The last time we saw Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday Night Football, he was walking off the field the loser. Tonight, whilst playing through an injured ankle and a broken nose, he walked off the field the victor in a hard fought game that epitomized one of the most brutal rivalries in all of football. Chris Collinsworth and Al Michaels knew this game was a big one and showed up with more passion than ever before; which, for two guys that could very well be living in some kind of pot-fused thirty-year-long hangover, that’s not saying a whole lot.
An interesting difference between ESPN and NBC unveiled itself during this game, and in the last game that Roethlisberger played in on Sunday Night Football. On ESPN, it seems like at least once a week, if not more, Roethlisberger is being sacked by this analyst or that analyst over actions that he was never proven to have convicted. What really seems odd is that the prevailing thought over at ESPN these days is that it’s time to forgive Michael Vick, a guy that was, you know, actually convicted of a crime.
ESPN aside, NBC, and particularly Collinsworth and Michaels, are your typical sports broadcasters. They like the players, they want them to succeed, and even if it was 100% proven that Ben Roethlisberger raped every single one of their female family members, they’d put it aside for the sake of the game. If you’ve been watching sports television long enough, you know there are two camps: apologists and attackers. I’ll let you sort out who belongs in which camp.
So while this broadcast didn’t revolve around Ben’s off-field “antics” it certainly took (and has taken over the past few weeks) a hard look at the decisions made by the National Football League. The helmet-to-helmet contact ban in particular has been an area of contention on the program; especially in tonight’s matchup where this call was not made in favor of the Steelers. This is particularly enraging for Steelers fans because one of their own (Harrison) has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for the same penalty. Is this something seen in any sport with penalties? Sure. Does that make it any better? Not really.
What I do like about weekly broadcasts like this (Yeah, I know that every football game is a weekly occurrence, shut up) is that it tracks the progression or regression of the sport it covers. You can see this in Sunday Night Football, Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN’s MLS Game of the Week, etc. Whether it’s instant replay, helmet-to-helmet contact, or sensor based goal scoring, programs like Sunday Night Football keep the casual fan in the know about the way their sport is changing.
This was, in my opinion, the best game of the season, hands down. A bitter battle between bruised and broken teams is a mix that can’t be beaten; well, when they’re good teams. The game-calling was great, the shots were on-par with what we have seen all season, and I am really enjoying the web browser player that NBC provides so I can watch the game on my computer instead of trying to wrestle a television away from a family member. Next week, the Cowboys try to take down the Eagles in what could be a tight game. I’m not counting on it, but you never know.
