Opinion

Sports channels’ Big Brother pursuit of Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning

Eric McErlain Sports Blogger
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Have you ever wondered what life will look like when everyone can afford cheap aerial drones equipped with video cameras? If you have and want a preview, look no further than recent sports television coverage concerning Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods.

It all started last week after Manning and the Colts parted ways, and the newly minted free agent quarterback started a nationwide tour to determine which NFL city he’ll call home next season. It wasn’t long before CBS Sports treated us to aerial shots of Manning jetting his way across the country.

But things took an even more bizarre turn yesterday when Tiger Woods had to withdraw from the WGC-Cadillac Championship with a sore Achilles tendon. Not satisfied with simply announcing his retirement from the tournament, NBC Sports tracked his every move via a video camera mounted on the MetLife Blimp. They even went so far to broadcast images of Woods driving down the highway in his Mercedes-Benz in a style reminiscent of the June 1994 police pursuit of O.J. Simpson.

Excuse me if it all seems to be just a little bit too creepy. Yes, I know these decisions are supposedly made to placate advertisers, and that’s especially the case with NBC. I’m sure that as soon as they got the word that Woods was withdrawing they instinctively knew that their television audience would be headed to the exits as well. But one can’t help but wonder out loud if there might be a better way.

Eric McErlain blogs at Off Wing Opinion, a Forbes “Best of the Web” winner. In 2006 he wrote a “bloggers bill of rights” to help integrate bloggers into the Washington Capitals’ press box. Eric has also written for Deadspin, NBC Sports and the Sporting News, and covers sports television for The TV News. Follow Eric on Twitter.