Google issued a press release today about its forthcoming Video Marketplace.
I’m going to resist examining the question of why anyone would want to watch a TV show on their computer, as opposed to on their HDTV via TIVO or some other recording device and just assume for a second that there are actually people who are dying to pay a lot of money to watch on their computers in standard definition what they could be watching in HDTV for free.
What I find interesting in that press release is that NBA games will be part of the available videos. That’s what I want to talk about.
Does anyone over 20 care about the NBA anymore? I honestly do not know one single person who is a rabid NBA fan. Not one, and because I have wondered about this for a while, I have walked the halls at my office asking this question. People I know go to games- I went to the opening game this year. But everyone I know uses corporate tickets for client development and treats the game as some sort of live, big screen sports bar. Maybe the NBA is the new polo and I’m just not rich and sophisticated enough to get it, but I don’t get it.
When I was a kid, I was a huge NBA fan- first of the Bucks with Jabbar, Dandridge, the Big O, Lucius Allen and Jon McGlocklin. Later it was Portland and my then favorite player Bill Walton. Even later, after I moved to Texas, I went to a ton of games and saw Jabbar, Bird, Magic, Jordan and others play.
Now? I’d honestly rather stare at a blank TV than watch an NBA game. I watch a ton of college basketball. But I find the NBA to be boring and mercenary.
I guess what I’m saying about the big announcement that we’ll soon be able to buy downloads of otherwise free TV shows and boring NBA games is: is there anyone who is genuinely excited about this?
Newsome.Org 