New Media and Our Consumption of Sports
by TB on Nov 12, 2010 9:01 AM CST
in Enhance Your Experience
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PrintIn previous posts, we've taken a look at the general evolution of how we watch and follow sports and used the magic DVR machine to go back and analyze a big gain in the Oklahoma State game. Just today, we posted our first podcast on this site. It's a brave new world at BOTC, only three years behind most of the other blogs.
That said, we haven't really talked much about how we actually view sports these days. Of course, there's always the option of going to the game itself, assuming you live somewhat near the venue and can afford a ticket. For decades, TV was the next best option, as you could at least see the action unfolding even if you weren't there. That was limited, however, by whether the game was on, which was an issue when broadcasts were very limited back in the 1980s and 1990s. I never would have imagined the day when 10 of K-State's 12 games would be on TV and every single basketball contest would be available, but here we are. Assuming your school or team had a good radio broadcaster, listening on the radio could work. The good radio guys from back in the day described the action so well a lot of people felt like they really were there.
One other aspect of how we view the actual games is the people with whom we watch them. KSB touched on this in an excellent essay where he talked about listening to K-State games on the radio with his dad. I can describe some of my best memories of games based more on who I enjoyed the game with, rather than the actual game action itself. There was last year, when mystman995 came to Manhattan and we all met the Rock M crew before and after the game. We could talk for hours about the weekend in Austin when K-State beat Texas in 2007. Or maybe my sophomore year in college when a huge group of us got together at the house where four of my friends lived and watched the agonizing loss to Texas in Austin. Perhaps it was the last-minute decision to go to Kansas City with my friend Dave that December and watch the Cats take on undefeated Oklahoma. Maybe it was later that evening, when I saw the 65-year-old man next to me at the game hold back tears because he never thought he'd see the day when K-State would win a conference championship.
To be sure, all of those are great memories. But technology has also enabled us to interact with so many people beyond our close circle of friends before, during and after games. When I put together the open game threads, I submit them for distribution with a two-sentence description. Often, I write something along the lines of "join the BOTC open thread. It's like watching the game with all your friends and not having to clean up after them." In a lot of ways, that's what the Internet has allowed us to do. First there were message boards, which allowed essentially live discussion of the game, although in a somewhat choppy and stunted manner. Instant messaging could be a way to discuss the game with someone who was somewhere else, assuming you both had a computer handy to your TV or radio.
But blogs, especially blogs with live comment updating, have taken things to another level as far as in-game interaction. We routinely have several hundred comments by dozens of contributors in the game threads now. And with mobile devices, you can get the best of all worlds. You can be at the game live, with the thousands of other fans, and still discuss the game with a relatively small group of (somewhat) like-minded people. Or if you're stuck out of town on business while the game is on, you can feel a little more like you are still there. Maybe you're an alum who has moved to a different part of the country. Whatever the circumstances, you feel more like you're part of the community you've chosen when you watch the game. As far as these things go, it's the best replacement for actually living near a bunch of other fans of the same team and having them over for the game.
And even better, you don't have to buy them all food and drinks.
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Great post TB
And good work on the podcast. Would definitely welcome more in the future. A great way to spend 45 minutes in the car or at the gym.
Just wanted to thank you guys for what you do here. Have been a long time lurker and only recent contributor, but I find BotC far and away the best of the KSU sports oriented sites. I live in NY so occasionally my friends do get sick of detailed discussions of a team they have absolutely no reason to root for. This place allows those discussions to take place and the community that posts here tends to be just as knowledgeable and a lot more reasonable than on the boards. So thanks. And keep it up.
Now where the hell are links for the day?
Good work TB, on the article and the blog (PJ and BC and KSB too)
I’m not sure how I found this blog, but I’m so happy I did. Even since I’ve been here I’ve seen the growth with all the new people coming in and contributing, and it has been great.
I actually prefer to watch football games on TV. Yes, even though I live in Manhattan. I think going to (and leaving) the games are a huge pain and of course, the tickets are not cheap, and neither is parking, nor the commitment to at least half a day for a single game. Yes, I understand that this may make me a poor fan in some people’s eyes, but I do contribute, both here on the blog, and by donating to the Ahearn Fund. Another great part about watching on TV? Assuming I’m not at a party, I’m on BOTC talking with you guys about what is going on. (However, that does rather limit a favorite hobby of using DVR to avoid commercials.)
The bball games I went to last year (thanks Ben!) were all great fun. It helped that all the ones I went to (speed-bump very early, T A&M, Nebraska) were all wins, but I thought everything went much easier (never mind cheaper) than at football games. However, while I was there, I kept thinking “I wonder what the BOTC guys (particularly BC) think of what is going on or the previous play or that foul call”. The engagement I have with this site is amazing and I know BOTC has made me a better and more knowledgeable fan. From BC and his bball analysis, KSB and his articles over many subjects, Furnace (one of the new guys I’m delighted to have joined) and his trips down memory lane, to the general discussions we all have about KSU sports, this site has been a great find for me.
Yeah, I’m a graduate student so my schedule is very flexible, but I’m always checking to see what new things have been posted, or what comments have been made on what already exists to further my knowledge about sports in general and KSU sports in particular.
The gameday threads are always great fun, even in losses, but I keep coming back for all the other content BOTC has.
Fire Chris Cosh!
Well thanks, Sean!
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and shots as well! I am a distance grad student right now, and will be back on campus this spring, so I’m in a very similar situation to yours. I do, however, prefer the game day atmosphere of BSFS to just watching on TV.
"Coaching a football team is the most engrossing thing in the world. It is playing chess with human pawns." --Walter Camp
by K. Scott Bailey on Nov 12, 2010 1:56 PM CST up reply actions
I prefer being at the game
Mainly because I’m always tailgating. I think that is what I love the most, is the tailgating, which, if you think about it, you can do at home as well. But there is just something, for me, about going to the game.
I also like “contributing” to victories with my voice by yelling till I can’t talk anymore. Of course any losses are completely on the team.
I also think that my time in the band makes gameday extra special for me because I enjoy watching the band perform, something you cannot do at home. Also, it is like a trip down memory lane everytime I enter that stadium.
As for bball, I’ve only ever been to one game as a fan, and that was the KU game when we broke the streak. I was one of the first on the floor when the game ended. AWESOME. For me, I thin kthat is the single greatest KSU sports moment in my memory. The atmosphere was electric, and it felt like the Coliseum was going to crash on our heads the closer to the end of the game we got and we maintained our lead. Not even the Nebraska of Oklahoma in 2003 match it, for me. There was just so much meaning attached to that game. And I’m not even that much of a bball guy!
Forward into Battle
by ChrisP Wildcat on Nov 12, 2010 2:20 PM CST up reply actions
How the conversation goes in my house:
Wife: Dude, are you on BOTC? Why can’t you talk to me about the game?
(I put down the ipad)
Me: I blah blah blah about blah blah blah. What do you think?
Wife: (rolls eyes) I think you should ask BOTC.
Every damn game.
by BlackCats on Nov 12, 2010 1:54 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Football vs Basketball
It’s just not feesable for me to make a trip to Manhattan on a Wednesday night more than once in a season for a basketball game. If I had basketball season tickets, that’s what, 16 trips to manhattan in 4 months? Not that trips to Manhattan are a bad thing, but you can understand how it’s financially and conveniently easier to make 6 or 7 trips on Saturdays (or in this season’s case one Thursday) work out. Now until I get a stellar pay raise, I doubt it would even work financially to ever be a season ticket holder of both sports, and since I was born in 1985, I was raised on K-state football, so that will always be my preference. In fact it’s hard for me to get into basketball season during football season if we’re still relevant (after N. Texas I’ll be totally into basketball in the off times before the bowl, and for sure after teh bowl).
That’s just how it was for me, especially during most of my college career (last two years were Huggins and year 1 of Martin) we played boring non-cons, and school was always hard core at that time with projects. So I often just bought (which was available at the time) the conference only ticket packages for basketball, because after my freshman year I realized I only went to 1 or 2 non con games.
And if you haven’t realized my “I’m cheap” theme, we don’t have cable, so last year that meant listening to AM radio basketball for a lot of games. But like tonight I love me some ESPN3.com, which looks like will help me hold off on satelite/cable a few more seasons as we level out some other areas of the finances.
But I do try to make it to at least 1 basketball game a year in person. Last year was 2, A&M because it was before school was in session and my little bro got me a free ticket from a friend who wasn’t going to be in town yet, and then the first game we played at the Big 12 tourney (advantage to living close to the KC metro). So this year it will probably be Sprint Center only games. For sure UNLV, and hopefully the Gonzaga game (because they’re like the only other team I cheer for other than my Cats so it’s neat their paths cross)
You ARE one cheap sumbitch, aren't you? :)
"Coaching a football team is the most engrossing thing in the world. It is playing chess with human pawns." --Walter Camp
by K. Scott Bailey on Nov 12, 2010 7:00 PM CST up reply actions
Yea, or just a target saver
Meaning, I try and make certain things happen, so to make those happen knowing what I have to cut out…for instance I probably could travel to any bowl game this year if we didn’t go to Europe…And I want to try and make a big 12 south road game 1 a year in fb to see my old college roomate…that king of stuff
But I know you were just giving me a hard time KSB!
Priorities, priorities! :)
"Coaching a football team is the most engrossing thing in the world. It is playing chess with human pawns." --Walter Camp
by K. Scott Bailey on Nov 13, 2010 10:07 AM CST up reply actions
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