It was get-our-pumpkins day here at the MSR main household so I pretty much missed the NFL in real time Sunday, leaving me with a lot of catch-up viewing as I settled in to watch the Bears dismantle the Vikings. With all the headlines screaming not about the Niners’ upset win over the Lions but some apparent scuffle between the head coaches, I went default and hit the ESPN recap of the Niners-Lions to see what happened.
Here’s what I did see: A few IBM commercials, a Farmers Insurance commercial and some ESPN folks talking about the scuffle, but no actual video of the fracas itself. Though several of the video headlines on ESPN’s Lions-Niners page mention the postgame bout (gotta love that sportswriter copy-edit classic: “Tempers Flair Following 49ers’ Win”) none of them show the actual footage — even the one titled “Coaches Scuffle” is just the two coaches talking about their embarrassing encounter.
No money shot. No video. I understand what ESPN wants me to do here. Leave the website, and go turn on my TV. Where I will watch SportsCenter for an hour.
OK, did that. Then I got back to the computer and tried to find the video online. Next default move was a Google search, which turned up a YouTube video that had already been pulled down due to NFL copyright infringement. Strike two.
For my third choice I went to where I should have gone first and where sports fans should increasingly turn to when it comes to breaking news — check the Twitter trending list, and simply (like I did) click on “Jim Schwartz.” Within seconds I had several different news-station feeds and replays, closeups of the “fight,” takes and commentary… all courtesy not of the “Worldwide leader in sports” but from the new real-time sports network that delivers faster, more comprehensive links to real coverage than ESPN does… right now.
And ESPN… while we’re kvetching let me say that I understand this is a business and I don’t mind watching one online ad before viewing video highlights. But a new pre-roll every time I click on a new link is brutal. In TV land that would be a 30 second commercial for every minute of air time. Like I said before — seems like ESPN’s web strategy is designed to get you to turn off your computer and turn on your TV. Twitter, save us!
Thanks to NFL.com for putting the fracas first in the video highlights. Another new go-to spot instead of ESPN.
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