I love the fall. I love the crispness in the morning air, I love the changing colors in the trees, I love that I don't have to mow the lawn as much, I love that my life gets ever so slightly less busy after school starts for my wife and kids. But as much as I love the above, I really love football.
While I like watching NFL games, I've never really closely identified myself as a fan of one particular team, largely because living in Utah denies me the chance to have a 'hometown' team to root for. As such, I can watch NFL games and enjoy them, usually without regard to who is playing, instead enjoying the battle between individual players whom I like to watch.
That method of watching football somewhat quenches my thirst, but I really crave the ability to root for a local team. This brings me to college football. I have been a rabid BYU football fan for most of my life. I remember the heady days of Jim McMahon, even though I was only a little boy. I remember the hysteria following the national championship in 1984. I have Ty Detmer's autograph in my scrapbook. I just really love BYU football.
But BYU betrayed me.
They, along with the rest of the Mountain West Conference, wanted more money than they were getting. So they signed a dark backroom deal with a company whom is only one step better than the Mob, Comcast. This deal gave Comcast the ability to hold my love for BYU football hostage through their new sports network, 'The Mountain'. This is a channel created by Comcast to exclusively broadcast Mountain West Conference games. Now if I want to watch BYU games I have two options: go to the game in person, or subscribe to Comcast's services. As such, I have not paid much attention at all to the BYU football program the last two years. Not being able to follow the program closely, I haven't even tried to go to games in person. Why bother, if I can only watch a couple of games? I used to plan my extremely busy Saturdays around when 'The Game' was on, but now I might turn on the radio while I'm working on a project if I happen to remember.
Sorry Bronco Mendenhall, I would love to be able to follow the fantastic progress you have made with your program, but since I don't want to deal with Comcast in any way, shape, or form, I have been locked out.
Yet another year where I feel somewhat empty, and more than a little sad as time turns to what used to be my favorite time of year.
UPDATE:
A short while after posting this, I found a statement from the Mountain West Conference saying that they would be available on DirectTV (my satellite provider) starting on 8/28/2008. I heard something similar each of the last two years, so I wasn't holding my breath, especially since there was nothing confirming this on DirectTV's website. I was absolutely delighted to find that I began receiving "the mtn" as advertised, and was able to watch BYU play Northern Iowa last Saturday.
I've added entries in my calendar for all of the other games of the season...
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We have Comcast out here... and a DVR! We should figure out some scam where we record the games and burn them onto disc for you. I know it's not the same as watching them live, but it might be something. And it's a way to stick it to Comcast.
ReplyDeleteI've thought about trying something like that, because with this wicked secret combination, KBYU is also prevented from re-playing the game later in the day like they used to. It used to be that they would replay the game later that evening, and I could catch it there.
ReplyDeleteI've done some looking around, and allegedly there is a deal between DirectTV and Comcast to broacast The Mountain, but I heard the same BS last year. I'm not holding my breath.