Monday, April 21, 2008

Versus: worst sporting coverage ever

So I'm watching the Boston Marathon on the Versus network. And the race is getting exciting - the two women in the lead have turned the corner, and are on "the last 800 meters" to the finish line. A few minutes behind, the men's leader is on a record pace. (The women finish before the men because the race organizers have a staggered start.)

And just as the women hit a point 400 meters out, the clock hits 12:00 and Versus switches to an infomerical for a gold club. No apology, no warning, nothing.

I wonder why Versus paid for the rights to air the race, if they were going to cut off right at the finish?

Edit: the women finished 2 seconds apart, in the closest finish in race history. The guy who won didn't beat his own record, but it would have been nice to see these things myself.

2 comments:

Jolene said...

Wow, that's really bad. I didn't even know it was being televised outside of Boston.

That is really weird about them paying for the rights but not allotting enough time to show the finishes. It's not like top marathon times are that unpredictable.

My brother was actually supposed to run this year, but he got injured and had to cut off his training.

Purplestate said...

Oh, Versus. So much promise, so many infomercials.
Triathalon this sunday! Woot!