Manning failed to go over the Rivers and wound up lost in the woods in the first post-Thanksgiving Sunday Night Football matchup of the season. At this point in a typical NFL, you have a pretty good idea of who the contenders and who the pretenders are. Tonight’s matchup came between two big time contenders and what resulted was a battle royal of sorts between two of the best quarterbacks in the game today; unfortunately for Colts fans, it was Philip Rivers who manned up for the win today. See what I did there?
Thankfully for us, Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth have opted to continue putting their full effort into calling these games, where many commentators would start to coast until the playoffs this late in the season. They are still lacking in the humor department, but I’ll be damned if they don’t try. These are two of the more knowledgeable football guys in the business, and as a football fan, you can’t put enough value on that. Any sports fan knows that a sports game can be seriously impaired by poor broadcasting, so Michaels and Collinsworth’s campy quips can be easily forgiven.
While the broadcasting is working just fine, you know what doesn’t work? Exterior shots of a dome. There’s really nothing terribly spectacular or beautiful about a bunch of dimly lit steel. How about some in stadium shots? Fan shots? I mean, I know they’re football fans - but part of the fun of nationally televised games is giving some fanatical face-painted maniacs some face time. This may just go to show that Sunday Night Football is a fairly conservative program; or that they’re not interested in loosing one of their camera crews to do nothing but find fans to tape. Either way, they could stand to loosen up a little bit; because this style of filming often leaves the program feeling stale.
However, a game of football can really only be so boring; I mean, we’re talking about a game where giants crush each other while NBC captures it all with Hi-Def cameras and replays it back to us in slow motion. It’s hard to make a game like this stale. With flashy montages and talking heads, Sunday Night Football has, to a degree, turned what was once cutting edge into what is now ‘classic’. I don’t mean that derogatorily; quite the contrary, I think that the ability to make little things like these staples of a football program are a testament to the success of this program.
“Peyton Manning sees lightning bolts in his nightmares” quipped Al Michaels; and he’s probably right. Bob Costas followed up by calling the game a “beatdown” of the Giants by the Chargers. Both commentators are longtime sports broadcasters, but it’s no secret that Bob Costas is the master of all things sports. Every time that man comes on during the halftime and post-game show, I listen. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing or talking about, Bob Costas has earned my respect as a sport’s fans over the past nineteen years of my life. Now, is that in part because I forget that I’m not watching the Olympics half the time? Maybe. But it’s also a huge get by Sunday Night Football to be able to use Bob Costas’ expertise to their advantage week in and week out.
Right now, every game matters. That mid-season lull is fading away, and the excitement is palpable on Sunday Night Football as postseason football approaches. Next week, Big Ben and the Steelers hope to fight off the Ravens in a huge division rivalry that should be a pretty exciting game. I know I’ll be there, and hope you’ll join me next week for Sunday Night Football!
