Another Thought on What Matters in America

The other day I surmised that most people probably care more about pop culture than politics. Although I will not do any actual fact finding to prove this, I point the interested reader to the fact that approximately 11 people voted in the 2004 presidential elections.

Last night, I was watching the Duke vs. North Carolina basketball game. If you're no sports junkie, let me assure you that this game is a big deal. In fact, I bet that more Americans can name one of the two coaches than can name a member of Bush's cabinet.

I know that sports are a big deal -- I used to be a sports editor after all -- but sometimes I am surprised by how big of a deal. In flipping channels, I noticed that the game was on ESPN and ESPN2. The only difference was the camera angle. Yes, that's right. The game was so big, that at least two camera angles were available to viewers. Toward the end of the game, they showed a graphic outlining what was next on each of the ESPN networks following the game. ESPN Classic was showing a classic game in the rivalry immediately after, and ESPN-U had been showing something called "Cameron Crazies Special: North Carolina vs Duke," which may have been another camera angle.

That's how big a deal that sports is. Now, for a moment, imagine a network carrying a presidential speech with a different camera angle. Or, imagine how many viewers would tune into a classic presidential speech.

As Exhibit B, I offer all of the Academy Awards pre-game coverage that I saw today.