Sideline Reporters - What's the Point?

[Gen.Mannerheim]

In talking about this past Sunday's NFL playoff games with some buddies, we began to discuss the art of Sideline reporting. The general consensus among us was that its really a useless addition to the game watching experience.

They only ever ask the most obvious of questions, regardless of sport. Your average halftime coaches interview goes:
Reporter: "Team A has been doing a great job stopping your offense, what do you need to do to get back in this game"
Coach B: "Well we need to run/pass the ball better and score some points."
Insert this convo into any football game since the 50's...

Outside of reporting on injuries, sideline reporters don't actually seem to report on anything. I'm becoming suspicious that the position only exist as a work around to have large numbers of women as "sports reporters" without actually having them meaningfully comment on the game the way the booth & studio people do. Watching sports from other countries gives me the impression that sideline reporting is a mostly U.S./Canada thing. Is that so? What do y'all think?

 

[schlaufuchs]

Well, yeah. You're not wrong about anything you observed. On the other hand, sideline reporting has given us so many great Greg Popovich interactions, so I'd say the institution is a net good.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Key and Peele have a hilarious bit on this.

 

[warpus]

American football has a lot of breaks and not too much actual action, they've got to fill it up with something. I thought that's why they do those, right?

In other countries soccer is usually the top sport (not everywhere, but a lot of places), and the only time you can really do something like that is at half-time or before or after the game. During the game it's non stop action so there's no need to fill it up with filler, so maybe that's why that doesn't happen. Mind you in MLS they sometimes pan over to the coach in the 65th minute or something and ask him a quick question. So it does happen to an extent

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Your take is accurate, but your complaint unfounded.

Other than the spectacle, sport is ultimately meaningless. The cliche ridden interview with a coach is as much a part of that spectacle as all the other bits and pieces. To pick out any particular part of the spectacle as "useless" implies some utility in other parts when there is really no utility in the entire sum of the parts. Might as well ask "Why do they paint the endzones? What use is painted grass?"

 

[Gen.Mannerheim]

Well, yeah. You're not wrong about anything you observed. On the other hand, sideline reporting has given us so many great Greg Popovich interactions, so I'd say the institution is a net good.

Dachs introduced me to a best of Popovich video, and that dude's troll level is over 9,000

Key and Peele have a hilarious bit on this.

I haven't seen that one, but K&P's stuff was generally fantastic. (Though I think they did the Substitute teacher one 1 too many times)

 

[Gori the Grey]

Google Key and Peele sports cliches