Monday, August 20, 2007

I Go Away, and Look What Happens.......

First thing's first: 12 days until I can watch the Ohio State Buckeyes play their first football game of the year. Yep, with ESPN GamePlan, you can watch all of your favorite team's games! All is well in the world, and nothing could be easier.

Wait a second....

Yeah, you already knew about this, but still. I am willing to pay hundreds of dollars to watch Ohio State beat the shit out of Akron, Youngstown State, and other non-conference lightweights. But it appears that I no longer have that option.

According to the Big Ten Network's website, there will be "35+ football games per season"!!!!

Wow! Thanks so much!

According to a detailed analysis, there are 45 Big Ten conference games alone, not including all 11 teams' non-conference schedules. But here's where the Big Ten Network really fucks us all:

Let's take the first weekend, September 1. According to the BTN website, they will be showing the following games:

Appalachian State at Michigan, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDT
Youngstown State at Ohio State, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDT
Florida International at Penn State, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDT
Northeastern at Northwestern, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDT
Bowling Green at Minnesota, 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT
Indiana State at Indiana, 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT

For your convenience, I've highlighted the games that are all on at the same time. But guess what? There's only ONE Big Ten Network, not four. So they show the game that will "split the feeds regionally among cable operators to allow Big Ten fans to watch the game with the most regional interest."

Regional interest my ass

If you live in the area where your team plays, most likely you'll be able to watch your favorite team play. But if you lived in the area where your team plays, most likely you can watch your game on local TV. So if NastyB (a _ichigan fan) and yours truly (a Buckeye fan) both live in California, which game are we going to get? Which game between Youngstown State vs. Ohio State and Appalachian State vs. Michigan will generate the most interest in California?

I'm composing an email right now to lobby on behalf of the OSU/YSU game, because Tressel used to coach at YSU. Maybe that's the only way to make sure we can watch our favorite teams.

4 comments:

Nate A said...

92% The percentage of Big Ten football games that the network will televise in stunning high-definition this fall (36 of 39).

Anonymous said...

All split feeds are offered to cable and satellite providers. DirecTV has already said that it will carry all of the split feeds on its overflow channels so if your carrier gets the BTN you should be able to choose the game you want to watch or channel surf among all of them, just like ESPN GamePlan except for much lower cost.

HF Pod said...

really? any documentation of this? if so, then i retract everything i said.

Anonymous said...

swittters i'm with u. i live in cali also and bleed scarlet & gray. the thought of missing the bucks in action nearly puts me into counseling.

i hope anonymous was right about the users being able to choose which game they view... however, i really think he is misinformed. if someone has found out difinatively one way or the other please let us know.

(i shudder to think i'll need to hop a flight to c-bus every Saturday just to catch Ohio State at a LOCAL sports bar LOL!)

buckeye NATION something needs to be done!!!