Like any cycling fan, I imagine, I have a habit of correcting whoever’s doing the live announcing of a race if he makes a mistake, sort of mentally scoffing at the fact that they got something wrong. I’m not, however, nearly arrogant enough to think that I could do any better. These guys are blabbering on for hours on end, much longer than any of us are awake to see on the West Coast, and they don’t have notes. This is a live event, people, so the idea that they’d always be 100% correct or witty or insightful or whatever is crazy. They’ll make mistakes, they’ll say silly things, and we might think, “Wow, I’d never say something so stupid on television!” But you know what? We would. And we’d be much, much worse.

Sure, there are announcers who are better than others and those who are worse than others. There are guys I can’t stand listening to, and others who I adore no matter how many mistakes they make. But I wouldn’t for a minute think that I could do their job for more than a day without falling over, or without making a single error.

What has me on this tirade? Some of the people commenting on this post make it seem like it’s a capital offense to make a mistake. I’d be willing to bet they can’t live up to their own impossible standards.