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College teams roll over for less than primetime

by Tony Basilio

I have a love-hate relationship with ESPN. I love being on a station that has ESPN radio. Those four letters—E-S-P-N—open doors for me that 10 years as the (ahem!) dean of Knoxville sports radio never could.

But I hate the arrogant, self-centered TV network that operates with no regard for the rest of the world. Take, for instance, what ESPN has done to college football in the past month, making a mockery of my favorite sport with something called “19 Days.”

“19 Days” is a programming gimmick dreamed up in the network’s Bristol, Conn. ivory towers; the concept is to bring us 19 straight days of major college or professional football. It probably seemed innocuous enough: take the Disney triad of ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC and find schools with a longing for television exposure, then sandwich their (rescheduled) games around the ordinary NFL and major college football schedule.

The stunt makes ESPN the network personification of Pete Rose. When asked about his gambling and other foibles, Pete offered this explanation for his reckless behavior: “Because I could.” ESPN’s been screwing around with college football for the last two weeks for much the same reason—because they can.

It started on Thursday, Oct. 28 when Virginia Tech visited Georgia Tech and culminated when the Philadelphia Eagles played the Cowboys on Monday Night Football.

In between, we were treated (subjected?) to such quality sports entertainment as the Toledo/Miami (Ohio) slugfest on Tuesday (yes, Tuesday) Nov. 2. What can you say about an athletic director who would schedule a football game on a Tuesday (yes, a Tuesday)? College football games are events, celebrations of sport and school spirit, fellowship and family. Fans gather from hundreds of miles away to cheer on beloved teams. But who wants to show up for such an event on a Tuesday night? The answer: gullible fans who are fooled into believing that a sporting event is more important because it’s televised on ESPN. Sadly, the fans who attended games like the Toledo contest were reduced to little more than props.

Maybe that’s what the folks in Birmingham had in mind when they consented to the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s hosting South Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 3. UAB and South Florida on Wednesday night. Now that’s my idea of sports entertainment. Could it get any worse? How about Friday night, Nov. 5 when North Texas visited the University of Louisiana Lafayette? These are teams that will do anything to get on television.

Friday football is now a staple on ESPN, with games shown throughout the college season. Have they no respect for the sanctity of a Friday night? How can the institution that is Friday night high school football in the United States compete with the influx of college games? Sorry, but Fresno State, Boise State and Utah have to get on ESPN one way or another. That’s what it’s all about.

Sadly, when ESPN calls, almost everyone answers. UT athletic director Mike Hamilton is a lone dissenter in a college sports world that rearranges whole seasons for the sake of ESPN. Hamilton turned down ESPN’s request for Tennessee to move the season finale against Kentucky into prime time. Do you know how cold it would be in Neyland Stadium at a night game the last week in November? Hamilton does, and he decided not to put the fans through the hassle of freezing for football.

ESPN, however, was presumptuous enough to list the game on their web site for a couple of weeks before Hamilton emphatically denied their request.

Fans in San Jose aren’t so fortunate. On Saturday, Nov. 13, they were forced to rise and shine for a game at 9 a.m. That’s the earliest a college football contest has ever started in the history of the game! Why would San Jose subject its players, family and fans to such a ridiculous game time? Wanna guess? The answer is a four-letter non-word that rhymes with “thespian.”

Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson defended the move, offering the following rationale: “Everybody had thought that big, bad ESPN forced this upon us. [But] this was a case where they gave us an opportunity and we recognize the value.... It’s a win-win. This puts [the game] on in the Eastern time zone at noon, and opens up a much larger audience than at midnight.”

Can’t argue with that logic. So to hell with the fans in the stands and the players, coaches, and support staff on the field. It’s all about ESPN! Nineteen televised games in 19 days. Gotta go now. SportsCenter is almost on.

Listen up! Tune in and talk sports with Tony Basilio weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ESPN Radio WVLZ 1180 AM.

November 18, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 47 © 2004 Metro Pulse