04/20/24
July 05, 2012
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
If the court microphones weren't turned up so high, how much of that hilarious hooting would be heard? The sound of the ball hitting the ground and the racket are really loud on the ESPN broadcast.
posted by rcade at 10:20 AM on July 05, 2012
Epic match. Glad your comment reminded me to tune in.
posted by rcade at 11:16 AM on July 05, 2012
I remember a time when there were no hooters.
posted by beaverboard at 11:25 AM on July 05, 2012
Can't the sound people edit that out or something?
Apparently tennis' governing bodies are discussing ruls against grunting. Doubt they'll get very far though.
posted by yerfatma at 11:47 AM on July 05, 2012
Final Euro confidence pool standings posted to the Locker Room. Congrats to goddam on her victory.
posted by holden at 11:53 AM on July 05, 2012
Apparently tennis' governing bodies are discussing ruls against grunting. Doubt they'll get very far though.
I doubt they can stop the grunting, but I hope they can do something so that fans watching on tv don't have to hear it. Keeping the volume down on the tv sucks because there is a lot going on that I do want to hear.
posted by bperk at 12:53 PM on July 05, 2012
Shrieking != grunting. I can't watch women's tennis anymore. I don't believe that extended howling is necessary or uncontrollable. It's gamesmanship and it's obnoxious.
posted by swerve at 12:59 PM on July 05, 2012
Then you can't watch men's tennis either because Nadal and Djokovic both do it, too.
posted by bperk at 03:14 PM on July 05, 2012
I've watched a fair amount of Nadal and I've never actually noticed him shrieking.
posted by swerve at 09:34 PM on July 05, 2012
I don't mind a grunt or even a semi-orgasmic shriek from time to time when the point is just too tense or exciting to be borne, but when it gets to the point that Sciovone seems to have reached of shrieking when she hits it and then offering up a subsequent orgasmic grunt just as the ball lands at the other end, it is, as swerve just said, gamesmanship, pure and simple. It wouldn't make an ounce of difference to someone like me, but I imagine at the upper echelons of the game, the sound of the ball as it arrives in front of you provides a lot of information (about spin and firmness of bounce and so on).
I know table tennis players have often said that the stamping of their feet when they serve is not a physical technique to improve the execution of the shot, but an auditory technique to obscure the sound of the paddle striking the ball.
posted by JJ at 07:39 AM on July 06, 2012
My TV has this new fangled feature called a "Mute" button. So if I really wanted to watch tennis without listening to shrieks or grunts or whatever, I'd just use that. Unfortunately, it sounds like your tvs aren't equipped with this. Hopefully when it comes time for you to replace it, your new model will have this feature if it's not tied up in patent laws and other nonsense.
posted by apoch at 08:12 AM on July 06, 2012
apoch, as bperk noted above "Keeping the volume down on the tv sucks because there is a lot going on that I do want to hear."
I don't watch tennis, but I do watch a great deal of soccer/football, and it drives me batty when certain groups of fans [looking at you Barcelona supports] whistle whenever the opposing team has the ball. I couldn't give a rat's patootie about the commentators speaking, but I generally like to hear crown noise when I watch an event. My TV has a 1/2 mute feature which can come in handy at times, but these whistles are so high-pitched they make some matches unwatchable to me.
posted by scully at 08:21 AM on July 06, 2012
subsequent orgasmic grunt just as the ball lands at the other end, it is, as swerve just said, gamesmanship, pure and simple
This was also part of the conversation on ESPN and they felt like tennis would/ should do something about that nonsense. Just don't hold your breath, as it were.
posted by yerfatma at 09:16 AM on July 06, 2012
I want Serena to win with just aces, so that I don't have to hear Azarenka's hooting. Can't the sound people edit that out or something? It's incredibly annoying.