No. 14 vs. No. 25? Not on TV, Pac-10 fans ...
From the too stupid to be true file, check out why the Cougars won't be on TV tomorrow night against fellow Top 25 team Stanford. (No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 19 USC won't be on tonight either.)
A bit of the story:
Compared to Pac-10 football, where you can play your way onto TV frequently, there's less flexibility in basketball. Fox Sports Net has the rights, makes its picks before the season and secondary carrier FSN gets second dibs.The Pac-10 does a lot of things right, but scheduling TV games in its showcase sports and getting good tie-ins for bowl games are not two of them.
For the Cougars, it's not seconds. FSN has its Sonics contract, and also a tighter deal with the University of Washington. That means lesser access for WSU, and having to stay away from the "windows" of those telecasts.
For instance, FSN, which will show the Washington-Cal game Thursday night, offered WSU the option of being televised live at 9:30 p.m. The Cougars declined, and they should. Schussing up Highway 195 to Spokane at 12:30 a.m. on a winter night is not a good thing.
What's that you say? Those are the two most imporatnt things for any conference?
Uhhhh ... never mind.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen is the worst commissioner in collegiate sports. He's a backwards thinking old man who has no clue how to promote what should be one of the premier conferences in the country. ESPN passed him by years ago, and now he's stuck trying to make up lost ground, something he clearly has no interest in doing.
(Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Check out this site.)
4 comments:
I got to see the USC v. UCLA game in SF last night, but only on Fox College Sports Pacific, one of the channels I get on the comcast digital sports package (often the only way I get to see the Cougs these days). It had a logo on the screen the whole time advertising it as an FSN Prime Ticket game. PPV perhaps? Not sure.
Ah well, I guess I get to go back to watching the Huskies on TV and the Cougs on the game tracker online like the good ol' days.
I wish I could take credit for starting the fire Hansen site, but fortunately somebody beat me to the punch! Tell me there is not ONE other person who wants that position besides Hansen? That is the only reason I could see him keeping the job... even then I might consider going without a commissioner instead!
As for the Fox Sports thing, that ticks me off too! I wish they had an online veto poll. I think even Sonic fans would rather see WSU/Stanford than their own team. Really would you rather watch a train wreck that includes a guy with a nickname- "Jelly"? Or a quality college basketball game. How many nail-biters has WSU played this year against ranked opponents? I would be very surprised if the game doesn't come down to the last shot or OT.
Frustrating. Have fun with that UW/Cal game... (two of my sleeper teams)... as in their sloppy gameplay makes me sleepy and uninterested.
It's quite telling that Gonzaga can get on ESPN once a week all season long and the Pac-10 can barely show up on the regional sports package.
Turned out to be a good one, too, last night. Here's what Stanford coach Trent Johnson had to say after the game, as reported by The News Tribune: "Why wouldn’t they have a legitimate shot (at the title)?” a testy Johnson said after he was asked if WSU could win the Pac-10 championship. “They probably should be ranked higher.”
Sweet.
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