Boycott ESPN/ABC-Disney and, while we're at it, College Football in general.

Ok, I realize we live in a capitalist society, and I would never begrudge a guy for making a buck for providing goods and services, but things have gone too far when the average Joe cannot watch 32 of the 35 college football bowl games without forking over the dough for cable/satelite/u-verse. Therefore I'm calling for an all out boycott of ABC/Disney which owns ESPN. Sorry kids, no Disney princesses for you this year. BAH! Humbug!

That's right, ALL BUT 3 OF THIS YEAR'S BOWL GAMES ARE ON ESPN NETWORKS Exclusively!!! The exceptions are Sun Bowl on CBS at 2PM New Years Eve between 7-5 Notre Dame and 7-5 Miami (Fla.), The Outback Bowl in Tampa on New Years Day on ABC pitting 7-5 Penn State vs. 7-5 Florida, and the Cotton on Jan. 7th on Fox which hosts 10-2 LSU and 9-3 Texas A&M (which might be the only game of the three worth watching).

No Orange, no Sugar, no Fiesta, no, not even "The Daddy of 'em All" Rose Bowl. If I want to watch any of those I have to have cable.

I was a little miffed a few years ago when my team (the Huskers) decided to offer their games on pay-per-view when they weren't shown nationally, but I understood the dillema; who wants to watch Nebraska woop up on the poor, hapless Washington huskies 56-21 on national TV (oh, wait, we did that--on ABC I do beleive).

Well, perhaps I should be glad because now my 9-3 Huskers are playing the 6-6 Huskies again in the "Who Cares" (Holiday) Bowl from San Diego on the 30th AT 10PM EST!!!!

Yeah, right! Like Gramma and Grandpa Schmidt back in Lincoln, who managed to always watch the boys down at "the U" on over-the-air TV, are going to go out and get cable at $50/mo so that they can watch a game which won't start till after their bedtime and won't end until the next day?!!??!! After all, they're just starting to get the hang of their HD/Analog converter box remote, and now they've gotta get the dish?

I don't THINK so....

Does anyone else think this is anything more than just plain, old fashioned theivery? Now I know that college football is big money (I'm from Nebraska, remember?), but not so long ago it was still a way for a school to show pride, build school spirit, and create community. Perhaps as a Nebraskan I got to experience that more than in other places that had pro-sports, but to us, the cornhuskers were just college kids playin ball. The stands will filled with ranchers, farmers, and blue collar guys from Goodyear or the Burlington Havelock shops. Now I understand you can't hardly get to a game unless you have an Escalade to park in the new, private, tailgating lots around the stadium and pay handsomely for your tickets (along with an annual gift commitment to the school).

What the hay! I'm convinced the schools are in on this fleecing of america too. Why else would schools be leapfroging to differnt conferences all the time?

Darn them all. Lets boycot college football too!

I don't THINK so...

Don't Critique the BCS--or Texas

Evidently its costs you a few bucks to complain about bad calls or apparent favoritism in the Big 12 Conference.  Read the Weird Harold article (linked) for the details of the pattern of fines following Texas losses.

Now, I'm not saying that Nebraska is a better team than Texas, but I do beleive they beat Texas until the last minute of the game.  The bad kick-off combined with Asante's blunder (4-cheap shots in 4 games--not too classy Larry), gave Texas valuable yardage they needed to kick the game-winning field goal in, litterally, the last second after Mack Brown brow beat the officials into adding a second to the clock after time expired.  This would not have happened "back in the day."  Is it just me, or has all the new technology really ruined the spontinaity and excitement of the game?

Buffalo’s Turner Gill will be Kansas’ next football coach - KansasCity.com

Former Husker star and 'triplet'* takes the reigns at KU. Part of the great 1980's I-Option teams lead by Dr. Tom Osborne, Gill consistently lead his team to nationally ranked finishes each year and nearly winning the National title in each of his three years. Gill's record as a quarterback was 28-2, winning all 20 conference games in which he started. Gill's entry in wikipedia already reflects his new possition, just 2 days after it was announced.

Buffalo’s Turner Gill will be Kansas’ next football coach - KansasCity.com: "Buffalo’s Turner Gill will be Kansas’ next football coach"

*Former Sooner Coach, Barry Switzer referred to teammates Turner Gill, Mike Rozier and Irving Friar as the 'triplets' because of their equal level of lethality against opposing teams.