When I was listening to Ira Glass talking about the relationship between the “anecdote” and the “reflection,” I thought about what it is like to watch a football game. A good way to think of the way he explained the anecdote, is why fans find sports entertaining, which is the suspense from play to play. For example, you have a play, good or bad, but you know there will be another play soon. Good or bad, a fan continues to watch to see what will happen next, good or bad. At the end of the game, win or loss, I have a hard time remembering the sequence of events that led to the conclusion. For the most part, I remember some of the big plays, but what I choose to remember is very selective. Therefor, the sporting event can be looked at as the anecdote. However, the highlight show after is the reflection. They go over the big plays, or the “points” of the story. What led to the conclusion, and why? Without the highlight show, a fan may not remember something like an injury that caused one player to be in the game over the other, which could have been the difference in the game. After the highlight show, the fan feels like he or she has all the knowledge they needed to know about the game, and content. Thus, the relationship between the game and the highlight show, or the anecdote and the reflection.

So to keep with the sports comparisons, I compare Ira Glass’ second video to why fans watch a team every season. As a Redskins fan, I know the chances of a successful season every year is slim. It’s that chance we have a good season that I continue to watch. Like the surprise story Glass talks about. In the middle of bad season after bad season, the Redskins could surprise with a late season playoff push. Or in the middle of a season, the Redskins could get hot. There are stories there. There are a ton of bad stories there, but every once in a while, there is a good story. People have jobs in Redskins news to find these stories. Like Glass says, it’s tough. But every week, the writers have something to say about the team that is engaging and fans listen to these stories every week even if the team is doing bad.

Glass’ third video is helpful in not just broadcasting, but in public speaking as well. Emphasizing every statement like it is a major point in a person’s story can lead to confusion to the listener, because a listener is used to listening to a normal voice flow that emphasizes what actually needs to be emphasized. And on his point mad in is fourth video, without being able to connect with the audience and only talking about what drives home the point your trying to make, in other words, not allowing the audience to connect with the information and absorb it. The speaker is less engaging if that happens, and the speaker might as well be talking to a wall, because no one cares to listen if that is the case. This leads into Jad Abumrad’s point that the speaker needs to be able to connect with the audience with only sound. The audience shares the imagination of the speaker. The speaker doesn’t just tell someone the exact color or shape of an object and expect and expect the listener to be engaged with the speaker for too long. If the speaker allows the listener to have the gist of what something actually looks like, the listener can fill the rest in themselves, thus engaging the listener further that just listening and absorbing.