re-dun-dant adj. 1. Exceeding what is necessary or natural; superfluous. 2. Needlessly wordy or repetitive in expression.
Since life is too short to wander aimlessly about, it's nice to understand who, and what, you are. So if there was an adjective that could best describe this column and the person who writes it, that adjective would be redundant.
But it's not entirely my fault that I am forced to revisit a theme which is all too familiar to many of you: the absolute paucity of North American sports on regional sports channels. Yes, I know it's redundant. But when I look in the TV listings hoping to find some coverage, even a smidgen, of the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament it suddenly becomes necessary to visit old haunts.
March Madness is a feverish spectacle of sport, three weekends of drama and regional rivalries featuring the best young basketball players in the world. Three weekends of in-your-face, non-stop action. Eight days total. My God, the never-ending cricket World Cup has tea breaks that last eight days. So would it kill ESPN/Star Sports to broadcast a little bit of this most entertaining and succinct March Madness? Absolutely, and that is why we are trotting on familiar turf today.
I am a sports fan who occasionally makes a living writing about sports. And yet I have easily spent more time watching the National Geographic Channel in the last month than I have ESPN and Star Sports combined. I am being completely serious here. If your viewing choices are The Boas of Belize on National Geographic or Bicycle Stunt Series on ESPN, what would you choose? It's a no-brainer. It's bad enough when neighbourhood kids knock people off the sidewalks with their bikes and skateboards. But now you want me to pay to watch it on TV?
Oh sorry, I forgot, according to ESPN/Star Sports' recent polling information those of my ilk are not a relevant or significant demographic. Yet one large demographic that their programming has completely ignored is basketball fans. According to that same polling information, basketball is the number one sport in Taiwan and South Korea where 84 and 80 per cent respectively of all respondents watch the game. In Hong Kong and China, basketball is number two at 54 per cent and in the Philippines a basketball is like a sixth finger. There is obviously great interest in the sport around the region, so why do we get a grand total of one NBA game a week on ESPN?