Turn your TV dials to full steam
The blog has received many, many upset emails concerning ESPN's or Comcast's or Dish Network's or whomever's snafu it was that led to Fresno State' first-round NCAA Tournament game not being televised in Fresno. Instead, everyone got to watch the George Washington women vs. the Auburn women, which in some countries is a punishment for moderate crimes, such as kidnapping or murder or conspiring to blow up the universe.
Not that the blog doesn't love George Washington ladies' hoops*.
*On the one-in-a-kabillion, Jim-Carrey-in-"Dumb-and-Dumber" chance that you didn't watch this one until the end, George Washington pulled it out, 66-56.
In a marketing/public-relations/just-generally-good-business sense sort of way, you'd think you'd want to televise the local team's game ... uh ... locally, but maybe that's why we're not in television. We just don't understand the technical subtleties of the industry. Here's the Fresno Bee story on what happened, not that it explains a lot. Shockingly, no executive was volunteering to run into the barbed wire fence for the good of the group. Doubtful that you'd want to read 2,000 words of sports fans complaining (not that it isn't justified), so we'll just post this one email ...
"Thanks so much ESPN2 and Comcast for bringing us a few seconds of the referees butts while they were looking at a replay of the Bulldogs first NCAA Game!
"Imagine how frustrating it could have been, had we played well and won the game on a buzzer beater in Overtime!
"OK, suppose everything had gone right.... Just how many markets does ESPN2 have in the first place and how many were we scheduled to feed to anyway? How many did we actually go to? (my Mom did NOT get the feed from Sacramento Dish Network either)
"I ask this because I wonder how much "National Coverage" we actually get when we roll over to change our schedule to accommodate them them in football? Remember, we make the concessions and then share the money with the rest of the WAC who are playing on Saturday. Sounds like a kick in the cup to me.
"Bob Francque
Clovis"
So there you have it. Even moms in Sacramento couldn't watch the game. And before we get too far away from this, can I just say that I'm going to start using the phrase "kick in the cup" on a regular basis? Kudos, Bob. Kudos.
He's right, though. Can you imagine if that game had gone to OT, or Fresno State had won, or there was a buzzerbeater? If you'd seen the game in person, as this blog did, you know how far that was from happening, but still, can you imagine? There would have been rioting* in the streets, I tell you. And so much for the national exposure this was supposed to give the program.
*Why is it that we feel the need to explain where rioting occurs? Like there are so many options than the streets for such ... [warning, warning, made-up word quickly approaching] ... shenanigannary, that we have to specify where it's taking place? Where else can you riot? Ice cream shops? Roller rinks? Back in the '60s, OK, people were rioting everywhere. Or at least protesting. These days, no one protests, and when we do, it isn't even creative. How about we just assume all rioting occurs on streets, unless otherwise designated.
If you were wondering, immediately after finishing a column, the blog was back on a plane from Albuquerque to Vegas, where the blog's sleep-deprived friends hardly noticed the return. I'm now back in Fresno, and can commence resting up for next year's Vegas trip.
Fresno State fans will be further frustrated to hear that all the blog's friends were able to watch the game in Las Vegas in the MGM sports book. There's one place it was actually shown. Not that the blog's friends were Fresno State fans, they just wanted to make sure there hadn't been an upset and I was actually coming back to Vegas. You may now begin hitting your head against the cold tile floor.