"Captioning Is Not Rocket Science"

In the early weeks of 2006, I had the rare opportunity to go to an NFL playoff game.

(Of course, my opportunity to see NFL playoff games is made all the rarer by my long-held allegiance to the Cincinnati Bengals. They hadn't hosted one since 1989).

The Bengals were facing the Pittsburgh Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati in the second round of the playoffs. The atmosphere was electric. The crowd - fresh from several hours of inebriating pre-game activities - was louder than anything I had ever heard. I couldn't believe I was in Cincinnati; I thought these days only happened in places like Green Bay or Dallas.

Then on the first play from scrimmage, Bengals QB Carson Palmer blew out his knee, and the Bengals never recovered. I don't mean just in that game - they still haven't recovered, three years later. Same old Bengals.

But on that day the crowd, the power of the roars, the blaring music, the gigantic scoreboard, all added up to quite an afternoon, even if we ended up on the wrong end of a 31-17 score.

Not too long after the Super Bowl that year - which the Steelers went on to win - a group of fans of the Washington Redskins filed a lawsuit against their own team. The fans, who were deaf, felt that the team wasn't doing enough to make the NFL experience available and real to fans who are hearing impaired.

In the game I went to, the fans were so loud, you could sense the vibration in the stadium; the music so loud you could feel the bass. But it is interesting to try and envision the same exact environment with all of the sounds removed.

I noticed one group of people who couldn't have cared less about the noise - the Pittsburgh Steelers. But if you were deaf, what would the experience be like for you?

When the referree explains a call, they use a set of hand and arm signals that true football fans recognize, even from the upper deck. But often they also provide further information about the play, such as who committed the infraction, and how many yards it cost them. After reviewing a play on video tape, the referree will provide a verbal explanation for why the call is being upheld or overturned. For football fans, this is important stuff.

None of these are available to the fan who is deaf. The litigants in this case - backed by the National Association of the Deaf - sought to compel the team to provide captioning on the scoreboard to explain game developments.

"I am a lifelong die-hard Redskins fan and I love watching the Redskins play at FedEx Field," Shane Feldman of Silver Spring said in a statement. "But I miss out on the total game experience because I cannot hear the information announced on the public address system. Providing captioning is not rocket science; it is simple, and it is the right thing to do."

At the time, the Redskins said they were considering a lot of options - including providing 7" televisions with captioning to deaf patrons. This was something the deaf plaintiffs were not interested in.

Ultimately, the team acquiesced to their demands.

The (Redskins) agreed to post captions on the scoreboard, spelling out everything from the announcements naming the players involved in the last play to the penalty calls and even the ads read over the PA system.

And good for them. So much of the football experience does come from the ears. Sometimes an entire game - an entire season - can come down to one play, one call by an official. If a deaf fan doesn't get the information needed, he can never fully be part of the fan experience. I hope other NFL teams follow suit.

But according to the plaintiffs, that wasn't enough. The deaf patrons wanted even more. They wanted what every impassioned, fanatic follower of an NFL team wants:

The lyrics to the stupid songs they play during timeouts. And they got it.

A federal judge ruled this week that the Redskins have to post the lyrics on the scoreboard for all songs played over the public address system.

I'm not sure what exactly the lyrics would add to the deaf patrons' understanding of the game itself. Most of the songs played on the sound system, if broken down lyrically, don't have much to do with what is happening between the hedges. The power of the songs make sense to the situation, if one can hear. The lyrics would make little sense for those who can't.

But now, thanks to the federal judge, deaf fans will be able to try to fully enjoy such gems as this overplayed one, from Archie Eversole :

We ready (what? what?)
We ready (what? what?)
We ready (we ready, we ready)
For Y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Of course, this is the chorus. The stanzas are filled with references to excessive drinking, "shots going through your chest," chainsaws, and calling people the N-Word. Perfect for cheerleading!]

Or this stadium classic, "Lose Yourself," from poet laureate Eminem:

His palms are sweaty, knees weak
Arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already
Mom's spaghetti

Brilliant. Can't wait to see that one on the 40-yard jumbotron.

I do support the deaf on this one, though, because it's information. And it wouldn't be hard at all for the teams to comply; the lyrics to these songs are available instantly over the Internet.

And if there is one thing deaf people hate, it is hearing people deciding for them what information they need. Sign language interpreters can't just blow off parts of conversations they think are stupid and pointless - even if they are. They have to get all the data to the consumer. So, in that sense having the lyrics displayed is good.

But there are two parts to every song - music and lyrics, and both mean something. And in football stadiums, the former is much more important than the latter. The lyrics are often completely irrelevant.

For example, "The Winner Takes It All" might make more sense lyrically to a deaf person at a football game than "Welcome To The Jungle" does. But just try playing ABBA to a drunk, frenetic crowd at the two-minute warning of a close game.

Not that the Bengals have had many of those.