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The contempt with which TV executives view their customers is pretty breathtaking. The latest example of this happened this weekend on Fox' NFL coverage. If you watched Saturday's Tampa Bay-New England game, you saw it: the "Fox Box" score line near the top of the screen had some additions, namely a string of Christmas lights and, worse, snow falling above the line, with a plow coming through to clear it. The area above the score was shaded to emphasize the falling "snow," thus obstructing the view of anything up there. Oh, and the usual annoying woosh was replaced with jingle bells every time the score changed, or the down changed, or a flag was thrown. It was bad in standard definition, and worse, a lot worse, in high def- distracting, annoying, and entirely unnecessary. The person responsible for it cannot be a football fan.

By Sunday, the snow and the plow were gone, but the lights remained. Why the entire top of the screen needs to be filled with a distracting line is another story, but it's as if the graphics- the score, the "wacky" snow and plow, the incessant promos for other shows in the lower left corner- are way more important to the network than the game or the viewers.

But this will only stop if people stop watching. As it is, David Hill and Ed Goren probably think, well, you won't go anywhere- if you're a fan, you'll watch anyway. True, but the extra graphics won't get anyone else to watch and will only piss off real fans. Why do it?

I don't know. And maybe that's why I'm not a TV executive.

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No time tonight. Also aggravated, pissed off, not in a proper frame of mind to write. You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when quoting Kenny Rogers makes you look like an ass.

Ah, yes, that would be now.

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What was it that I was saying about TV executives' contempt for viewers?

On-screen graphics seem to be more important to them than the actual game. Check out KTLA Los Angeles' graphics for Clippers coverage. Up till now, the station used an obtrusive top score box that took up too much room. Now, for tonight's game at New Jersey, they've added a scores-n-stats bar at the bottom, and a huge gray half-oval with the station's logo in the lower right. Check it out:

And:

And this, where there's practically no room left for the game:

The game is being reduced to a small window between the graphics. Is there any reason to have that huge logo with the strange swoop thing extending well into the picture? Is there any reason to keep the out-of-town scores scrolling for the entire game? I want to watch THIS game. I just can't see the whole court.

And I can imagine the folks at Tribune, KTLA's owner, hearing my complaint and laughing. After all, where am I gonna go? The YES Network feed from New Jersey being carried on the NBA League Pass is blacked out here. If I want to see this game, I have nowhere else to go.

I do, of course, have other places to go. There's nothing requiring me to watch the game. But I'd like to. I wish they'd let me do it without all the ornamentation.

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Here's how not to keep a customer:

I need a piece of sporting equipment, so I stopped by the Torrance location of the Sports Chalet sporting goods chain. I found what I was looking for but I had some questions, so I looked for a salesperson. And looked. And looked. No luck, so I waited and inspected the item and, soon enough, the manager came over, but he didn't ask me if I needed help. He looked at the item's price card and started writing down the SKU number. If he wasn't going to help me, I figured, I might as well just ask him, so I did: "Are there some of these in stock?" "That's what I'm trying to find out," he muttered, then started to walk away. I tried to ask another question, but all I got out was "how large is the..." and he was gone.

OK, probably didn't hear me. So I waited. And waited. And he wasn't coming back, so I looked around and saw that he was up at the front counter. I walked up to him, and he was finishing a phone call. He hung up and looked at me. "So, are there any in stock?," I asked.

He stared at me for a few seconds, then turned to talk to a salesperson about something else. He didn't respond to me. I waited. And then, after about 30 seconds, a customer walked through the front door and went right up to the same manager and asked if the store had any boxing gloves for children. "Yes, we do," the manager said, "and I'll show you where they are." And he walked off with the new customer.

He never acknowledged my question. He never even nodded. He looked right through me.

Another salesperson saw my astonishment and cheerily asked if she could help me. Here's what I said to her:

"No, you can't. But you can tell Robert, your manager, that he just lost a sale. I asked a question, and not only did he not get me the answer, but he looked right through me and then started helping a new customer."

She looked puzzled. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No, sorry. You've lost a customer. I've spent a lot of money here, but never again, and you can tell Robert why." And I walked out.

The store was busy, but not THAT busy- there were no lines. And there was no excuse for Robert to ignore me. I was polite and smiling, I waited patiently for him to finish his call, yet he just didn't seem to want my business. But there's another sporting goods chain across Hawthorne Boulevard, and there are other equipment sellers in the area. And there's always the online option.

Robert, the manager of the Sports Chalet in Torrance, CA, didn't want my business. He doesn't deserve it. If you want to buy sporting goods in Southern California, try another retailer.

(I've written to the company's CEO to let him know what transpired. I'll let you know if I ever hear back)

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Why write when you can get someone else to do it? That's the best thing about using links- you can outsource the writing and still keep the audience.

Click here for an op-ed in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel by my radio compadre Brant Hansen, who does mornings on the Contemporary Christian station in West Palm Beach and who manages to namecheck Krokus (pride of Switzerland!) and allude to Kool and the Gang and castration and eating your kids, all in one witty package that makes the salient point that those objecting to using the word "Christmas" to refer to the upcoming holiday have no problem saying the names of the days of the week, which are derived from sources that might surprise you. I mean, he goes from Cronus to Krokus! Okay, he could have included Focus (only hit "Hocus Pocus"), or "Parts: The Clonus Horror," but still.

Me? I don't care what you say, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays, whatever. As long as I get the day off, I'm happy.

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Done.

Oh, I'll be working a little over the next week, but the year's main work is done. For the first and only time this year, I get to sleep in a little, relax a little. I'll post stuff here, but I reserve the right to coast a little (like I don't already).

Aaaugh. The Sixers just wasted 53 from A.I. and lost another one with another half-assed Mo Cheeks-designed last-second play (inbounds to Webber, who spun, lifted an awkward right-hand push, clanked it off the rim, then managed to knock it out of bounds- Hawks win). That's a sign. Time to shut this thing down, go in the other room, and start the weekend. Shouldn't you be doing the same?

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Too lazy to turn on the computer to write anything. Cell phone'll have to do.

Merry Christmas. Now, if you'll excuse me, we have some "Curb Your Enthusiasm"s on the DVR. 'Tis the season.

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