This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Just because you can do something, does that mean you should do it?

Not always.

Among the things that sports telecasts could certainly do without are the in-game interviews. Whether it's at hafltime, between quarters or — worst of all — during the games, they're almost never useful and frequently painful and lame.

Really, was there any reason to interview a member of Real Salt Lake at halftime of Saturday's game at New England? Did anyone imagine anything valuable was going to be said with RSL down 4-0 to the Revolution?

RSL wisely forced … er, uh, asked Chris Wingert — a veteran who's a go-to guy if you're looking for an articulate player to interview — to be the guy. What could Brian Dunseth ask other than, "What needs to be better?"

What could Wingert say other than, "We need to stay with our man better."

It was, at least, brief. The KMYU telecast mercifully let Wingert go after one quick exchange.

Kevin Harlan, who calls NBA games for TNT, thinks that in-game interviews with coaches — which his channel does on a regular basis— are a terrible idea.

"They're not at their best," Harlan said. "Their mind is someplace else.

"Rarely do you get any kind of introspective, any kind of depth, any kind of real meat to chew on when they deliver the answer."

Interviewed on the CBS Sports Radio program "The DA Show," Harlan said, "I don't know that the fan is getting that much out of these sideline interviews, to be honest.... [The coaches] all look really uncomfortable, and to be honest, I think they look bad. I don't think it enhances the broadcast."

That's the point. These interviews don't enhance anything for anyone.

It's not just the NBA that has this problem. Grabbing football coaches as they enter or exit the lockerroom at halftime generally results in something like this:

Sideline reporter: "Coach, what do you have to do to come back from this 21-point deficit?"

Coach: "We have to play better and give 100 percent."

That's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

About the only halftime interview I can remember that amounted to much was back in 2011 when BYUtv's Robbie Bullough approached Idaho State's coach when he was still livid about a late hit that knocked his punter out of the game and gave him a concussion — and that was less about what the Bengals coach said and more about the way he said it.

That was a rare exception.

That's not the fault of the sideline reporters — or, in the case of RSL, the guys in the booth — the coaches or the players. It's the fault of producers, TV executives and league officials who put them in this position. Who set them up to look and sound bad.

Even under the best of circumstances, coaches and players often speak in cliches and platitudes. Expecting coaches and players to open up in the middle of a game is foolish.

BARKLEY BAGS ON THE JAZZ • Well, not directly. But certainly TNT's Charles Barkley did so somewhat indirectly.

For the most part, the TNT team was pretty gentle on the Utah Jazz after they were swept by Golden State. But in the postgame studio show after the Jazz lost Game 4 by 26 points, Barkley exclaimed, "Thank God for the NHL playoffs. That's what I've been watching in the back instead of these blowouts."

He'd rather watch hockey? Now that's harsh.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.