Putting Fans First the Web Site!!! No Spin, At All, We Swear!!1!!1!

I stumbled across puttingfansfirst.org, a website dedicated to fans who paint up, wear cargo shorts and love to jump around in flip flops*. Sounds like your typical fan, right? I know, I couldn't wait to join either. I mean, who doesn't want to put fans first, you know? I sure do. Fans should be first.

But like so many of it's 'org' predecessors, there seems to me something a little misleading about the title 'for the people'. I'm going FJM on this mother (web site quotes in bold):

Putting Fans First is a new coalition of sports superfans and consumers uniting to address the soaring cost of sports programming.

Superfans? I haven't heard that term since high school...which explains why the three guys on the front page of PFF (can I call it that?) are wearing cargo shorts and flip flops. As for consumers, aren't we all consumers, really? You know, capitalism and that whole thing?

Right off the bat I'd like to know exactly who registered and funded this whole operation for "superfans and consumers". A website for everyone isn't for anyone except the people who created it, so lets find out who that is.

Search at godady.com told me the domain was registered by "Domain by Proxy". Guess what they do? Assure that (per the web site) "you identity is nobody's business but ours." By "ours" they mean not mine.

That's not suspicious at all, registering a dot org through a lock and key identity protection service. Mean's you probably don't have any hidden agenda or anything.

The new Big Ten Network (BTN) is Exhibit A. Having sold its best games to ABC and ESPN, the Big Ten now wants to charge all of us – fans and consumers alike – hundreds of millions of dollars a year for games that are either “fifth tier,” according to sports columnists....

So we get to the meat of the argument, that fans are going to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for "fifth tier" games. What the fuck is "fifth tier"? Let's google it. Quoted below is the only relevant hit I was able to find; it involves an interview between TV Week and the president of Fox Cable Sports Networks, Bob Thompson:

TVWeek: There are obviously two sides to every argument, but from your point of view, what’s wrong with this sentence: “Sports fans will have to pay $1.10 per person to watch fifth-tier football games and women’s volleyball.”
Mr. Thompson: Well, the $1.10 has been probably the most oft-quoted figure, which is just not true....It’s like the analogy that nobody pays sticker price on a car unless you’re an idiot.
The part of the fifth-tier game, I don’t understand that. I mean I think we never pick fifth, there’s no scenario where we pick fifth. There’s scenarios where we pick second, third, and you know we’ve made the decision to not only pick in those days second or third, but we also take all the rest of the games because these games—there’s no such thing as a fifth-tier game if it’s your school and your team.

Ok PFF, so by "sports columnists" (note: plural) you mean one writer at TVWeek. By "calling it fifth-tier" you mean above mentioned TVWeek writer (note: not sports) exaggerated something he thought Comcast those at PFF would say to let Thompson answer critics. Good work fellas.

[programming] that we used to be able to see for free. In fact, BTN would be the second most expensive national network!

This is where you guys blew it. If you wouldn't have misquoted a TV programming columnist, I would have never found the interview where Thompson calls bullshit on your very claim:

TVWeek: Reports had you demanding $1.10 in the Big Ten states and a dime through the rest of the country. Would that really make it one of the most expensive national channels?
Mr. Thompson: I can tell you this much, it’s significantly less than ESPN. It’s significantly less than a lot of regional sports networks. Especially if you amortize the cost over the entire U.S....All these guys used to carry these exact same games on pay-per-view around the country. These games were all a part of ESPN’s plan. People were paying 20 bucks a pop for them.

So by "used to get for free" you mean used to have to pay $20 a game on pay-per-view for. I actually remember games on ESPN+ being pay-per-view regionally so this is not bullshit.

As for the "second most expensive national network", I don't feel like going into it but lets just say, based on reading the interview above and other sources, that simply isn't true.

Leading cable companies reportedly want to carry the network in a way that lets sports fans pay for it without imposing the costs on all consumers.

Again, if you are going to lie you have to be consistent. You told me this site was for both superfans and consumers, now you are saying us "sports fans" can pay for it without imposing the costs on all consumers. Well, and I'm no Greenspan, but isn't imposing the cost on all consumers good for me? If I eat more mozzarella sticks than anyone else at the table, but we split the price of the mozzarella sticks evenly onto everyone's bill, how is that not good for me, the "Super-Mozzarella-Sticks-Fan"?

Whether you're a superfan or a budget-conscious consumer, this is a bad idea. And it may be only the beginning ... so we're united to tell BTN and others to give us the games and not the hustle.

While your "give us the games and not the hustle" thing is cute, until someone tells me what is wrong with my mozzarella stick analogy I'm going to stick to calling you bullshit.


* Update: Between the time I started this bit and the time I published it, PFF has decided to replace their signature picture, one of three guys painted up and jumping around in flip-flops, with a tamer but equally stupid picture of a kid holding a basketball and sporting yellow shoelaces. I assure you the original photo was much more fun, but you'll have to take my word for it.

Target 10?

What the hell is this? No, not the part about Erin Andrews showing up in Happy Valley tomorrow night, something else.

There were two very worthy pictures of Erin, and posting this one was the hardest decision I've made all day

Ah, fuck it.



What the hell was I posting about? Oh ya, Target 10. First of all, this name is terrible. I can't wait to see it printed on thousands of t-shirts with some kind of crappy target on the front.

So, the low down:

Brent Musburger, Steve Lavin and Erin Andrews will be in the Jordan Center for the "Super Tuesday" game that is part of ESPN's "Student Spirit Week." Penn State has issued the "Target 10" challenge asking 10,000 students to pack the arena for the game. If the goal is met, all student ticket sales for Penn State's match-up with No. 10 Michigan State on Saturday will be donated to THON 2008.

So let me get this straight: they are still letting Brent Musburger call games with Erin Andrews? No, sorry, I'm getting off topic again.

In December, Nittany Lion basketball announced the "Target Ten" challenge, a partnership between Penn State Basketball and The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) 2008, that encompasses the Ohio State game on January 29th and Michigan State game, set for February 2nd. Penn State is calling for an unprecedented 10,000 students to pack the Bryce Jordan Center for the nationally televised January 29th showdown with the Buckeyes on ESPN. If the goal of 10,000 student tickets sold is reached, then all proceeds from $5 student single game ticket sales for the following game vs. No. 10 Michigan State (Sat., Feb. 2) will be donated to benefit THON 2008

Penn State is asking students to "support THON" by showing up for the Ohio State game. If they make enough money by coning students into showing up for a horrible basketball game 10,000 people show up, Penn State will donate the ticket proceeds from the following game, against Michigan State.

The following game? Seriously? So you'll cash in on the 10,000+ students that show up for the Ohio State game, but then will totally shaft THON by giving them the proceeds from a game that will earn a small fraction of what you are making tomorrow? I'm no THON cavalier, but this doesn't really add up for me. It's not even the ticket proceeds from the MSU game, but just the $5 student ticket sales from that game.

Using THON to bolster profits? Nice guys. At least you are clever about this whole 'greedy bastard' thing, I have to give you that.

Update: In a move that reeks of desperation, the Big Ten Network (ya, I hate them too) has decided to purchase 1,000 tickets to help make the announced ticket sales number respectable. This thing is becoming laughable. (H/T: BSD, of course)

But what about the players!?!

After a century of being a grumpy old man, the Big Ten has agreed to let members play a game after Thanksgiving without the minor stipulation that it be played on a Hawaiian Island.

The Big Ten at their favorite local market.
The administration has, for years, claimed that its just not right for the players...for them to have to be away from their families. Never mind that it allows the cash cow game (OSU and one of the direction Michigans I think) to avoid competing with other rivalries or conference champ games, no, seriously, it's about the players.

Seeing as this is all a load of shit, and just about every coach, including the Old Man himself, has been pushing this for years...I don't buy the explanation. What's best for the players is not having to go to three-a-days all summer, grind through twelve straight games without a bye week, and then prepare during the holidays (and the entire first week of January for BCS teams) for a bowl game...it's never been about the players and it never will be.

Now the the recent change allows teams to shift a game if both competing parties agree. Wisconsin is already trying to finagle their way out of a pickle. They play Michigan, OSU, PSU, Iowa and Illinois* during a five week stretch and are attempting to move the Iowa game to the end of the season. Conference games are scheduled through 2011, so we won't see an automatic after turkey game until at least 2012, although games can be moved as early as next season.

So is this good news? I think so. The voter ADD that seams to get worse and worse every year will not have as big of an impact on Big Ten layoff teams. Just as important, I don't have to sit around and wait for the bowl game while everyone else has 2 or 3 games on their schedule. It will eliminate the bullshit excuse about the 'layoff' effect in bowl games. Also, I won't have to run stupid "The More You Know" stories about the bowl game a full six weeks before the actual contest.

Good move Big Ten, you are a hope to men with old balls everywhere...now give me my fucking TV coverage back you greedy bastards!


*I can't believe I am even mentioning Illinois as anything but a crap team. More on this in the offseason, but I'm not convinced that Illinois is for real. I will be called a hater, and they did beat the current #1 team in the nation, but I really think they had a Rutgers 2006 type year. They did lose to Iowa, after all, and if it wasn't for Morelli's endless fourth quarter turnovers and a bad call against OSU they could very well be 7-5.