?
For better or
American children fat and slow. Yes, as a nation, Americans may be a couple pounds south of svelte, but it's not sports television's fault. People report that interest in sports is heightened by watching great athletes perform, and young people report wanting to emulate their sports heroes on the playground [source:
Coakley].
Rather than jailing people in front of their sets, sports television inspires people to participate themselves. In the end, television itself has a hand in creating the future of the great sports it shows.
3)Death of the Minor Leagues
Image Gallery: Evolution of TV
Image Gallery: Evolution of TV Television cameras can give you a whole new perspective on your favorite games. See more pictures of TV's evolution.
Scott Boehm/Getty Images
In the stands, a baseball game is about hot dogs, foam hands and soft ice cream that you eat out of a plastic baseball cap. Oh, and there are some guys trying to hit a twine-wrapped cork with a stick way down there on a field. When they do, you cheer or boo.
But on television, it's another story -- you watch from the batter's eyes as the pitcher shakes off one sign, then another, then nods. He spits once, delivers, and you can see the curveball's arc. The batter swings and misses. And then it's time for commercials.
Television hasn't done much to baseball, other than making it more up close and personal -- a story instead of a backdrop for a sunny summer's eve. Other sports have followed similar televised trajectories. Football is full of color, cheerleaders and end-zone dances -- all of which you might miss without television.
But what about those pesky TV timeouts? And instant replay? And changing golf's match play to stroke play?
For better or