Timeout!
Something Father Mike said in his homily a couple of weeks ago struck me as an interesting topic. He told about his little nephew, who had been issued a “timeout” by his mom for acting out in some way. When his allotted time was up, he announced, “That was exactly 246 seconds!”
I don’t remember ever hearing about timeouts (except in sports) until sometime after all our kids were well past such methods of disciplining them. I suppose somewhere along the line timeouts became an alternative to spanking kids. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was no longer an acceptable mantra for parents. Public opinion somehow turned spanking into “child abuse,” and the timeout chair became a new psychological technique for interacting with kids.
The purpose of the timeout supposedly is to give the child the opportunity to think about his misdeeds and practice some self-calming skills. I’m not so sure that most kids sit there and think about their behavior. Father Mike’s little nephew, for example, was content to just count the seconds until he could get back to his games.
Like lots of other endeavors, the advent of the “timeout” as a disciplinary tool created a whole new marketing outlet. Type in “timeout chair” on Google and you’ll find hundreds of photos of wonderfully fanciful chairs and benches, neatly painted and decorated. Many of the chairs give the kids reminders of how much Mommy and Daddy love them despite their wayward behaviors.
Father Mike’s comments were meant to make us think about taking some timeouts in our lives to contemplate the season of Advent and to spend some time considering our lives and our blessings. It did that, but it also led me to think about the value of timeouts in sports. (I watch a lot of sports!)
If you’re a sports fan, you understand that a timeout is a halt in the play. Coaches can communicate with their teams to strategize or to inspire their players. Timeouts are usually called by coaches or players, but in televised games, “TV timeouts” are called by TV producers to allow the media time to sell us something. Teams usually call timeouts at strategically important points in the game, but TV producers are not much concerned by the action on the field. They’re just concerned about filling all the sponsors’ paid advertising time.
I have been an NFL (think “Packers”!) fan for nearly 70 years, practically ever since I was able to read the sports pages of the Green Bay Press Gazette. I listened to the games on the radio whenever I could, and after we got a TV in 1956, I watched nearly every game — right up to today. I have been intrigued by the way the game has been changed by TV.
Have you ever noticed that the referee will sometimes announce, “This will be a 30-second timeout”? What’s a 30-second timeout? What determines the length of a timeout? Believe it or not, the NFL rules determine that, and, as silly as it sounds, the length of a timeout depends upon how many TV commercials have been shown in the half. Besides the end of the quarter and the two-minute warning, there are eight additional “TV timeouts” which will extend the length of any given team timeout to one minute 50 seconds.
Once all of the TV timeouts have been shown, any remaining team timeouts taken will last only 30 seconds. A 30-second timeout is actually a “regular” timeout; the longer ones are the exception. The refs don’t actually decide which is awarded; the TV broadcasters do. The TV network has a person on the sidelines with a pair of red flags, which he uses to communicate to the referee whether to go long or short on the timeout. He also uses them to indicate when the network is back from commercial and play can resume, and when the network is choosing to go to commercial for a stoppage in play (an injury, instant replay challenge, etc).
By contract, the TV network is entitled to a certain amount of commercial time in each game. There are guidelines for how much should be used in each quarter, with some wiggle room. Generally, ads are allowed to begin only during natural stoppages in play, such as after scores or possession changes, but also when teams call timeouts. So if a game is moving at a “normal” pace, then this isn’t really a big deal; the networks get their breaks, everything is fine. However, if a game is running short on commercial time (because the teams have not had many changes of possession, no injuries, and not much scoring), then the network will turn any opportunity into a full commercial break.
However, if all budgeted commercial time has been used for the game, then in the interests of keeping the game moving, the timeout will be declared a “30-second timeout” (a normal timeout) and the network will either cut to a single 15-second commercial or, more likely, just do an in-game promo for upcoming shows.
Well, I guess I’d better take a timeout here, right?
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