For the most part I don't mind the commentary as long as it remains pertinent to the action. Sometimes a little background information or statistics can augment the experience.
What I object to is constant barrage of advertising. Not just the commercial breaks, which are bad enough as it is, but the unending name-dropping of the sponsors throughout the broadcast. In football there's the [sponsor's name] Pre-game Show, the [sponsor's name] Halftime Report and the [sponsor's name] Post-game Show. When stats include an on-screen graphic there's a sponsor's logo attached to it. Logos are scattered all throughout the venue, and even the stadiums themselves are named after some corporation.
In hockey the boards around the ice are covered with a chain of logos. I've seen some games where additional logos are projected electronically onto the glass above the boards, using a technology where it is seen only by viewers at home, but not by the fans in attendance. In basketball they now insert quick five-second blurbs between shots during free throws! This is going too far. The games are becoming secondary to the advertising, a prime example being the Super Bowl. There are people who watch the Super Bowl for the idiotic commercials!
This continues to escalate and has increased in frequency just within the past couple of years. I am on the verge of shutting off the NFL and sticking with college football.
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