Where the H is the Game?!
Carla Hanson
1:54pm PST, Sat. Nov. 24
For those of you aghast that you can't find the Ducks-Beavers game, keep scrolling up on your remote. It's on 420 cable, the PAC 12 Network. You may or may not have it, depending on your service. If you can't get it, put your shorts on and travel to your nearest pub.
Public service announcement complete, now comes the WTF rant.
Here's the early afternoon Portland line up on the major networks and the cable sports stations, if you have cable at a modest level (Sorry, I don't speak Dish):
ABC (2- KATU) #4 FLA v. # 10 FSU
CBS (6-KOIN) #2 ALA v. Auburn
NBC (8-KGW) Southern v. Grambling, Bayou Classic
FOX (12) Baylor v. Texas Tech
32 (NBC Sports) Fresno State v. Air Force
34 (Fox) San Diego St. v. Wyoming
35 (ESPN) #13 OK v. #21 Ok State
36 (ESPN 2) Wisconsin v. Penn St.
37 (Comcast Sports Net) Wrasling. Yes, I mean wrasling.
Now, the nuances of contractual obligations probably shoved the Civil War to the sub dial zone, but regardless, this goes into the ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? file. The match-up pits 2 top level teams against each other in one of the classic in-state rivalries. Along with the FLA-FSU game, its results could have implications for the BCS championship, and it's relegated to the find-me-if-you-can network in the afternoon line-up?
This should be a featured national network game, let alone the featured game in the Northwest.
So, will someone please explain to me why so many Duck and Beaver fans can't enjoy the big game from the comfort of their own couch?
(Relevance to politics? There is, but it takes an esoteric dialogue about social engineering, etc., and a numbers dialogue about impact of college sports on academic funding. But this does give us one more thing that can drive us nuts about the media....)
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connect with blueoregon
3:44 p.m.
Nov 24, '12
I concur. In addition, the video quality on 420 sucks.
7:57 p.m.
Nov 24, '12
Watched it on a friend's Dish setup and the Ducks still do not have a field goal kicker.
4:53 a.m.
Nov 25, '12
The relevance, Carla, is that (yet again) money trumps everything. The money/power struggles between the PAC-12 Network and providers like DirecTV and between differing NCAA conferences and the big TV networks that provide college sports coverage. And I'm sure other more political things do have an effect ...
5:55 a.m.
Nov 25, '12
On the plus side, it saved some Beaver fans from total embarrassment.
2:33 p.m.
Nov 25, '12
I have a distant memory that our commercial (and that includes PAC 12) radio and television services have an obligation to honor the public interest as they use our public airwaves. With the disappearance of my morning with Carl and the relegation of the Civil War to just another game, I feel less than civil.
1:18 p.m.
Nov 26, '12
Ellen,
The game was on a cable channel. No public airwaves used, so no real obligation.
The cable providers have public access channels to provide a forum for anyone to use. The facilities are made available, too.
As for broadcasting or cablecasting a game, it will always be a matter of money, and who pays for the equipment and manpower to make it happen.
As for program quality, it was great on Frontier FiOS in HD.
5:26 p.m.
Nov 25, '12
I'm surprised how few people have noted the significance of the Ducks playing on 420.
5:30 p.m.
Nov 25, '12
Because, YOU, Michael, are festively more brilliant than we are!!
10:58 a.m.
Nov 26, '12
Thank you.
5:02 p.m.
Nov 26, '12
ok, I give up. What is the 420 significance?
7:38 p.m.
Nov 26, '12
It's relevance is to pot. But I don't know the details... off to the Google...
8:41 p.m.
Nov 26, '12
Here go:
"...A group of five San Rafael High School friends known as the Waldos -- by virtue of their chosen hangout spot, a wall outside the school -- coined the term in 1971...
The Waldos' story goes like this: One day in the fall of 1971 -- harvest time -- the Waldos got word of a Coast Guard service member who could no longer tend his plot of marijuana plants near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard station. A treasure map in hand, the Waldos decided to pluck some of the free bud.
The Waldos, who were all athletes, agreed to meet at the statue of Louis Pasteur outside the school at 4:20 p.m., after practice, to begin the hunt...."
The Waldos never did find the harvest...
from the Huffington post
8:16 p.m.
Nov 26, '12
720 is the HD version of 420. If you have Comcast you get this. The game was great and the quality excellent. I imagine most of the people confused were Beaver fans.