Thursday, May 22, 2008

Worst. Story. Ever.

In my tireless quest for Penn State related information, I found what sounded like an encouraging story I could pass along. The headline:

Time Warner Ramping Up Negotiations With Big Ten Network

Never mind that I don't have Time Warner, or really care about the Big Ten Network fight anymore (it's an excuse to get to the bar at 11:30 am), but I suppose the more cable companies that carry the BTN the better.

Well the first let down was finding out it's from a local NBC station in Columbus, Ohio.

It may be spring, but in central Ohio, it's always Buckeye football season. And with the Buckeyes now ranked number one in an ESPN poll, is Time Warner closer to striking a deal with the Big Ten Network so you can see all the games this season?
You know, just because "it's always Buckeye football season" doesn't mean that you can be ranked. In fact, every poll I've seen has Ohio State no higher than 4th.

Of course, they are probably talking about preseason polls. Never mind that those aren't due out for another four months or so, or that ESPN doesn't sponsor any pre-season polls, or that last years pre-season Top 5 included Michigan...never mind things that make sense...this is going to be the best football season eva11!1!
Fans are gearing up for what they expect to be one of the most exciting OSU football seasons ever. “I'm hoping national championship this year,” says Buckeyes fan, Erik Gossnikle.
Did you hear that, guys? A fan in Columbus is 'hoping' for a national championship! This is some groundbreaking shit! Oh, right, the cable deal:
But with anticipation of another year of Ohio State football, comes anxiety for some fans that if their [sic*] not at Ohio Stadium to watch the game, they could miss it. Last year, Time Warner customers missed four games due to disagreements between the cable giant and cable rookie, Big Ten Network.

“It was very frustrating,” says OSU fan, Daniel Lundy.
Here man, the end of you frustration. They are called sports bars, and there are lots of them.

Ok, let's get back on track here: give me the breaking news that warrants the language "Ramping Up Negotiations":
Judy Barbao with Time Warner says next week, after taking several months off, officials will sit down with Fox, the company that owns the Big Ten Network to ramp up negotiations. “I would say we are optimistic we will have productive talks and we are hopefully we will reach an agreement with big ten network before football season,” Barbao says.
I think I speak for all of us when I say: thanks for nothing. Based on that quote it doesn't even sound like they are in negotiations right now, so to say that they are ramping up is a bit misleading. Oh, and Fox doesn't own the BTN.

But before we finish with this non-story rittled with bad journalism, let's check back in with your National Championship hopeful Erik Gossnikle:
“I'd love to be able to watch it from home,” says Grossnikle. And in the end, that’s all fans like him care about.
Well at least they nailed the ending.


* I understand that me calling out other's grammar mistakes is a bit of a joke considering there is probably one in this footnote, but I don't get paid to do this and I never claimed to be good at it anyway.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In regards to your footnote, don't worry about your english. You can always fall back on your great spanish language skills!!!