Rome
is Still Burning Me Up
Yes, two Jim Rome shows is two too many. But
let’s discuss the television version, Rome is Burning.
Just because something is a competition, does not mean it is a
sport or that I care to see the results on Sportscenter,
(e.g., The National Spelling Bee or the Westminster Dog Show).
And for the moment I’ll suspend the discussion of whether
or not Nascar is a sport (it’s not). Anyway, Jim Rome felt
the need to discuss the kid who won the bee on his show, stating
that it wasn’t normal for a kid to be better at spelling
than at baseball. For one, I doubt Rome has any clue of how good
that kid is at baseball. For all he knows, that kid could be the
next “A-Rod” or “Gracie” or “good
jungle guy”. He just assumes that since the kid is smart,
he can’t be athletic.
That leads me to assume that since Rome obviously considers himself
to be very smart, he must not be very athletic since one cannot
be both. In that case, I don’t want to hear his takes on
why athletes should play through pain when he would probably dribble
the ball off his foot. Let’s assume the kid couldn’t
swing a bat without falling over, so what? Has Rome ever seen
Angus? There is no normal, everyone is different, even
the clones. The last thing a 12-year-old kid, who is just heading
into awkward puberty needs is a national media personality stating
to the world that this kid is a freak and should be treated as
such.
Next subject. Possibly the most visually unpleasing segment of
the show consists of the camera focused on Rome’s face as
he listens to viewer voicemails. All the while, he contorts his
face to convey his dismay, disgust, or delight corresponding to
each sentence. What’s more, these facial expressions are
poorly executed, obviously forced, and rehearsed. Don’t
try to tell me he hasn’t already listened to them on at
least one occasion so he can cleverly plan his facial retort.
I’m sure they screen these extensively and don’t just
pull them randomly out of some digital hat… It’s all
just bad television. Take advantage of your medium. If the caller
is talking about Sosa, show a clip of Sosa’s corked bat
breaking. Or better yet, just continuously replay that clip of
Chris, errrrr, Jim Everett living out my fantasy. You can watch
that clip here
if you're interested. I do at least 5 times a day.
- Robert Jenks 
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