Collinsworth Moves to the Booth

Photo courtesy of the NY Daily News.

When the next season of NBC's Sunday Night Football debuts September 13, one household name will be missing. John Madden, famous for his "Boom!", telestrator drawing, and larger-than-life personality, retired earlier this year. Replacing him in the booth will be Cris Collinsworth, shown above. Of the NFL color analysts available, Collinsworth was one of the better choices. Some might say he's too plain for broadcast, but he just gives you straight-up commentary, a welcome relief from some other NFL broadcasting teams. For those that have played Madden NFL 09, you've already heard Collinsworth as the color commentator. Paired with Al Michaels, Collinsworth and SNF should be fine when the Bears and Packers square off on the 13th. Now, if only they could get rid of sideline reporter Andrea Kremer and her stupid, "no duh" questions, then SNF would be the absolute best NFL broadcasting team out there (them and FOX's team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Pam Oliver are my faves).

Here's how Collinsworth sounds in Madden 09 (his voice is the first heard):

Do Young People Care About the Olympics?

I've been asking around (co-workers, friends at church, etc.) who has been watching the Olympics and the answer isn't good. Most have said they don't care about the events or don't know when it's on. One of my co-workers even asked why I only root for the American athletes!

However, according to NBC and Nielsen's early numbers, the Beijing Games have more people in the 18-34 demo watching (22% increase over Athens, 14% over Sydney.) In addition, the Games' median viewing age has been going up from 38.7 in 1992 (Barcelona) to 47.1 in Athens.

One could speculate that the median age increase is due to aging Baby Boomers, but the fundamental question remains the same: Isn't patriotism and rooting for your countrymen universal? Do we not want to see our fellow Americans triumph like the men's swimming team did in the 4x100 relay Sunday night? Do we not want to root for Michael Phelps' attempt for eight gold medals? Most of these athletes (namely everyone besides the basketball players) have day jobs that don't involve their sport or are student athletes (like Phelps', a student at University of Michigan).