In the States, it’s about advertising money. Advertisers want their outrageously expensive ads to reach the widest possible audience, so they focus on prime time. At 9pm EST, people on the west coast are thinking about starting dinner, and if an event has to go out live, that 5-9pm range is probably the most lucrative time to show it. When I saw the Seahawks in Denver, I overheard some people talking about how the TV networks demand that the games start late, like 6pm, which in Denver in December, is really, really cold. The players would rather play when it’s warmer (and light) out, but they’re not consulted. So much is about money, and the money doesn’t care about children’s bedtimes or freezing athletes.
Here, I’m pretty sure it’s also about advertising money, but I don’t see the logic. We’re on the early side of Europe: there are four time zones from England to Russia. The Russians have a serious shot at winning the whole thing, and their poor fans back home will be tuning in at 10:45, while the English, who didn’t even qualify (but will watch it anyway, because come on), get to see it at 7:45. How is this reasonable? Next Monday morning, a lot of people are going to be calling in sick with soccer hangovers, and you read it here first: if Germany makes it to the final, I’m letting my kids stay up for the whole thing. I won’t be the only one.
Speaking of Russia, the song du jour of the day is Song#1 by Serebro. I do love songs written in English by people whose first language it isn’t. I mean, really. “Kick the flow?” What does that even mean?
