Some of the pet peeves on this list are seasonal. Others are topical, which makes them temporary, but no less maddening. Still others are virtually inescapable unless you are able to find a remote destination with enough food and water to sustain you. Even then, modern technology will likely manage to interrupt your isolation.
Here are ten fingernails on the blackboard annoyances. Without much effort there were dozens more but these are the first ten that came to mind.
1 – Reality Shows: They now run the gamut from pie-throwing chefs to loveable nerds and voyeurism into the lives of beautiful, but mindless, no talent bimbos. Supposedly reality television is inexpensive to produce, although many of them now require more production than traditional programming. The biggest problem is that the “reality” is rarely, if ever, real.
2 – Lance Armstrong: This one will come and go for a while, but do we really care to hear all the inside dirt about something we already know about? Whatever comes out now will be anti-climatic. Revisiting it is old news. Been there, done that. It’s time to move on.
3 – Celebrity Opinions: They all have them, but so do the rest of us. What we do not have that they do is an outlet to express them just because they are famous. Turning an entertainment media outlet into a forum for personal political or social grievances is tacky and tasteless. Unless a celebrity has in-depth knowledge of a subject that puts them in a category of being an expert, they should just keep entertaining and shut up.
4 – Bowl Eligibility: Whatever happened to watching great college football games on New Year’s Day? Remember when teams went to bowls with only one or two losses? Today, nearly 50% of college football teams can go to a bowl which is reflected by the fact that they only need a 6-5 record to qualify. Sure it’s a money deal. That is a given, but meaningless bowls between meaningless teams puts a premium on mediocrity, and that mediocrity is pretty much meaningless.
5 – NCCA Final 32: Years ago the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament was arguably the greatest spectacle in collegiate athletics in the country. It was three days of pure gut-wrenching intensity that bred rivalries bordering on hatred. It was a winner-take-all event with the prize being a berth in the NCAA basketball tournament. Today even with 65 selections, some teams are still on the bubble.
Regardless of how large March Madness gets, there will always be bubble teams. Unfortunately, half of the tournament field today is little more than cannon fodder for the top 32. To cut back would be a loss in television revenue, they say.
Here’s an idea. Why not make it a 32 team double-elimination tournament and revitalize the old NIT for second tier teams that don’t make the NCAA tournament. There would be additional games generating more dollars and a much better chance of having a true national champion.
6 – Sideline Reporters: Do they really add anything to the game? Honestly is there something so important during any football game that could not be radioed to the announcers in the booth? And eliminating the inane half-time interviews when coaches are chomping at the bit to get to the locker room would be a blessing.
7 – Super Bowl Hype: Enough said. Six to eight hours of pre-game speculation is way over the top. Thank goodness they announce the kick-off time in advance so we can skip all the hoopla.
8 – Rush Limbaugh: Like him or not he is one of the most entertaining and skilled talk-show hosts around when it come to analyzing political and media hypocrisy. Trouble is, Limbaugh also finds it necessary to pontificate about cigars, aviation, Apple computers, golf and professional football. That’s when he becomes a boring celebrity know-it-all of which his favorite subject is himself while constantly reminding his audience that he doesn’t like to do it.
9 – Award Show Acceptance Speeches: Ok we get it, you are humble and you need to thank all the people who made you famous. Trouble is, nobody knows, or cares, who those people are. Couldn’t they find a way to eliminate, or at least minimize, those interminable speeches?
10 – The Inauguration: When you get right down to it, it fits into the same category as Super Bowl hype. Whether it is
Mr. Rooney could probably add a hundred or so more. Of course, griping won’t change anything, but it feels so much better when you take time to vent your frustrations.
Peabod is Bob Taylor, owner of Taylored Media Services in
Inquiries for groups can be made at Peabod@aol.com Taylored Media has produced marketing videos for British Rail, Rail Europe, Switzerland Tourism, the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council, the Finnish Tourist Board, the Swiss Travel System and Japan Railways Group among others.
As author of The Century Club book, Peabod is now attempting to travel to 100 countries or more during his lifetime. To date he has visited 71 countries. Suggest someplace new for Bob to visit; if you want to know where he has been, check his list on Facebook. Bob plans to write a sequel to his book when he reaches his goal of 100 countries. He also played professional baseball for four years and was a sportscaster for 14 years at WBTV, the CBS affiliate in Charlotte.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
