When I watch a sporting event on TV I have to remind myself that I’m not watching a sporting event. I’m watching a television program about a sporting event. It’s not the same thing.

The Super Bowl is the obvious example. I was interested in yesterday’s game, and it was a compelling contest, but it was a small part of the broadcast. For some time now people have shown more interest in the commercials than the result of the game, for example. And the halftime shows often generate more excitement or controversy.

Modern TV is as immersive as cinema and sufficiently convincing that we forget it is manufactured. TV presents a particular, organized view of things, something scripted and controlled. The outcomes in the game are still subject to chance (I don’t believe NFL games are rigged!) but the TV show is prepared for that.

There has always been this layer between the event (the game on the field) and the TV show (the experience of the viewer). Now it is more sophisticated. The technology is better, certainly. And the show-makers now have decades of practice (and audience feedback) to more expertly craft their products. The modern filter provided by our media makes the event seem more real and gives us the illusion of greater involvement. But it requires a more elaborate system to come between us and the thing and thus makes it even more remote.

Watching sports on TV always makes me think of a phrase I learned in school (attributed to Alfred Korzybski): “the map is not the territory.” And that remark always makes me think of René Magritte’s The Treachery of Images:

The translation is “this is not a pipe.”

Now let’s get on with some TV shows about baseball games!