52 TV's and Loads of Wings - Media Meditation #1

In order to pay rent and to live the full "college experience" in Burlington for my senior year at Champlain I had to go out and get a job. After combing Craig's List and dropping off job applications I finally got a job at Buffalo Wild Wings. Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) is about three things, wings, beer, and sports. Here is a TV commercial for BWW that gives a pretty good idea of the atmosphere and what the average customer base is like.




As a host at BWW it is my job to greet and seat customers. This has proven to be a difficult task. When customers walk in they are immediately distracted by the 52 televisions that cover almost every wall in the restaurant, including eight gigantic large screen TV's. Kids walk in and are immediately mesmerized. I watch their eyes glaze over as they stare at the amazing number of screens surrounding them. I have never seen kids behave so well in a restaurant either. They are so distracted by the different screens they don't even want to misbehave for their parents.




It is a little mind numbing to be surrounded by that many televisions, especially when you are working for 6 or 7 hours at a time, as it is a constant over stimulation. Sundays are the most interesting days for me to work. Since the start of the NFL regular season Sundays have been hectic. People come in to watch the games, eat wings, and drink beer. Their experience at the restaurant is totally dependent on what TV the game they want to watch is playing on. People wait up to forty five minutes for a table near a TV that is playing their preferred game.

Buffalo Wild Wings, Burlington Vermont http://www.findandgoseek.net/listing/buffalo-wild-wings-grill-and-bar/dads-night-out-with-kids


It is amazing how excited people get about watching sports on TV. For me, watching sports on TV is always kind of a background thing while talking with friends or working around the house. I don't generally devote all my attention to a sporting event on TV unless it is a championship of some sort. For me it is more exciting to actually attend a sporting event live and in person. I am constantly amazed at how riveted to the TV these sports fans are on game day and how for some Sunday Football is the main event of the day. Before Television sporting events were a chance for people to gather together and support their team. But now Television has changed the world of sports and how sports fans can cheer on and support their teams.



I think that Neil Postman would agree with this statement, and I feel that it fits in well with his thesis about how Television has changed our society and the way it works. Instead of being a typographic society we have shifted to an image based society.