NBC Football Coverage Goes Semi-Green

Hot Air brings us the news that NBC’s “Football Night in America” show is doing its part for the environment by turning off the studio lights during it’s pre-game show.

Yeah, that’ll help.

I’m watching the halftime show and they’re doing the same thing. Except that they have this ginormous screen behind them showing their sponsor’s name in big bright lights. Same for the signboards on the desk in front of Bob Costas and the other goofs. One wonders just how much energy those screens use. I find it hard to believe they’re using LED lights to pimp Toyota’s name and logo. Bob Costas has decided to tell us that they’re not going to light the studio unless it’s needed to go on the air.

Really? They keep the whole studio lit during the game, advertising widescreen television and fronts on the desk and everything? I would hope that they didn’t do that, “green” or not. That’s just foolish and wasteful.

Of course, they also have to front for their alleged news program. Enter the fluff interview with Matt Lauer who is at the Arctic Circle to show us how much he cares about the environment. No word on how much CO2 got spewed into the atmosphere flying Lauer and the crew there nor how much it cost to power the broadcast equipment and the bright lights that lit him during the interview.

I suggest that as part of NBC’s “Green is Universal” program, they tell us just how much energy their halftime interviews cost, in pounds of CO2. I’d also be interested to know just how many airmiles Costas, Olbermann, and the rest travel to cover the games, also in total pounds of CO2 emitted. Not that I don’t believe that NBC should broadcast football games, complete with pregame and halftime shows. I just want to know what their carbon footprint is for each broadcast so I can determine whether they have any grounds on which to criticize me for my lifestyle.

UPDATE: Welcome to everyone visiting from Ed Driscoll’s Place, The American Mind (Hi, Dennis Miller!), and Scared Monkeys. Who knew that jabbing NBC with a sharp stick would get the attention of such august bloggers! We’re doing a little celebrating today and accepting the thanks from a thankless world. Did you know that if yuor’e pro-life, you can’t eat carrots? ‘Struth! Lastly, have you voted today? I would appreciate it if you did.

UPDATE 2: Colin McEnroe is wondering if I, as the spokesman for the entire right wing, am against conservation. I would think it’s pretty clear from my post that I’m against hypocritical lectures from taking heads who fly thousands of miles and belch out immense amounts of global-warming gases so they can tell us just how bad they think global warming is. I’m also against talking heads sitting in a studio backlit by a giant display screen with their advertiser’s name and logo on it preening about how noble they are for turning out the lights in their studio when they’re not using it. I learned to do that when I was four. Now that I’m nearly 40, I don’t expect to get a cookie every time I flick the switch.

I don’t feel any contempt toward the notion of conservation. I feel contempt toward the hypocrites and blowhards who deign to lecture me for driving a car bigger than they think I ought to have while jetting all over the country on a whim. I object to said blowhards jumping into my football game to do it as well. I expect that sort of thing at a movie awards show or on the NBC Nightly News. I don’t expect it, and it’s certainly not welcome, in the middle of my recreation.

Welcome, also to readers of The Opinionator.

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Category: Oh the Climate, It is A-Changin'