Halls of the Dark Muse

Now I do not really watch a lot of sporting events, but today was the Derby and I do enjoy the Triple Crown races, of which The Kentucky Derby is the first and one thing which annoys me about these sorts of events, and of which they also do in the Olympics, and the Super Bowl and I am sure other similar events is those little "human interest" stories in which they feel the need to give mini bios about the athletes of individuals involved and find supposed inspirational stories about their lives.

I know the basic reason why this is done is for one because they presume that this sort of thing will be a way to try and appeal to women and get them too watch, and they think they need to get people to have more of a human connection with the people ( and I think in their minds particularly in the case of women) they think they need try and establish a feeling of empathy in order to get the viewers to really support the person or root for them or find watching them more interesting.

And it is also done as a way to just fill in time to give them an excuse to air the event even longer than coverage needs to be in order to make more money. As with the Derby the race starts at 3:30, and lasts for only a few minutes. And yet it is televised from 1-4 just so they can air a bunch of boring crap before the race starts.

I do not think there ever was a time in which one of these stupid little insights into the private lives of the individuals has ever made me suddenly think, "oh well now I really hope that person wins"

My usual reaction is "shut-up, I don't care, go away"

And in some cases it has the adverse effect in which it ends up making just not like the person because something they say about them I find obnoxious and than I just want them to loose for annoying me or because they ended up coming across in a way that struck a negative cord with me.

There other thing which irritates me about is it seems it also becomes a contest to see who had to overcome the greatest tragedy in order to get here.

It is like first there is a story of some horse owner who grew up poor but has been into horse racing ever since he was a kid, and than some story about a jockey who had an accident and they thought he may never race again, and than some woman trainer who had a heart disease and they thought she was going to die.

It is like, ok I am getting confused here, are you trying to win a horse race, or win an Oscar?