Headline writer’s premier blunder deserves the coup de grâce

By Calvin Palmer

It is widely assumed that people who work on newspapers are educated – in America it is possible to earn an undergraduate degree in journalism. However, the people who teach the courses often have no experience of  working on a newspaper.

Would you want your surgeon to be trained by someone who has never performed surgery? I thought not.

If journalists and members of the editorial team do not possess a degree, they usually more than compensate by having a broad knowledge of the world and its affairs. They are savoir-faire, as the French would say.

It is also a great shame that a great many Americans possess little or no understanding of a second language.

This linguistic shortfall, combined with a lack of knowledge that is within the grasp of most 11-year-olds in Britain, led to an unfortunate advertorial headline in the property section of my newspaper.

The headline ran : “Four premiere builders move to Durbin Crossing”.

I dare say 99 percent of the paper’s readership did not bat an eyelid. I would even guess that the editorial board thought the headline was all right, somewhat sophisticated by the newspaper’s usual standards.

But for the well-traveled and knowledgeable, the headline raised an eyebrow and consternation regarding the caliber of the newspaper’s editorial staff.

A premiere, which should take a grave accent and be written première, is the first performance of a play or film, a movie in American parlance.

Premier, on the other hand, means first in position, importance, order or time. Hence the English Premier League is football’s highest league in England.

So what the unfortunate headline writer wrote equates to four first performance builders move to Durbin Crossing. In other words, complete and utter nonsense.

It will probably come as no surprise that the newspaper in question was The Florida Times-Union, based in Jacksonville.

As a former copy editor, the only thing left to say is, Sacré bleu!

Ultra-conservatives rewrite history and recent economic events

By Calvin Palmer

I passed a doctor’s office this afternoon and saw that one of the cars parked in front, a Lexus, had several anti-Obama stickers stuck on the back fender. One in particular made me stop: “Clinton Ruined A Dress. Obama Ruined A Nation”.

It is hard to say whether the car belonged to a patient or the doctor. Given that some of the American medical profession hold the kind of bigoted views not normally associated with supposedly intelligent and educated people, it could well have belonged to the physician.

I am a great believer in political discourse. How else do we determine the best policies for a nation. But please make it a rational discussion based on accepted facts and not glib and erroneous political slogans.

This sticker provided the perfect example of why I have so little time for members of the Tea Party and other ultra-conservatives. How is it possible to have a discussion with people who are so blinded to reality and have such short memories.

Fact: The financial meltdown occurred before Obama was elected President.

Fact: The bail-out of the banks and other financial institutions was at the behest of President George W. Bush. In his recently published memoirs, Bush admits that he feared a total collapse of the American economy and took appropriate measures to avoid such a catastrophe.

Fact: President George W. Bush is a Republican.

The Tea Party and ultra-conservatives appear to inhabit a fantasy world of their own concoction. They are no strangers to rewriting recent history, as well as scientific facts with many of them subscribing to the notion that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.

These people would be laughable if it wasn’t for the fact that some voters in America take them seriously. More frightening is the prospect that people holding such absurd and distorted views could eventually control the fortunes of one the world’s richest and most powerful nations.

It is to be hoped that there are sufficient intelligent Americans to deny these fundamentalists and fantasists their ultimate goal, namely the Presidency of the United States of America, and save the nation from a new dark age.

America deserves better than to be run by people who seem incapable of remembering what happened three years ago; people who distort the true account of events and who are incapable of articulate discussion.

Sign points to Sink sinking

By Calvin Palmer

The gubernatorial race in Florida pitches Republican Rick Scott against Democrat Alex Sink.

I know there is not much we can do with the name we are born with but it struck me that Sink is an unfortunate last name for someone in politics. Cartoonists could have a field day with a name like that.

As a foretaste of what may come if Sink is elected, I spotted this election sign in the Riverside area of Jacksonville.

Campaign sign. ©Calvin Palmer 2010. All Rights Reserved.

It seems as if Sink is sinking. We will know the truth of that later tonight.

It also struck me looking at the outline of the state of Florida how it resembles the shape of a handgun. That explains a lot.

I guess if Sink wins, the Republicans will no doubt claim she is a Muslim and does not have U.S. Citizenship.

A Scott victory on the other hand will have the smug and selfish gloating. He offers the usual promises of lower property taxes, less state regulation and lower taxes for business. These measures, he assures the electorate, will create 700,000 jobs in seven years. Though how many jobs will be lost by the measures he introduces is not spelled out.

In a nation where unemployment is beginning to reach unacceptable levels, 700,000 jobs sounds tempting.

I can remember Margaret Thatcher winning her first election victory with the slogan “Britain Isn’t Working Under Labour.” The slogan alluded to the protracted strike by public sector employees.

Margaret Thatcher won the election and her administration then presided over the largest rise in unemployment Britain had seen since the Depression of the 1930s. When it comes to right-wing politicians, be careful what you wish for.

And what will be the cost of Scott’s jobs in terms of the environment and infrastructure of the state, not to mention education and the provisions for the elderly and infirm.

Public education is not a high priority for Republicans. First, their children do not attend public schools. Second, they don’t want ordinary people to be educated because it would reduce their chances of electoral victory. I mean would you vote for someone who believes the Earth is only 6,000 years old?

And less state regulation? We have all experienced, when I say “all” I do not mean the rich and wealthy of Scott’s ilk, what the lack of regulation led to with the banks and financial institutions. How quickly Republican politicians and their supporters forget.

Happy voting!

Baby killed by Florida mother for interrupting computer game

By Calvin Palmer

A Florida mother charged with the murder of her three-month-old son by shaking him to death pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder

Alexandra V. Tobias, 22, of Arlington, Jacksonville, was arrested in January after the death of Dylan Lee Edmondson.

The Florida Times-Union reported that Tobias had told police she had been playing a computer game called Farmville on the social networking Web site, Facebook, when Dylan started crying. She said she shook the baby before calling 911 and his head “could have” hit the computer.

“I think what sparked her was … the baby’s crying,” said Lt Larry Schmitt of Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office homicide unit.”It was enough to apparently put her over the edge.”

Tobias also told police after the first shake, she laid Dylan on a living-room couch and went to smoke a cigarette to “gain her composure”. She said the family dog knocked the boy off the couch, causing him to cry. She said she picked him up and shook him again, causing him to stop breathing, at which point she called 911.

The baby was taken to Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital with injuries to his head and a broken leg. He was pronounced dead 24 hours later. The autopsy found abusive head trauma.

Tobias entered her plea today before Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud. She faces a minimum sentence of 25 years.

Judge Soud offered no promises on what he will order during a sentencing hearing scheduled for December.

Outside the courtroom, Prosecutor Richard Mantei said the plea by Tobias will help avoid the family reliving the tragedy during a jury trial.

[Based on a report by The Florida Times Union.]

AT&T patently fails to communicate

By Calvin Palmer

My Internet connection and phone line went down in the early hours of Wednesday morning. I did the usual trick of turning off the modem and powering it back up but to no avail. I then noticed a flashing light — In Use — on the telephone and discovered the  line was dead also.

It was left to my wife to report the fault. She has a cell phone and I do not.

Our telephone and Internet service provider is AT&T. Despite the repeated offers from Comcast to switch I have remained loyal to AT&T, although in the past 24 hours my loyalty has been tested almost to breaking point.

First off, the person on the AT&T help desk suggested unplugging all the phones and disconnecting the modem. “It often brings everything back into service,” the person told my wife, without any mention of sending someone round to take a look.

I did unplug all the phones as instructed but knowing full well it would make not one jot of difference. And I was right.

But how was I to contact my wife and get her to call AT&T again.

Riverside, Jacksonville, has some of the last remaining payphones in the United States and one of them, fortunately is only a block away from my house.

Having never used a payphone since moving to America, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but figured the process would be similar to the one used by British Telecom back in Britain.

Luckily, I had a pocket of loose change but was taken aback when instructed to insert 50 cents for a 15-minute local call. First, I did not expect to pay so much. I figured 25 cents would be steep for a call. Second, I did not require 15 minutes. My business would take three minutes, five minutes at the most.

Of course, my wife was unavailable. She usually is when any emergency or crisis arrives and I need her assistance. Be it the direct line to her office or her iPhone, I can guarantee that in such circumstances I will get her voice mail.

My wife’s gorgeous voice, and she really does have a lovely voice, instructed me to leave my message at the end of the tone. I did so but would have much preferred to have spoken to her directly.

The Internet for me is not some idle playing – it is my life. I am dependent on it 100 percent for news, information and communication with the outside world. I also have this blog site to maintain, another one that deals solely with my photographic endeavors and my daily contribution to Blipfoto – all of which were destined to come to a grinding halt.

Most of my social interaction is conducted via the Internet. In fact, I met my wife in an Internet chat room. She was drawn to me by my ability to spell and punctuate correctly.

Any shopping I do, which has been precious little these past couple of years as my income has fallen to zero, is done online. It is my wife’s birthday next week and I was on the point of ordering something when I discovered my Internet connection had disappeared.

I need the Internet to function.

When my wife returned from work, she asked me if AT&T had been. I said not. I asked her if she had received my phone messages. She had not looked for them. However, she had called AT&T again and been told that a repair docket had been issued. She was pissed that AT&T had not turned up despite being given that assurance.

She called AT&T again. It emerged that I was not alone in having lost my Internet connection and phone line. Apparently, a major cable supplying the Riverside area was broken and many other people were in a similar position as me.

My wife was told that it should be repaired by October 18.

When this nugget of information was imparted to me, my reaction was unprintable. Since when has the United States become a Third World country? I asked, once I had vented my anger with a string of expletives. A vital service was going to take 12 days to repair? I was left speechless.

The glossy high-tech image AT&T presents in its TV ads seemingly bears little resemblance to the real world. A 12-day wait before my life could resume had me thinking strongly about switching to Comcast.

The gloom that descended over me today was heavy and intense. I had little interest in doing anything in the knowledge that I was isolated from the world and all that I hold dear. I kept thinking of how I was going to cope over the course of the next 12 days. It was a depressing prospect that I tried to put out of my mind but it kept looming large.

In the middle of the afternoon, I thought I would check if I could access a network on my wife’s laptop. In the past, such a move has enabled me to check e-mails and see what is going on in the world. However, these days most networks are secured by a WPA pass code, as is my network, and are inaccessible to outsiders.

I happened to go into the office, before heading to the Mac Pro, in what I term the “creative suite” – it’s the back bedroom in actuality — to work on processing images from last week’s trip to Atlanta, when I noticed the In Use light on the telephone had stopped flashing. I picked up the phone and obtained a dialing tone. I was back in business. Yay!!!!

So where did this mysterious repair date of October 18 come from?

My wife has just written me an e-mail, saying that she telephoned AT&T again and was told someone had been dispatched today and the ultimate repair date was still supposed to be October 18. Also the promised phone call to her when the repair had been completed was never made. No surprise there.

I would have thought that if a major cable providing Internet and telephone service to Riverside had broken, it would have made the news.  I cannot find any reference to such a story. I doubt The Florida Times-Union would run the story even if it were aware of it. The newspaper may not like Big Government but it sure gives big corporations a free ride.

So just what is going on with AT&T, apart from making huge profits by providing a shoddy service and seemingly by employing complete idiots?  Has any repair man visited my house? No. Have I got my Internet service back? Yes. I guess the pixies must have fixed it.

So while I am grateful to the engineers and technical staff at AT&T for getting me back online, my contempt for the people at customer service knows no bounds. For a company in the communications business, AT&T patently fails when it comes  to communicating with its customers.

If any senior managers at AT&T happen to read this piece, I have one message for them: “Get your act together where customer service is concerned. You don’t know how close you were to losing my business.”

Gainesville scores high for intolerance and stupidity

By Calvin Palmer

At the moment most of the world is equating Gainesville, Florida, with Pastor Terry Jones and his proposed burning of copies of the Koran on Saturday as a protest against the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York.

The 58-year-old minister’s International Burn A Quran Day has drawn condemnation from both within the United States and overseas, particularly Muslim countries.

Thankfully, Jones has seen the light and today called off his protest.

In Gainesville, intolerance and stupidity are not just confined to members of bizarre religious groups. Those qualities are also found in Gainesville City Commission, which last month passed a city ordinance banning smoking at Regional Transit System bus-stops.

The ordinance, passed on August 5, prohibits smoking within 20 feet of Regional Transit System open-air and semi-enclosed bus shelters.

RTS spokesman Chip Skinner said the ordinance was passed for the health of the public.

The ban on bus-stop smoking was introduced because the University of Florida has banned smoking on its campus and students were leaving the campus to smoke at bus stations, especially those around Shands.

The campus ban came into effect on July 1and the city acted in the light of public complaints, said Commissioner Jeanna Mastrodicasa.

RTS has put up signs about the new ordinance at the Rosa Parks Downtown Station and has ordered stickers to be placed on all bus stop signs, Skinner said.

No arrests will be made for violating the new ban but a warning will be given along with a $75 fine. Any law enforcement and code enforcement officer can enforce the new ban, he said.

Where does the stupidity of this ordinance come in? Well it does not apply to people on private property within 20 feet of a bus station or bus-stop. It also does not include people passing by in a motor vehicle, a non-motor vehicle or bicycle.

Just a minute, I thought the ordinance was introduced to protect the public’s health. Surely cigarette smoke from someone on private property, a passing car or someone riding a bike is just as harmful as that exhaled by someone standing at a bus-stop.

Imagine the scene where a smoker can be smoking on his front lawn within 20 feet of a bus-stop but if the smoker steps on to the sidewalk, he/she is suddenly violating an ordinance introduced to protect the public’s health.

And what is the situation if a person lights up a cigarette outside the 20-feet limit and then just allows the cigarette to burn whilst standing within the 20-feet limit. If the person does not take a pull on the cigarette, they cannot be deemed to be smoking. Or does the ordinance extend to the burning of tobacco within 20-feet of a bus-stop?

While Pastor Terry Jones’ misguided protest is guaranteed by the First Amendment, alas the rights of smokers to consume tobacco in the open air have no constitutional backing? The pursuit of happiness may well have been included in the Declaration of Independence but it failed to make it to the U.S. Constitution.

This Gainesville ordinance has nothing to do with the public’s health but more to do with pandering to the anti-tobacco lobby and health fascists, aided and abetted by junk science and pseudo scientists, who abhor tobacco and those who choose to smoke tobacco.

I came across more nonsense the other day in a radio advert by Tobacco Free Florida where the narrator alluded to the presence of cyanide in cigarette smoke.

Cyanide is an evocative word, after all hydrogen cyanide was used in the systematic extermination of Jews in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War

The anti-smoking lobby will assert that the presence of hydrogen cyanide in cigarette smoke puts non-smokers at risk. But how come no one has ever died of cyanide poisoning due to exposure to cigarette smoke? Why aren’t smokers keeling over dead 20 feet away from bus-stops in Gainesville after inhaling the hydrogen cyanide contained in their cigarettes?

Suddenly, Pastor Terry Jones does not seem such an isolated case of crass stupidity, bigotry and intolerance.

[Based on a report by The Gainesville Sun.]

Florida pastor still plans Koran-burning protest despite condemnations

By Calvin Palmer

A Florida pastor is planning to burn copies of the Koran as a protest against the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York.

Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville plans to burn Islam’s Holy Book on the ninth anniversary of the attacks.

The 58-year-old minister, with a following of some 50 people, announced  in July that he would stage “International Burn a Quran Day”, since when supporters from across the United States have been mailing copies of the Koran to be burned.

The fire department has denied Jones a required burn permit but he says he is going ahead with his event. He said lawyers have told him his right to burn the Koran is protected by the First Amendment.

Gen David Petraeus has warned that “images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence.”

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley echoed that, calling the planned protest “un-American” and saying it does not represent the views of most people in the U.S.

“While it may well be within someone’s rights to take this action, we hope cooler heads will prevail,” Crowley said.

The interfaith group of evangelical, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim leaders meeting in Washington today condemned Jones’ plan as a violation of American values and the Bible.

“This is not the America that we all have grown to love and care about,” said Rabbi Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “We have to stand up for our Muslim brothers and sisters and say, “This is not OK.'”

Jones said he is still praying about his decision but wonders how many times the U.S. can back down.

“We think it’s time to turn the tables, and instead of possibly blaming us for what could happen, we put the blame where it belongs — on the people who would do it,” he said. “And maybe instead of addressing us, we should address radical Islam and send a very clear warning that they are not to retaliate in any form.”

Jones, who runs the small, evangelical Christian church with an anti-Islam philosophy, says he has received more than 100 death threats and has started wearing a .40-caliber pistol strapped to his hip.

The Dove World Outreach Center is independent of any denomination but follows the Pentecostal tradition, which teaches that the Holy Spirit can manifest itself in the modern day.

Pentecostals often view themselves as engaged in spiritual warfare against satanic forces.

In Gainesville, home of the University of Florida, Jones is seen as a fringe character not worthy of the attention he is attracting.

But protests are being planned. Two dozen Christian churches, Jewish temples and Muslim organizations in Gainesville have mobilized to plan inclusive events — some will read from the Koran at their own weekend services — to counter Jones’s planned protest.

A student group is also organizing a protest across the street from the church on Saturday.

Gainesville Police Department spokesperson said there will be a “heightened police presence” throughout the city and county that day, which is also a UF football game day.

Clearly what we have here is someone seeking their 15 minutes of fame. Jones at 58 is likely not getting much in the way of sex these days, the rest of the world treats him like a joke and the planned burning of the Koran is his way of showing the world that he still counts.

The solution to the problem is quite easy if indeed Jones does go ahead. Gainesville Fire Department turns up to the event in the interests of safety, no doubt the church and neighboring buildings are wooden, so a fire of any description would constitute a potential danger.

As Jones appears, the fire department by “mistake” turns on the hoses, not only drenching him and his crackpot followers but rendering the copies of the Koran incapable of being set alight.

On a more serious not, the First Amendment and its guarantee of free speech is laudable provided that the speech involved stays within the bounds of legality. I would think that Jones forfeits his right to free speech in that the content of his speech is an incitement to religious and racial hatred.

Does a civilized society allow individuals the right to incite hatred? Okay, America’s track record suggests that it does but it is never too late to start making amends and join the rest of the civilized world in the 21st Century.

I also wonder why these so-called Christians, by definition followers of Jesus Christ and his teachings, which are contained in the New Testament of the Bible, perpetually dwell in, and take as divine truth, the utter garbage contained in the Old Testament. Is it because peace, love and charity have no place in their intolerant and hateful agenda?

[Based on a report in The Gainesville Sun.]

Forecasters stick to their prediction of 10 hurricanes this season

By Calvin Palmer

Hurricane forecasters are still predicting 10 hurricanes in the Atlantic basin during the 2010 season, with five of them developing into major hurricanes, Category 3 or above.

This above-average prediction is based on unusually warm tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures and the development of La Nina.

The team at Colorado State University, led by William Gray, is sticking to its June 2 forecast of a total of 18 named storms between June 1 and November 30.

“The probability of a major hurricane making landfall along the U.S. coastline is 75 percent,” said Gray.

The team has monitored warm sea temperatures during June and July, as well as low sea level pressures.

“These very warm waters are associated with dynamic and thermodynamic factors that are very conducive for an active Atlantic season,” said Phil Klotzbach, the lead author on the forecast.

Three tropical storms have developed so far this season, one of which gained hurricane strength. But the high point of the season runs from mid-August to October.

The team predicts a 50 percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula.

A 49 percent chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to Brownsville, Texas.

A 64 percent chance of a major hurricane hitting the Caribbean islands and Central America.

The climate factors are similar to conditions that prevailed during the 1952, 1958, 1998 and 2005 seasons. The average of these four seasons shows well above-average activity.

Klotzbach and Gray predict the 2010 season will have activity in line with the average of these five years.

The trouble with predictions is that they have a nasty habit of turning out wrong. Many experts predicted Brazil would win the 2010 World Cup. They did not.

The saying goes, “Put your money where your mouth is”. I doubt either Klotzbach or Gray would bet the farm on their predictions.  And if they had in the past, would they have become rich men? It is hard to say because when these predictions go awry, they are conveniently forgotten and those making such erroneous predictions are seldom called to account.

I will wager both Klotzbach and Gray are hoping for a hurricane season far worse than they are suggesting.

First, it will enable the global warming alarmists to pat each other on the back, at the same time inflating their smug self-righteous egos. Second, it will enable them to scam more research funds from governments whose political leaders have knowledge of things scientific that is about on a par with that of my chihuahua.

Customers have become ‘guests’ at car dealership

By Calvin Palmer

I went to pick my car from the dealership today; it had been in for a service and to get one or two other things fixed.

While being dealt with by the receptionist, the telephone rang.

She shouted through to a colleague hidden from view, “I am with a guest.”

“Are we having a party?” I inquired.

The receptionist smiled.

“What’s wrong with the word customer?” I asked. “It seems strange when there is a perfectly adequate word to describe my status, namely customer, someone has to come up with a totally inappropriate word. Customer, client, patron, any one of those would be applicable but not guest. I am not your guest.”

The receptionist once again smiled politely and went on to inform me that it was the idea of head office — Pearson Infiniti, of Richmond,Virginia, which owns several Infiniti dealerships, including the one on Atlantic Boulevard, Jacksonville.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines guest as:

Person invited to visit another’s house or have a meal etc at his expense; person lodging at hotel, boarding house, etc; occasional performer from outside regular company etc.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines guest as:

Person entertained in one’s house; a person to whom hospitality is extended; a person who pays for the services of an establishment (as a hotel or restaurant); a usually prominent person not a regular member of a cast or organization who appears in a program or performance.

So Pearson Infiniti appear to have usurped the third meaning given by Merriam-Webster. Perhaps Merriam-Webster should amend their definition to include car dealerships as well as hotels and restaurants.

But wait. If Pearson Infiniti have instructed all dealerships within their ownership to use guest rather than customer, why does the About Us section on its Web site read as follows:

Welcome to the Pearson Infiniti website. Our website is part of our ongoing efforts to offer our customers the most modern and convenient access to useful information and satisfying service. Our clients have high expectations for their vehicles, and equally high expectations about the dealership professionals who serve them.

Suddenly, guests have become, as they should be, customers and clients. And I am one client who has high expectations about the standard of English used by the dealership professionals. Does the use of “professionals”  mean the dealership also has amateurs on its staff?

Under the title Contact Us, the drop-down menu features Customer Survey.

What has suddenly happened to guest? Perhaps the party is over and they have all gone home.

The Atlantic Infiniti dealership in Jacksonville may use guest to describe customers who step foot inside its premises but online is a different matter.

Its Web site features a number of sections one of which is labeled More Info. The drop-down menu features Support, which opens up to reveal its full title – Customer Support.

What happened to the guests?

The section goes on to say:

For us “customer service” means making your car buying experience as easy and enjoyable as possible. You’ll find a number of ways that we make customer service the basis of buying and owning a car from our Atlantic Infiniti.

It even goes on to describe the service department.

We offer all our customers who use our service department a comfortable waiting room, with TV, magazines and the best coffee in town.

But what do they offer their guests?

It grieves me to see words used incorrectly because for one thing, as a guest of Atlantic Infiniti Jacksonville, under the definition given by The Concise Oxford Dictionary, they should have paid the $1,000-plus bill for the service and repairs.

TV black out hits World Cup coverage

By Calvin Palmer

World Cup TV coverage has been blacked out in Jacksonville, Florida, for viewers using Comcast.

The game between Honduras and Chile was not available on ESPN. The Spain versus Switzerland match has been similarly affected.

A pre-recorded message by Comcast – 904 374-8000 – states the company is experiencing technical difficulties with a number of channels, including ESPN, and is unable to state when the repairs will be completed. So there is every chance, this afternoon’s game between South Africa and Uruguay may also be unavailable.

Thunderstorms in northeast Florida last night are more than likely the cause of these problems.

Fortunately, the World Cup action can be viewed online at ESPN3.com.

Update: With 15 minutes to go to the start of the South Africa versus Uruguay game, ESPN is still not back up. ESPN2 is back in action with news about baseball and basketball.

Do I detect American priorities at work here? How can a company possibly default on providing an entire day’s coverage of one of the biggest global sporting events; an event that makes the Lakers and Celtics series look like high school league in terms of audience figures.