Strategies for not hearing the score?

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Strategies for not hearing the score? - Langdude - 08-31-2018

Hey all.

Taking the family camping for the weekend down at Rainier as one last summer hurrah before the kids go back to school. Sadly, have to leave before the game tonight. DVR will be in full effect; deleted enough content to record it in HD. Wanted to know if anyone had any experience that has garnered ideas for not encountering the score.

Thanks!

-m.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - 81alum - 08-31-2018

I don't have an experience or advice for you. But you raise an interesting, more general question. Do most people enjoy watching the game more when they do not know the outcome?

Personally, I find all games very stressful to watch unless we are leading by a gargantuan margin. When I rewatch the game knowing the outcome I enjoy it much more. I'm able to focus on watching the strategy and tactics of individual plays and to analyze what the coaches are doing. This is more true if we have won the game, but even if I know we lost the game I think I get more out of watching it after-the-fact.

When I watch a game live, my main focus is whether we are going to win or lose. When I watch it after-the-fact, my main focus is on the game of football.

My wife absolutely thinks I am crazy. "Why would you want to watch the game a second time? You know how it turned out!" She probably reflects the majority view--that it is the excitement of the competition that is the main attraction of the game. But that very excitement makes it hard for me to appreciate the finer parts of the game while they are happening.

Anyone else feel this way, or am I really on an island by myself?

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - stupac2 - 08-31-2018

(08-31-2018, 08:19 AM)81alum Wrote: I don't have an experience or advice for you. But you raise an interesting, more general question. Do most people enjoy watching the game more when they do not know the outcome?

Personally, I find all games very stressful to watch unless we are leading by a gargantuan margin. When I rewatch the game knowing the outcome I enjoy it much more. I'm able to focus on watching the strategy and tactics of individual plays and to analyze what the coaches are doing. This is more true if we have won the game, but even if I know we lost the game I think I get more out of watching it after-the-fact.

When I watch a game live, my main focus is whether we are going to win or lose. When I watch it after-the-fact, my main focus is on the game of football.

My wife absolutely thinks I am crazy. "Why would you want to watch the game a second time? You know how it turned out!" She probably reflects the majority view--that it is the excitement of the competition that is the main attraction of the game. But that very excitement makes it hard for me to appreciate the finer parts of the game while they are happening.

Anyone else feel this way, or am I really on an island by myself?

I've read that there are studies showing that spoilers don't meaningfully affect people's enjoyment of things, I'm not aware of any research specifically regarding sports but I'd buy it. Although for me it would be more like "let's see how we won!" and then "well I don't want to watch us lose."

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - bbm233 - 08-31-2018

(08-31-2018, 07:59 AM)Langdude Wrote: Hey all.

Taking the family camping for the weekend down at Rainier as one last summer hurrah before the kids go back to school. Sadly, have to leave before the game tonight. DVR will be in full effect; deleted enough content to record it in HD. Wanted to know if anyone had any experience that has garnered ideas for not encountering the score.

Thanks!

-m.

My experience in camping at Rainier is that I am unplugged, even if I don't want to be. I usually am on the Paradise side, and I can't even get an AM radio signal over there. So, go for some hikes, save your cell phone battery for selfies, volunteer to drive home so that you don't look at your phone, and don't tune into 710 or 950. Shouldn't be too hard.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - CornFed - 08-31-2018

It's harder than you think, depending on how long you have to remain ignorant. Even when my friends try to respect my wishes not to hear the score, they will smirk, or comment, or gesture in ways that give it away. Short of immersing yourself into a sensory deprivation tank, there is some significant chance you will learn the score.

When I record events, I almost never watch live. Rather, I start watching about 30 or 45 minutes after the official start time (depending on the anticipated length of the recording) so that I can fast forward through ads. When I handle it correctly, I reach the end of the recording just as the event ends. A word of caution, though; be sure to record well past the end of the scheduled end of the event.

However, in the case of a Stanford game I will watch live so that I can read the Cardboard as the game proceeds. Lots and lots of distractions. I go back to the recording and replay the game several times over the next week. Not so much if it were a bad loss. Just hard to watch.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - BostonCard - 08-31-2018

So are Greek tragedies any less enjoyable to watch or read even when the outcome is announced by the Fates at the onset of the tragedy? The enjoyment comes in watching how it all unfolds, not in knowing who it is who will die at the end.

BC

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - North Woods - 08-31-2018

(08-31-2018, 10:11 AM)BostonCard Wrote: So are Greek tragedies any less enjoyable to watch or read even when the outcome is announced by the Fates at the onset of the tragedy? The enjoyment comes in watching how it all unfolds, not in knowing who it is who will die at the end.

BC

While I like the analogy, I often feel like a character in the play awaiting my fate vs. someone in the audience and thus have a higher level of interest albeit not always enjoyment.

This is true even when I'm watching at home 2000 miles away.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Bruce Wang - 08-31-2018

A Sisyphean task. I've tried many times and always find out the score accidentally. Even in the early days of the Internet on the other side of the world (Singapore), it was a problem. Back in the late 90s I adopted the Broncos as my NFL team due to the numerous Stanford alums on the Broncos. I spent the whole day avoiding the score of the AFC championship game. In the middle of the game, ESPN Asia showed an ad for Super Bowl XXXII featuring the Broncos v the Packers. ARGH!

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - CTcard - 08-31-2018

(08-31-2018, 10:11 AM)BostonCard Wrote: So are Greek tragedies any less enjoyable to watch or read even when the outcome is announced by the Fates at the onset of the tragedy? The enjoyment comes in watching how it all unfolds, not in knowing who it is who will die at the end.

Not all sporting events are Greek tragedies, though I guess for many years Stanford football was.

There is no universal answer, of course. Not only will it be different for everyone but different for every event.
In general, I have much greater excitement and suspense when watching live (and don't know the outcome), and much more relaxed enjoyment when I do (or at least relaxed resignation if we had lost).

I like Stanford football games either way.
I don't much care for baseball after I know the outcome, much of the allure of baseball to me is the build-up of suspense.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Langdude - 08-31-2018

(08-31-2018, 08:38 AM)bbm233 Wrote:
(08-31-2018, 07:59 AM)Langdude Wrote: Hey all.

Taking the family camping for the weekend down at Rainier as one last summer hurrah before the kids go back to school. Sadly, have to leave before the game tonight. DVR will be in full effect; deleted enough content to record it in HD. Wanted to know if anyone had any experience that has garnered ideas for not encountering the score.

Thanks!

-m.

My experience in camping at Rainier is that I am unplugged, even if I don't want to be. I usually am on the Paradise side, and I can't even get an AM radio signal over there. So, go for some hikes, save your cell phone battery for selfies, volunteer to drive home so that you don't look at your phone, and don't tune into 710 or 950. Shouldn't be too hard.

Thanks for the tips, bbm. Will also turn off the various news alerts (banners and such). Will be driving the family truckster both ways, and the kids will only want to listen to music, anyway.

Great to hear from another PNWer. We're headed to Ohanapecosh in an hour. Looking forward to a couple of nice hikes. Weather will be a tiny smidgen on the cold side, but at least no rain or smoke.

-m.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Hank 91 - 08-31-2018

I will always try to avoid the score when I can't watch the game live. Tonight, for example, I'll be at a high school football game watching my son perform in the marching band. My wife will probably scold me for it, but I'm going to turn off my phone at six o'clock, then I won't put it on again until I've finished watching the game -- probably midnight or one a.m. Sometimes I try to keep my phone on, but it's too hard. I have far too many alerts set and far too many friends who text me during the game. If my phone is constantly buzzing, the temptation is too great. It's much easier just to go off the grid. And since I'm not in the Bay Area, I don't usually have to worry about scores being announced, though there is one guy I know who used to sit in the stands supporting his daughter in the marching band. Not only would he be checking scores constantly -- baseball, football, everything -- he'd then announce the scores to everyone around him. Nothing infuriates me more than this. In this day and age, I can get any score I want any time I want. If I don't know it, it's because I DON'T WANT TO KNOW IT.

As for watching the game again, I always do this. I'll watch the game live (or plausibly live) for the outcome and the drama and the fun, and then watch it again for the details of the football as I'm writing my recap. In fact, with all the pausing and rewinding, I probably end up watching it three times.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Spiny_Norman - 08-31-2018

(08-31-2018, 07:59 AM)Langdude Wrote: Hey all.

Taking the family camping for the weekend down at Rainier as one last summer hurrah before the kids go back to school. Sadly, have to leave before the game tonight. DVR will be in full effect; deleted enough content to record it in HD. Wanted to know if anyone had any experience that has garnered ideas for not encountering the score.

Thanks!

-m.

My advice - since you will be at Paradise, go to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. Fantastic hike.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Mick - 09-01-2018

Fun thread. After reading it, I sat down and listed all the different ways I've inadvertently learned the score:

1. Television.
2. Radio, both my own, and blaring car radios.
3. My son's high school sports announcer who likes to make sure people know ongoing game scores even in the really rare occasions that they have the ability to record such a game.
4. My father-in-law, Stanford class of '53, who won't give me the score but will tell me whether or not I'll like the result.
5. My iPhone. I have too many apps that know the score, so I see it in a running feed.
6. Friends.
7. A coworker who wanted to be a bit of a jerk told me the score of a game he knew I'd taped. With a smile.
8. Overheard conversations.

That's about it. Basically, unless you're in Witness Relocation, you will learn the result before you get to see the taped event.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - CardinalSagehen - 09-01-2018

I once overheard the score to one of the most important games in recent Stanford history, very unusually, from the big mouth of Jim Harbaugh himself! (And I don't even know him.)

My son was attending Bing Nursery School at Stanford in 2012. They throw an annual auction, an event that I find a bit stuffy and uncomfortable, but I had to attend it anyway. Making matters worse, the organizers had the nerve to plan the event on the night of the big Oregon game, back when we still had our "Oregon problem" and couldn't get over the hump.

Jim Harbaugh was also in attendance at this auction because his daughter was attending the pre-school (actually in my son's class, by chance). It was a crowded event, and I had made a point of avoiding anyone and anything that might reveal the score. I was so close. At the end of the evening, my wife and I were on our way out when we passed by a group of people containing Harbaugh and I distinctly heard him say in his loud, EUTM voice: "They won? That's great!"

I was super annoyed, but I didn't dare say anything! At some level, it was cool to know that he still cared.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - BostonCard - 09-02-2018

I managed to find out the score of the 1997 Sun Bowl while I was in Melbourne, Australia looking at the local paper. I never once thought they would carry American Football. I saw the score (35-0), and I thought it must have been a type-o. I never did get to see Willingham dismantle little Nickie Saban's MSU team. And who knew that Saban would go on to become one of the most successful coaches ever.

BC

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - mdcubsfan - 09-02-2018

haha, funny thread. I DVR almost every single game and watch later (sometimes well later). This past Friday I was taking our boys out to a movie since the wife had the daughter at a VB tournament. Movie finished at 11:15 and then went home to get them to bed and then started watching the game.

I basically don't answer any texts or messages and hope I don't get any important messages.....and try not to look at anything on my computer....try not to talk to anyone because somehow there are always other ways people reveal the score one way or another....

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Langdude - 09-03-2018

Thanks, all, for the tips and fun anecdotes.

Amazingly, I was successful and did not hear the outcome of the game, though a fellow hiker did mention the UW-Auburn game score. There was one near misstep: I had turned off most sports-related notifications on my phone, but had been a bit lax, figuring I'd be out of cell phone range. So I forgot to turn off text notifications. Well, on one hike we were above the tree line, and got a cell signal, so some texts came bounding in. I did not check them, but spotted one on the lock screen that said: "Are you watching the game? We look awful." Sick feeling. Immediately hoped that it was written early in the game. Turned out, it was.

Arrived home and watched the game last night. Reflections in some other thread should I get the time.

-m.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - CTcard - 09-03-2018

(09-02-2018, 03:58 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I saw the score (35-0), and I thought it must have been a type-o. I never did get to see Willingham dismantle little Nickie Saban's MSU team.
BC

I can help with the score, it was 38-0.

Best I can do on the game is a couple of long highlight reels.
https://youtu.be/ERHdLU1wYpA
https://youtu.be/xQUIE2I6TPg
(they're not quite identical)

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - JPR36 - 09-03-2018

(09-03-2018, 11:17 AM)CTcard Wrote:
(09-02-2018, 03:58 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I saw the score (35-0), and I thought it must have been a type-o. I never did get to see Willingham dismantle little Nickie Saban's MSU team.
BC

I can help with the score, it was 38-0.

Best I can do on the game is a couple of long highlight reels.
https://youtu.be/ERHdLU1wYpA
https://youtu.be/xQUIE2I6TPg
(they're not quite identical)

It goes back quite a while, but I can recall being in Hawaii in 1980, when I heard that we had beaten Oklahoma in Norman 31-14. We had just had our butts kicked by a mediocre Boston College team the week before and I figured they had to have the score turned around. Fortunately, they hadn't.
Of course that was the Wiggin MO. Beat Oklahoma or Ohio State one weekend, lose to SJSU another.

RE: Strategies for not hearing the score? - Langdude - 09-04-2018

(08-31-2018, 04:32 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:
(08-31-2018, 07:59 AM)Langdude Wrote: Hey all.

Taking the family camping for the weekend down at Rainier as one last summer hurrah before the kids go back to school. Sadly, have to leave before the game tonight. DVR will be in full effect; deleted enough content to record it in HD. Wanted to know if anyone had any experience that has garnered ideas for not encountering the score.

Thanks!

-m.

My advice - since you will be at Paradise, go to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground. Fantastic hike.

Thanks, Spiny. Will have to try that one sometime.

This time we did the Skyline Loop (really misty, so no views) and the Naches Loop (awesome).

-m.