I thought about this several times last year during the NFL season, but it crystallized when I was watching this past weekend’s U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.

Have games on TV become too Nintendoish?

What I mean by that is it seems every broadcaster is trying appeal to the younger demographic with crazy graphics, sound effects and oodles of camera angles.

Sports on TV was teetering on life support when the famed telestrator was introduced to the viewing public. That allowed guys like John Madden and Phil Simms to mark up the screen and totally confuse everyone.

But the telestrator as we knew it is a fossil.  Now there’s a graphic that tells us the angle and flight path of the golf ball, microphones in the hole and confusing topographic green charts that do nothing but bewilder the audience.

Now I’m coming off as a crusty curmudgeon. You’re probably saying, “Who are you?” Actually I’m a guy that loves gadgets. The question is, when do networks stop?

After seeing the intros for the NBA Finals, I cringe when thinking of the day when stats and game information will just be superimposed on the field. Or the fact that you can see just about every angle of a replay in 15 seconds from your couch, but it’s usually an extended delay if you’re at the stadium.

The NFL showed how concerned they were with fan attendance last year by trying to implement things that are different from the in-game experience than the home experience. Things like seeing the pregame locker room experience, topped the list, but the majority of fans don’t make it past security early enough to take advantage of such of a “perk.”

If the NFL really wants to push in-game attendance, they have to limit the TV technology. Televisions are so good now, that fans are being forced to think twice. Most people have high-definition, but now there’s ultra-high-definition and 3-D. Why would someone want to trudge through security and wait through four first downs to grab a beer when they can see it at home on their sparkling 75-inch monster?

The answer for sports is to force TV networks to dumb down their coverage. Just give folks the basics, but make sure that fans at the stadium always get a whisper more of information and insight than the ones on the couch.

Sports are at a crossroads right now. Young fans have the attention span of a gnat combined with multiple devices at their fingertips.

It’s time to stop the purity of the actual game to be portrayed as a video game. Because if it doesn’t, in a few years fans will just stay home for the smorgasbord of graphics and visual stimulation they’ll get just from watching on the couch.

The game is still the most important part. That should be a priority.