Sunday, December 2, 2007

Fox Sports can't spell "BCS"

So, two years ago when Fox bought the BCS and we all knew it was the first sign of the apocalypse was upon us, I didn't know how far they could sink. Watching their broadcasts of the Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, and BCS Title games last year was painful. (Ohio State's pole-axing aside.) The pre-game crap was recycled from their NFL and MLB broadcasts, and their whole approach to the broadcasts seemed to be: "This is our first time with college football, it must be the first time for you, too, Mr. Viewer!"

But tonight, they took their idiocy to a whole new level...

First off, they give us a 40 minute BCS "selection" show...as if they could somehow match the similar show that takes place in March...and give us one "selection" in the first 25 minutes of the show. Never mind that the BCS isn't a "selection," it's a computer program that says who's automatically playing in the BCS and what openings remain for the top 12 teams to play in one of the BCS games. This year the "selected" teams were Illinois, Hawai'i, Kansas, and Georgia. Everybody else got an automatic bid, and most of the automatic bids go to very specific bowl games...which is where Fox cranked the retardery up to 11.

They followed a pattern of announcing one team for a couple bowls, then later announcing the other. This was after announcing who got the automatic bids...of import here is that Ohio State had the automatic bid from the Big 10. The Fox goes on to announce the Rose Bowl match up of USC and a mystery team, who after a couple commercials is revealed to be Illinois.

So, let's recap what's gone through any college football fan's mind by this point...

1. "God, I wish this was still on ABC."
2. "Ohio State is the Big Ten(11)'s automatic bid."
3. "I should turn to ESPN, but I can't...avert...my...eyes..."
4. "Illinois is going to the Rose Bowl. Good for Illinois."
5. "Looks like the Buckeyes are back in the title game."

Now, after we've all arrived at number five in the list above, Fox assumed we'd barely gotten to four thank to our lack of any formal education. So, in order to hold our attention, they announce that UGA is going to the Sugar Bowl, which removes the suspense about where LSU will go, so they go ahead and tell us LSU is in the title game against...they put up a question mark!! Some UNKNOWN team is going to play LSU!! "There's only one slot left!!" says Joe Fan, "I wonder who it could be?!!? Oh, come on, Fox, please, please reveal that team!!"

Finally, they revealed that the mystery team was Ohio State, and completed their assault on the intelligence for the average college football fan. I can hardly wait for their coverage of the games, now.

2 comments:

Jon Kruger said...

I agree, that selection show was completely awful. They grabbed whoever they could find from their NFL broadcasts, threw them in a room, and had them blabber on for 40 minutes without giving us any useful analysis.

Ryan said...

Ummm....I would agree it was insulting to the fan who has a pulse. However, we can't let Lester Miles off the hook with his ridiculous explanation of the LaSUe undefeated season.....According to his logic, if they were to loose the NCG to the Bucks, in overtime, he will still be undefeated, in regulation. I'm curious as to what that trophy looks like. My guess is that FOX or ESPN would present Lester with such an award. It could read...."Presented to the worlds alltime greatest without a doubt football team that has three losses, but really zero"!