A SUPERIOR REMOTE & GREAT DEXTERITY KEY TO GOOD MENTAL HEALTH
It goes without saying, we spend a lot of time in our media room, especially during football season. Saturday & Sunday usually amount to at least 24 hours of football viewing in our "television bunker". Monday, Thursday & Friday night games add another 11-12 hours. Then there's "Sportscenter", "NFL Total Access", "College Football Live" & "NFL Live", "College Gameday", "College Football Final" & we watch the CBS pregame show on Sundays. At least another 15 hours, so all told, we view at least 2 days worth of football & football related programing per week.
Obviously decent HDTVs & satellite receivers that function properly make all of this possible. Really comfortable chairs, good ventilation & proper lighting make this much time moving your eyes from one screen to another tolerable. But the most important component of all is without a doubt, a great remote control. At the risk of sounding like a crabby old fart, I'll explain.
Now the only time I switch stations is on NFL Sundays, when I toggle between the game I'm watching & channel #702HD, the NFL mix channel. It has 8 screens, showing 8 different games, current score & clock. Plus you can listen to any audio you want. I always switch over there during commercials. During college games & the Sunday, Monday, Thursday & Friday night games, I just mute the sound during commercials.
Commercials, the necessary evil that pays much of the freight so that I have 30 games a week to watch. Advertisers buy huge blocks of time on selected programming. So most of the companies that have targeted football viewers will bombard my senses for a few weeks, maybe 25 times a day, then produce a new spot to force-feed us next week.
Producing really slick or funny commercial spots has become a lost art. Going louder, dumbing down & insulting a person's intelligence is the plan to entice consumers. With the economy what it is, the advertisers stick with commercials for months now, sometimes even years. How many years has the ridiculous Buffalo Wild Wings crooked football referee ad run? Love their food, but their commercial is really stupid. One of my top-5 offensive spots goes to Coors Light & their phony ex-coaches press conference commercials. Their hideous beer is only eclipsed by their really, really annoying commercial spots.
I'm warning you, I might go on a shooting spree if I'm forced to hear the LifeLock spot with the screeching woman one more time. Fingernails on a chalkboard run a distant second to her voice. Our neighbor's Lab howls whenever this spot is aired. Luckily, my 'muting finger' rivals a gunfighter's quick draw.
Have the GEICO cavemen ads worn out their usefulness? Please make them stop! I'm not too hot on the Gecko either, but the cavemen are much worse. These spots put the oy in oy vey.
Year after year you could always depend on Bud Light to have some cute commercials, not anymore. Apparently the Belgians at InBev find the Jimmy Football Infomercial spots hysterical. Are people from Belgium known for their sense of humor? Jimmy Football tells me the answer is probably no. If I ever get to Brussels, I'll probably pass on open mic night at the comedy clubs.
Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Burger King & McDonald's are instant mutes, never funny, always insulting. The newest DiGiorno Pizza spot is especially insulting. A dufus looking dork delivers a 9" pizza to a mansion full of Hollywood types & they invite him in to eat a pizza for one, dance & hit on their women. I'm not hung up on reality, I just think it's sad commercials aren't any more creative than this type of dribble.
The remaining 4 on my top-5 crap list would be Flo at Progressive Insurance, the Volkswagen ad where the couple drives thru a 'car commercial', any Verizon cell phone ad, literally any of them & my least favorite goes to the Olive Garden. Their spots are lame & insulting on so many levels.
I used to look forward to the Super Bowl ads, they were often better than the game. Even on that broadcast, most of the spots have gone from very clever to loud, stupid & insulting.
Watching 48 hours of football games & news can be trying, but it would be impossible without a great remote & years of praticed dexterity giving me the ability to quickly toggle & mute. It's a must in the bunker.
Obviously decent HDTVs & satellite receivers that function properly make all of this possible. Really comfortable chairs, good ventilation & proper lighting make this much time moving your eyes from one screen to another tolerable. But the most important component of all is without a doubt, a great remote control. At the risk of sounding like a crabby old fart, I'll explain.
Now the only time I switch stations is on NFL Sundays, when I toggle between the game I'm watching & channel #702HD, the NFL mix channel. It has 8 screens, showing 8 different games, current score & clock. Plus you can listen to any audio you want. I always switch over there during commercials. During college games & the Sunday, Monday, Thursday & Friday night games, I just mute the sound during commercials.
Commercials, the necessary evil that pays much of the freight so that I have 30 games a week to watch. Advertisers buy huge blocks of time on selected programming. So most of the companies that have targeted football viewers will bombard my senses for a few weeks, maybe 25 times a day, then produce a new spot to force-feed us next week.
Producing really slick or funny commercial spots has become a lost art. Going louder, dumbing down & insulting a person's intelligence is the plan to entice consumers. With the economy what it is, the advertisers stick with commercials for months now, sometimes even years. How many years has the ridiculous Buffalo Wild Wings crooked football referee ad run? Love their food, but their commercial is really stupid. One of my top-5 offensive spots goes to Coors Light & their phony ex-coaches press conference commercials. Their hideous beer is only eclipsed by their really, really annoying commercial spots.
I'm warning you, I might go on a shooting spree if I'm forced to hear the LifeLock spot with the screeching woman one more time. Fingernails on a chalkboard run a distant second to her voice. Our neighbor's Lab howls whenever this spot is aired. Luckily, my 'muting finger' rivals a gunfighter's quick draw.
Have the GEICO cavemen ads worn out their usefulness? Please make them stop! I'm not too hot on the Gecko either, but the cavemen are much worse. These spots put the oy in oy vey.
Year after year you could always depend on Bud Light to have some cute commercials, not anymore. Apparently the Belgians at InBev find the Jimmy Football Infomercial spots hysterical. Are people from Belgium known for their sense of humor? Jimmy Football tells me the answer is probably no. If I ever get to Brussels, I'll probably pass on open mic night at the comedy clubs.
Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Burger King & McDonald's are instant mutes, never funny, always insulting. The newest DiGiorno Pizza spot is especially insulting. A dufus looking dork delivers a 9" pizza to a mansion full of Hollywood types & they invite him in to eat a pizza for one, dance & hit on their women. I'm not hung up on reality, I just think it's sad commercials aren't any more creative than this type of dribble.
The remaining 4 on my top-5 crap list would be Flo at Progressive Insurance, the Volkswagen ad where the couple drives thru a 'car commercial', any Verizon cell phone ad, literally any of them & my least favorite goes to the Olive Garden. Their spots are lame & insulting on so many levels.
I used to look forward to the Super Bowl ads, they were often better than the game. Even on that broadcast, most of the spots have gone from very clever to loud, stupid & insulting.
Watching 48 hours of football games & news can be trying, but it would be impossible without a great remote & years of praticed dexterity giving me the ability to quickly toggle & mute. It's a must in the bunker.
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