Gamecast

Once a year, the Bears seem to have a Thursday night game. Thursday night, when I am at the library.


So I am sitting with my paper, due Sunday. But I have Internet, so I go to the gamecast at ESPN.com. You get a little picture of a football field. Wait, here is how they advertise it:

The screen refreshes and tells you what happened on the last play. Not the same as watching the action, but it is something. I have been known to watch it on my Blackberry during our Annual Convention, which is generally during the playoffs.

Then I remembered that the game is on the NFL network. So I Google it and find a webcast. Four guys in the studio. Oh – there’s the game. I grab my headphones and wonder how I am going to keep from screaming at the game in the library.  I needn't have worried.  They show 30 seconds of the game and then go back to the studio. And then talk to the guy on the sidelines. And go back to the studio to recap the first drive. What? “NFL.com LIVE” is mostly watching the cast in the studio talking about the two teams that are playing while they are playing. Instead of watching the actual game.

I left both windows open. And they were rarely in the same place at the same time. The good news there is that ESPN told me that Robbie Gould made that 50-yard field goal so I actually watched it.

I expected better of the NFL Network.