It is not very often that I get a Saturday to just sit around and do nothing but watch college football. This week, I had that opportunity, and man was it fun! It was so much fun that I woke up Sunday morning wanting more, so I went online and started looking for any college football information that I could find. I looked for articles, commentaries and computer polls. Then it hit me. ESPN is about to ruin college football for me.
ESPN and I have a love/hate relationship already. I can't live without the "four letter" network, but I don't like how they are the spokesperson for anything that makes them money, either. When Duke is playing North Carolina, for example, you'd think there's nothing else going on in the world. According to them, there's no rivalry in baseball that compares to Yankees vs. Red Sox. (Ask a Red Sox or Yankees fan about that rivalry before the hype....not as big as ESPN has made it out to be)
So, this morning, I was looking for the time the BCS standings would be released. For some reason, I had it in my mind that it was this week instead of next week. When FOX had control of the BCS, the new rankings always came out during the NFL coverage. We knew who was there by 5:00 or so my time every week. Now, ESPN is making a "show" out of the release every week. A prime time show. So, instead of seeing the new poll and moving on, they're trying to force football fans to spend half an hour listening to their drivel in order to see the results. They're also making us wait over 2 more hours to see it.
And here's where my dislike for everything Bristol, CT, comes in. We already know what they're going to say! They're going to have their teams that they want in the BCS Championship game, and that's who will get the air time. This year, count on that being Boise State, TCU & Alabama, even after Bama's loss this week (you could already hear that from Musberger and Herbstreit last night). It's all about the little guy this year, so Boise and TCU will get lots of air time. Then, when you take into account the new multi-million dollar contract between ESPN and the SEC, prepare to be bombarded with pro-SEC propaganda from the boys in Bristol.
I guess where my problem comes in is when an entity advertises itself as a neutral observer and source of "news", yet pays millions of dollars to televise individual conferences in order to make millions of dollars for those contracts. Since ESPN is the sole provider of sports news for millions of sports fans, the are extremely influential on the voting process in the polls, too, which makes ESPN owning the rights to the SEC and the BCS a dangerous situation. Since the polls REALLY control the fate of the BCS Championship Game (http://bcsguru.blogspot.com/2010/09/do-computers-really-even-matter.html), ESPN truly has the potential to not only broadcast the game, but set it up so they can have their ideal matchup in the game. That's a dangerous proposition for sure.
So, just like they've done to the pre-season college basketball tournaments, some of the best sports rivalries and the World Series of Poker, ESPN is in the process of ruining everything college football. Just give them time. Of course, if the "powers-that-be" would wise up and institute a playoff system, this wouldn't be an issue......but that's another topic for another week. For now, tell me how much you love/hate ESPN!
No comments:
Post a Comment