TODAY all eyes will be glued to SuperSport 9 and perhaps ZNBC TV as the Chipolopolo of Zambia take on Congo Brazzaville in the African Cup qualifying return leg.
It is Easter Sunday and many viewers are actually praying for a double celebration should George Lwandamina’s lads turn the tables on Congolese soil.
Anyway, that is the hope of every Zambian especially President Edgar Lungu who led the team of VIP officials during the first leg match at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola- a rare presidential support that has been highly praised by many soccer fans.
It was also good to see the new Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga take his first ‘official’ walk on the pitch accompanying the Head of State in his new capacity as the new FAZ president.
My eyes also scanned through the jam-packed stadium in search of one great football legend whose contribution to the game in Zambia and Africa is surely immeasurable- Kalusha Bwalya. I did not see him.
Now, casting aside the Wednesday’s game especially the shoreline, we turn to the technical issues as regards to how the match was aired on two channels, ZNBC and SuperSport 9.
To be honest, I really wanted to watch ZNBC especially that the Head of State was there and that the Zambian commentators would surely analyse the situation better than their South African counterparts.
But it was just impossible to go ZNBC’s way because the picture quality was horrible and somewhat irritating to the eye.
The picture was hazy such that it was impossible to recognise players especially from a long shot.
Their commentary (ZNBC) was actually not that bad as they used proximity to analyse issues as regards the Zambian football, players a, clubs and the presence of the Head of State – something that I really wanted.
Unfortunately, it was practically impossible at this point to choose the national broadcaster because of the poor picture reason.
Not all days are bad with ZNBC because at times, the national broadcaster has given us very crystal clear picture quality from the same venue but many viewers would surely agree that the Wednesday picture was just bad.
Now some viewers noticed flaws beyond the quality of the picture.
One James Sikazwe from Kitwe called after the match and asked why our commentator Innocent Kalaluka always shouts weeeelee! when Zambia scores.
According to Mr Sikazwe, he does not understand what weeeelee” means and that Innocent should not use it as it is more of street language.
Anyway, I promised to give my opinion on the matter through this platform and here it is:
In my own honest opinion, I feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with that expression by Innocent because TV commentary is accompanied by a live picture which surely explains to you what ‘weeeelee’ means.
I have heard international commentators from the English leagues using different expressions sometimes rhyming words with names of a player to express how they feel about a goal.
I vividly remember one match between Chelsea and Manchester United where Didier Drogba scored the only goal of the match one minute before the end of the game.
As the Ivorian star broke lose past the defenders, the commentator shouted his name in a prolonged anticipating manner; surely waiting a dramatic result from his move. He went like: “Didier Drogbaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! Yes! New stadium! first game! first goal! Didier Drogba!”
That was an expression of an international commentator on Drodgba’s goal but no one said he would have gone strait shouting it’s a goal!
Another English commentator rhymed Lionel Messi’s name to simply say he had scored. It was Messi’s third goal of the game and the commentator said: “What about that? Messi has surely messed up his opponents!”
So, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with the Zambian way of shouting it’s a goal the way Innocent does it. I hereby find Innocent innocent.
Before delving into the second issue we would like to wish our gallant Chipolopolo all the very best today.
Now we go to DStv channel 160 Zambezi Magic to be specific. Just when viewers were getting engrossed in the Zambian originated series Fever on Zambezi Magic; there was a ‘sudden’ ending to the story!
Last Tuesday’s episode was the last of the very short Zambian series which was well publicised and well followed.
One wonders what is coming to replace the Fever series at 20:30 hours every Tuesday.
The Fever series was correctly projected as very short by this platform and a suggestion of season two was made if the first part had a lose end.
But critically analysing the ending of Fever, it will have to take a very creative mind to do an interesting and creative continuity because Masozi was seen setting the Mvula house on fire with almost all the key actors inside.
What I saw was the dead-end of the story that killed all key characters in an inferno.
We wait to hear from Global Studios and Zambezi Magic on what next though, what still remains interesting from Zambia is the Z top 10 music show.
That is all for today as I wish all of you who have taken time to read this column all the best during this saintly four-day period.
Email samphiri77@gmail.com  text, WhatsApp 0962215687