By Richard Ray:
The NBA Finals only ended a few days ago and already I miss basketball season. I am so conflicted by the NFL and whether I should be boycotting them related to their boycott of social activism (i.e. Kaepernick). If you have read anything I have written, you may realize that hypocrisy, social injustice and just plain bullying are kind of a big deal to me. Whether that will translate to a full on boycott of the NFL as a product is still to be determined, but in a league where almost universal White ownership and Black players comprise almost 70% of the product, I have a problem where the “owners” still operate a good old boy network related to their chattel.
My socio-political mini rant aside, the subject today is about the sad state of television for the next 2.5 – 3 months. Even as a former player, baseball is about as fun to spectate (aside from the World Series) as watching paint dry. The Yankees being relevant again and rookie phenomon Aaron Judge’s at bat have lead me to watch more baseball in the past 3 weeks than I have in the last 5 years combined, but this will still be the exception not the new rule.
Normally I spend so much time at the beach and/or pool and just outside being active, I do not think of television, but the recent torrential and unusually unending rains made me realize just how bad it is when you pay $1,200 to more than $2,000 a year for cable or satellite services, have hundreds of channels and not a damn thing worth watching is on.
I understand why reality television has become so huge, its relatively cheap to produce and they still have some new shows on during summertime, when everyone else, including staples like HGTV makes you endure re-runs after re-runs. Even all the Dateline ID stories I enjoy, seem to just be on eternal repeat. Clearly I watch too much television (which any insomniac that is routinely up till 3-4am will do).
Thankfully, the rains have relented a bit. I can go back to my more usual outdoor activities. In the meantime I will catch up on a few tv shows that I missed in their entirety over the next few months and wait for basketball and even football (I think) to return.
#television, #HGTV, #ID, #NYYankees, #AaronJudge, #Dateline, #NBAFinals, #NFL, #MLB, #summer
