Look, as a writer with a journalism background, I know the cards are stacked against me.
I know the financial foundations of print journalism and book publishing are being shaken to the core by the emergence of the Internet. More and more, the average online news consumer chooses to consume images as opposed to words. I get it. I’m not averse to a sports news world filled with more moving images. Live and learn, Darwin, and all that jazz.
BUT I refuse to see the world of the written world crumble at the knees of horrible videos like this.
What is this, you ask, your cursor warily hovering over the hyperlink. It is pure pablum, my friend – Fox’s “season preview” for West Virginia, which is just like every other mind-bendingly dumb preview it made for other major college programs.
They all employ the same formula:
1) Get Muzak-style Aerosmith or MC Hammer instrumentals
2) Superimpose them on quick-cut highlights, mostly from the team’s blowout wins
3) Offer NO commentary or information other than the name of than last season’s team record and how it performed in its bowl game:
There’s nothing “pre” about these clips. It’s all looking back.
What especially irks me is that Fox has the manpower to do better, but apparently doesn’t want to invest the time into going the extra meter. I believe if an outlet has enough resources to put one of these together for every single major NCAA team, it should put forth the effort to offer its viewers some extra information which actually pertains to the upcoming, not past, season. Instead, useless footage is regurgitated (Michael Dyer highlights, for instance, weigh into Auburn’s preview). No wonder hardly any of the tens of thousands of these videos’ viewers have chosen to “like” them on Facebook. Here, Fox treats us as if we were composed merely of eyeball, lizard brain and finger.
OK, I’m done fuming.
I’ll let Fox go back to caring more about the NFL and Champions League soccer now.
In the meantime, here’s one of the coolest promotional teasers I have ever seen for a college program. It just happens to be for Arkansas.
