BY LOREN BRANCH

As a Bowling Green State University student, a basketball fan, and a volunteer team manager, I had no choice but to take a homework break to watch this game on my Xbox since ESPN3 isn’t offered on campus. In addition to realizing how well the team exceeded expectations, keeping up with the talented and athletic Bulldogs and only losing the game by a single digit margin, I also paid close attention to the two commentators. Throughout the entire game, from start to finish, all of their comments favored Georgia. It’s not that they were doing this on purpose, but it seems like a lot of commentators and analysts play favorites without even thinking about it. It is basically an instinct for them.

The announcers seemed surprised by how well BG was playing. It was like they expected the worst at all times. At one point in the first half, in a shocked voice, an announcer said, “Bowling Green is actually out rebounding Georgia.” There was a play where BG’s Scott Thomas stole an outlet pass and the announcer said, “Somehow Thomas came up with the ball.” The fact of the matter is that the pass hit him directly in the chest and he did what any other college basketball would, grabbed it and tried to create a scoring opportunity. In addition, the announcers acted like losing the game would not be that big of a deal for BG. They acted as if losing the game would not count against their record just because they are a mid-major conference team.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not blaming announcers for their comments favoring the “better” teams in sports. As I said before, it’s almost like an instinct for them and they cannot help but seem surprised when the underdogs are doing well. They are just simply expecting one thing and reacting how we all react when we are surprised by something.