Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

meta draft

Rob and I watched a little bit of the NBA Draft on ESPN last night, and it was a bit surreal.

The Draft was taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York, with a lot of players and fans in the stands (mostly Knicks fans, it seemed). The NBA commissioner would come out onstage periodically to announce the latest draft pick or trade. Between announcements, the ESPN cameras were mainly focused on the network's own talking heads, whose commentary was apparently also being broadcast over the PA at the arena.

Where it started getting strange was when the ESPN commentators, mostly faceless to the audience except for the occasional television monitor, would openly critique particular players -- and the camera would then train on that player, who can plainly hear what's being said but can't respond. Particularly awkward was the case of Marcus Williams, who was picked a lot later in the draft than expected. As ESPN's Bill Simmons writes on espn.com's Page Two:

9:15 -- This is awkward: They're discussing reasons why Marcus Williams slipped (character issues, out of shape, the laptop scandal), and, umm, he's sitting right there. And he can hear everything. Umm, guys? He's right there. Guys? Guys?

The event isn't just about the actual draft picks or last-minute trades. It's also about how things appear on television. And commenting on how things appear on television. It's all so meta, it makes my head hurt.

(Thanks to Rob for the link.)