NFL Draft's tonight! Finally, something sports-related where all involved can stay safe! But it'll probably be Zoombombed by some anti-Semite!
Why are you making the interviewees set up their own stand-up? They're being interviewed, and now you're making these poor young men set up the lighting and the audio for the interview? Like it's their fucking job? Their only job, so to speak, is to be interviewed.
Do you know what this reminds me of? Self-checkout. Grocery stores and convenience stores now are making us do the work they once paid people to do. I heard a comic say this once, and he's so right: If we're doing our own check-out, shouldn't we at least get paid for it? Hey, maybe we can get a small discount on the stuff we bought?
This galls me to an extent I doubt other people would care about, but this self-doing creep is getting out of hand. Yes, I understand these self-standups wouldn't happen if there wasn't this global pandemic. But you know ESPN and other production companies are seeing this as a way to cut costs by cutting down on labor in the future. If you make the interviewees now do the setting up for the interview, you don't need to pay a cameraman or an audio person. So once there's a vaccine and we get back to normal, we may still see people being interviewed do their own stand-up because they're being asked to.
Oh yeah, there's the angle that college athletes aren't getting paid to play football, and now they're not getting paid to set up equipment for their own fucking interview.
The laziness and the cheapness. ...
I'm looking forward to it. But two things.
First ... ESPN has traditionally broadcast the draft, but once the NFL Network got up and running, they have broadcast it concurrently and separately. (Fox jumped in once too -- last year? Two years ago?) Probably because of the ad hoc way this draft has become online and tele- only, both networks have joined forces to broadcast a simulcast. (I don't think Fox is doing anything this year.)
Like it has for the past year or two, ABC is doing its own broadcast, using some of the ESPN personnel. But the coverage of the draft over free TV will be different from that of ESPN. ABC has emphasized that they will talk about the, ugh, stories of the young men drafted. I don't give too much of a shit about their backstories. I want to know why they might be the next superstar in the NFL. But it doesn't look like I'll get the nitty-gritty information that actually pertains to how these players will play in the pros. Instead we're getting the "human interest" dimension. Do you know how some sports die-hards complain that NBC wastes too much of their airtime delving into the stories of Olympians during Olympic coverage? That sounds like what we're getting from ABC for the NFL Draft. And since I can't afford cable, that shit is the only TV coverage I'll get. Hard pass; I'll listen to ESPN Radio through SiriusXM. Hopefully they'll broadcast the draft.
Second ... ESPN et al still wants to interview the college players who are going to get drafted, of course. But how can they do that if they can't have cameramen and sound people come to draftees' houses?
You may have heard of the solution: ESPN sent prospective draftees these production kits that they can set up from home. I went to journalism school two decades ago, so remotes like this were rare, and technology like this wasn't even a glint in someone's eye. But take a look at the contents each NFL player-to-be was sent:
So think about what's going on here. Everybody is self-isolating, so ESPN has sent them what appears to be two boxes with all that shit plus, presumably, instructions. If they do it right, it'll kind of look like the illustration in this story. But they have to do it themselves. Not cameramen, not TV journalists, not professionals, not anybody getting paid -- these draftees and their families and friends and anybody else who would violate any state stay-at-home order.The kits sent to prospects include two Verizon phones, two light stands, a pair of tripods, a headset for interviews and a microphone. One of the phone cameras will be on the entire time until the player is selected while another will be used for interviews with ESPN/NFL Network, Commissioner Roger Goodell and with the teams that pick them.The package also includes hats from all 32 teams, so the players can put on the right one after they’re selected.
Why are you making the interviewees set up their own stand-up? They're being interviewed, and now you're making these poor young men set up the lighting and the audio for the interview? Like it's their fucking job? Their only job, so to speak, is to be interviewed.
Do you know what this reminds me of? Self-checkout. Grocery stores and convenience stores now are making us do the work they once paid people to do. I heard a comic say this once, and he's so right: If we're doing our own check-out, shouldn't we at least get paid for it? Hey, maybe we can get a small discount on the stuff we bought?
This galls me to an extent I doubt other people would care about, but this self-doing creep is getting out of hand. Yes, I understand these self-standups wouldn't happen if there wasn't this global pandemic. But you know ESPN and other production companies are seeing this as a way to cut costs by cutting down on labor in the future. If you make the interviewees now do the setting up for the interview, you don't need to pay a cameraman or an audio person. So once there's a vaccine and we get back to normal, we may still see people being interviewed do their own stand-up because they're being asked to.
Oh yeah, there's the angle that college athletes aren't getting paid to play football, and now they're not getting paid to set up equipment for their own fucking interview.
The laziness and the cheapness. ...
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