Space, Time and DVR Mechanics

Reading Summary

In the article “Space, Time and DVR Mechanics”, Klosterman talks about how he feels there is a big difference when he watches live sports games vs prerecorded games. The author believes that it has to do with 5 reasons broken down into two categories the rational explanations and the irrational explanations. For the rational explanations category he believes its because the removal of commercials erodes drama, by watching a game after the fact, i am consciously distancing myself from the actual experience, and recording gives me too much control. For his irrational explanations he believes its because “perhaps my personal involvement with this game will impact the outcome” and “if this game has already ended and I don’t know anything about what happened, it was probably just a game.”

Outside Example

While reading this article I was immediately reminded of myself when I watch sporting events but specially the UFC. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is an American mixed martial arts promotion company based in Las Vegas. It is considered to be the highest level of mixed martial arts in the world. They have a variety of different weight classes and rankings of the top fighters in each division. The UFC holds an event every week or every two weeks all around the world with some events being huge events like the one from the poster below where there were 3 fights with a championship title on the line.

Reading Connection

The article reminded me of the UFC because I have felt similar emotions to the ones the author experiences when he watches sporting events. Since most of these events happen Saturday nights from around 9 to 12 pm I am not always able to watch them live. Whenever I do miss a fight, I try to not watch any news about it and look for the stream the next day but I usually dont feel the same energy or emotional investment when watching replays compared to when I watch an even live on tv. I used this example because for this fight I made sure I didn’t make plans for that night so I could watch it live at home. While watching the championship fights I was really invested and sometimes I would feel my hands shaking or sweating. Every time I watch a replay of a fight the day after, I lose interest very quickly and sometimes I don’t even watch the full fight and instead watch the highlights. I have thought about it too and have always wondered why there was a change in my emotions while watching live events vs prerecorded events.