Revelling In The Roar Of The Crowd

The Age

Thursday September 4, 2008

Richard Hinds

BESIDES building state-of-the-art stadiums that will soon have tumbleweeds blowing through them and stationing three attendants at every toilet block, another way the organisers of the Beijing Olympics spent $50 billion was by putting a television in each room at the media village that provided a direct feed to each event - as well as channels devoted exclusively to strangely meditative single camera shots of the "live action" from the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

So, between assignments, you could tune into anything from taekwondo to table tennis, with one initially disconcerting omission. There was no commentary, just crowd noise.

At the Olympics, where the non-specialist volleyball reporter is constantly scouring program guides or tapping the shoulder of anyone who looks like he might know his dig from his spike trying to find out whether this match is the best of three or five sets, a lack of expert commentary is distinctly off-putting.

However, as your personal knowledge of even the most obscure sports increased over the course of 16days, it became quite liberating to watch and analyse sports as you would in the grandstand - without the inflammatory, often unnecessary hyperbole of professional broadcasters skewing your judgement; with only the roars of the crowd intervening in that split second between sight and thought.

No guttural exclamation to let you know you really did see something spectacular. No anguished cry to ensure that you didn't miss the tragedy that had unfolded before your own eyes. No overly judgemental criticism or ludicrous excuses made for an athlete who had quite clearly had a shocker.

As sports commentary goes, the 30stations on the Beijing Olympics feed provided some of the best I haven't heard. A time when silence really was golden.

Which, returning to a more appetising, if somewhat less exotic diet of AFL football finals, has made it difficult to readjust the senses; to again have my thoughts about a game dictated to by commentators rather than being created in my own headspace. And, after this commentator-free hiatus, you become acutely aware of just how much your opinions are influenced.

The most obvious means is by the creation of commentary-box wisdoms. For example, eager to have a narrative that runs through the game, it is beholden on many commentators to seize upon a player who does well early and henceforth highlight his every kick, handball, tackle and smother, therefore fulfilling their own prophecy that he was "really switched on tonight".

Yet, with the sound down, that same first-quarter hero often becomes a bit part player as the game wears on - a concession a commentator who has made a heavy investment in his starring role will be almost painfully reluctant to make.

Then there are the times when commentators and experts willfully attempt to influence the viewer's opinion, sometimes to the point that you wonder if they realise we can see the action, too. The most obvious example is the urge to play judge and jury on incidents likely to go to the tribunal.

For the apologists, the belief seems to be that if you say "Nothing in it!" quickly and stridently enough, the offending player will soon be in line for a UN peace prize. For the controversialists, a similarly snappy "He's in some trouble there" satisfies the need to exercise media muscle and be part of the process.

Yet, with the sound down, it's always so obvious - the AFL's tribunal system was, is and always will be so random and lacking in clear-cut precedent that there is no point even trying to work out what is and isn't worth a week until the match review committee verdict on Monday afternoon. Which is a piece of commentary that would keep our hands off the remote.

Belatedly, I discovered there is a local aid for those going cold turkey after 16 happy, commentary-free days in Beijing. Foxtel's "live and active" games allow you to tune to crowd noises only, which for those of us who know a bit more about footy than badminton or Graeco-Roman wrestling, could be the find of (next) season.

Or it would have been if the game chosen had not been StKilda v Essendon, which required either some very fancy calculations to work out if the Saints would finish fourth on percentage points or some help from the commentators. So there are times when you can't live without them.

© 2008 The Age

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