Comcast and the Big 10 are finally calling a truce? Hallelujah!

From all accounts, the Big 10 and Comcast are on the verge of kissing, making up and getting into bed together. In other words, the Big 10 Network may finally show up on Comcast expanded basic within the "Big 10 footprint."

All I can say is "ABOUT FUCKING TIME YOU GOD DAMN MONEY GRUBBING DIMWITS!"

Considering it's taken over 8 months for the opposing parties to get to the point where they are near an agreement, I'd expect it'll take another month or 3 to get the i's dotted and the t's crossed. I doubt it will be in time for most fans to watch the early rounds of the Big 10 hoops tournament, unfortunately. No Wolverines or Spartans for yours truly, unless they advance.

That the 1st round tournament games are on the Big 10 Network, rather than on the 4 Letter, which had been the practice since the tourney began, is screwing we fans over...Again. I'm getting used to being bent over, not that I like it...

The news of détente having been reached between the Big 10 and Comcast is all well and good, save for one thing. I'm in a Charter Communications market. Well, fuck me.

I can only hope once Comcast, the lumbering, money first, customers last, big bully of the Michigan cable providers falls into line, that the smaller ones (Charter, Time Warner) fall like so many dominoes.

It can't happen soon enough for my tastes. Not that any of the cable companies asked, or even care about the fans. Which is why I pay entirely too much for my cable package, have 3 useless shopping and 2 even more useless religious channels on my basic cable lineup, while I have to pay extra for ESPN Classic and the NHL Network, with neither the NFL or Big 10 Networks even available to me.

Fuck big cable! Fuck 'em high and hard!

I know writing that makes not a whit of difference, but at least I feel a little better.

There's a big football game tonight! But thanks to a corporate Mexican standoff, only 5 people can watch

The 4 letter has been babbling non-stop today about Cowboys-Packers. Same with the interwebs. Yet thanks to the pissing match between two insanely rich and profitable entities, the only way I can see even bits and pieces of the big game is by watching those bits and pieces over the 1 1/2" x 2" screen on my nifty Samsung phone generously given to me by Sprint (Gotta get the occasional plug in, you know?), or the same feed on NFL.com.

Again, that feed is not the game itself, but just "Look-ins" and key plays inside the 20, hosted by NFL approved talking heads.

This is just more typical corporate bullshit, with the fan is getting the ass end of the deal.

As a fan, I've been bent over by the cable cartel, the NFL, and the Big 10 all damn football season, and there's no end in sight. We continue to be abused by money grubbing companies who refuse to answer to the wants and needs of their customers, but only to their money grubbing stockholders.

There's no sign of the bitter battles to get the NFL Network and the Big 10 Network on basic cable ending anytime soon, let alone to get those networks on some cable providers, period. I'm stuck with Charter Communications, who stubbornly refuses to carry either channel, pissing me off to no end. But hey, I get the NHL Network! Small consolation...

I'm getting sick and tired of tilting at football windmills. I call, I email, I vent on TWFE, and where has it gotten me? Still shelling out too much God damn money for networks I don't watch. Yet I'm unable to watch what could be the game of the year, as multi-million (Billion?) dollar corporations piss all over fans, rolling around in the cash we fork over every month.

The stalemates between rich ass corporations will continue into basketball season, then into NEXT football season, etc, etc, etc...

I'm tired of writing about it, and I bet you readers, most of you who are going through the same BS, are tired of reading about it. But if we stop bitching and moaning, we'll continue to be treated like meek imbeciles willing to take it in the ass end, then take some more.

I refuse to say to cable, the NFL, and the Big 10, "Thank you sir! May I have another?"



I have my own piss ant bully pulpit, and I'm going to use it!

So if someone is reading from the cable cartel, the NFL, the Big 10, and any other corporate entity that thinks they can take advantage of the fans, because we're FANS, here's a big FUCK YOU!

I'm not going anywhere! I'll continue to be a pain in your fucking asses till you actually listen to the people who pay for your corporate jets, corner offices, 10 martini lunches, and golden parachutes.

The sports fans.

I saw the damnedest thing on TV this weekend

Just what did I see? It was a network telecast of something called Michigan Wolverines football.

You know, I can't remember seeing a college team with such striking winged helmets! What a look, it really stands out! For that matter, their uniform colors were marvelous, I think the announcer (He had what I think was a made up name. Brent Musburger? Please!) said it was "Maize and blue?" This Burger guy went on to talk about this mysterious team having quite a glorious history, despite some recent issues.

This is an example of the helmet worn by the mysterious team that I stumbled upon this weekend.
Pretty cool looking, you think? Kids all over America would want to wear it,
if they could see the helmets in action

Their cameras would cut to the sidelines occasionally, and there was this crotchety old guy wearing a head set, who looked to be running things, but had a sour look on his face constantly. Burger called the grumpy dude Lloyd. There was all sorts of crazy stuff being yelled by this Lloyd character!

This is a picture of the cranky old dude named "Lloyd."
He really seems unhappy almost all of the time.
I think it's because he's never on TV

All this talk by the Burger dude has me wondering why can't I see this "Michigan" team on my TV every week? I sure would watch, and I bet others would as well.

You'd think that a team with such an eye catching uniform, a grumpy coach, and a wonderful history would be on my television every week. I know that I enjoyed the game so much, I'd really like to watch them again. Unfortunately, they are nowhere to be found on my TV.

That's too bad, because I'm positive they would develop a nationwide fanbase, if given the exposure.

Michigan fans with cable just can't win for losing

Being hostage to one of the cable companies (In my case, Charter, who's ineptitude I've railed about in the past) that refuse to carry the Big 10 Network, I've seen very little of the Michigan Wolverines this fall.

Now that we're deep into the Big 10 football season, I was anticipating being able to see the Wolverines on a regular basis. This coming Saturday night, for example, the maize and blue are part of the ESPN on ABC / ESPN2 prime time clusterfuck on ABC.

Whatever, at least I'll be able to watch the important Michigan - Illinois game. All is finally as it should be, with the Wolverines not being televised on the Mickey Mouse Big 10 Network.

Then I see the following blurb about the scheduling of 10/27 Michigan - Minnesota game.

The Big Ten office announced the time and television for the Oct. 27 Minnesota-Michigan matchup on Monday, and the Wolverines will be playing another late-afternoon game at Michigan Stadium.

The game will start at 3:30 p.m., the fourth such start in seven home games this season for Michigan. It will be telecast on ESPN Classic.

The bold is my emphasis. Why? Because I don't get ESPN Classic, that's God damn why!

I can't believe this, now the worldwide leader is shuffling Michigan off on to their channel of last resort? Fuck me.

I've bitched about this before, but let me refresh your memories. When Charter juggled the channel lineup to add ESPNU, showing their infinite lack of wisdom, they moved ESPN Classic off basic cable, and on to a digital tier. But not to the sports tier, which would have been logical and made total sense, and is a tier that I pay for.

No, Charter had to move ESPN Classic to another bullshit digital tier that has such highly watched networks like MTV3, the History Channel - International, the Reelz Channel, and VH1 Soul.

Jesus fucking Christ, I just want to watch the God damn Michigan game, is that too much to ask? I'd like to watch Big 10 football without having to pay for another cable TV tier I don't need, switch to a dish, go out to the bar and spend money I don't have, and not have to jump through numerous hoops to watch a fucking football game!

How much money is enough for the Big 10, the cable cartel, the NCAA, ESPN, ABC, and anyone else who has their God damn sticky fingers deep into my wallet, trying to pull as much cash out as possible, only to allow me to WATCH LESS FOOTBALL.

Screw every single last one of you SOB conglomerates.

I know I'm not alone in my feelings. Ian, of "Bless You Boys" blogging fame, posted a thoughtful comment about this situation in my Saturday post about the lousy quality of Michigan football's radio play-by-play. I want to post his comment on the front page, as Ian nails how I'm feeling about the Big 10, their television package, the cable companies, and the rest of big media.

Amen, Father Big Al. My sentiments exactly. I can't recall being less interested in Michigan football in a given season. And I feel like I have no choice in the matter. I can't believe how badly the Big Ten has stuck it to their fans.

Yes, I could sit and listen to the radio as you did. But virtually all I can think about is that I SHOULD BE ABLE TO WATCH THIS. So once it was apparent that Purdue wasn't going to put up a fight, I went to the movies. And when I came home, I watched SEC football - as I have virtually every Saturday this season - because that conference seems to care more about letting fans watching its signature games rather than try to hoard them onto its own cable network for a blatant money grab.

I know there are plenty of other Michigan fans who just find a sports bar that shows Big Ten Network and watch their team no matter what. I totally resent being put into such a position, and might hold onto this grudge for a long time.

Fuckin' A, Ian.

I find it hard to believe, despite the silly amount of money I pay my cable company, that I can't watch Michigan football.

When it comes to the team I want to see play every Saturday, it may just as well be 1975. I was only able to see Michigan a few times a season back in the 70's. In consolation, at least I got to hear the play-by-play of Bob Ufer, the best homer announcer ever, on the radio.

Back in the prehistoric days before cable, considering we all of 3 networks to choose from, and only 1 carried college football regularly, I could accept the Big 10's TV situation.

But in the 21st century? It's far from acceptable, it's just asinine.

My Michigan - Purdue prediction

The Big 10 Network: Ruining the college football season for Big 10 fans nationwide

As the Big 10 Network and the cable cartel are still in a full bore pissing match, one where the only loser is Big 10 fans, I'm stuck listening to the Wolverines over the radio AGAIN. Which means 4 hours of the über-homer radio play-by-play team of Frank "I'm too big to talk sports on my talk show that no one listens to" Beckmann and Jim "When I played for Bo" Brandstatter.

Thus, my prediction for today's game is...

That I'll be in a great deal of pain by halftime, as I'll be ready to plunge a pair of icepicks into my ears after suffering through 2 quarters of Beckmann and Brandstatter blathering on and on about how the refs jobbed Michigan.

This has been the worst college football season in memory, thanks to the total cluelessness of the Big 10, and their fiasco of a network. Thank you so much for fucking up my fall.

This is the post where I would normally write about the Wolverines

But thanks to the fiasco that is the Big 10 Network, I wasn't able to watch Michigan beat Eastern, or the OT thriller between Sparty and Northwestern.

It's funny how a network that is being pitched as a Godsend that will give the Big 10 schools more exposure than ever before, instead has their fans seeing fewer Big 10 games than at any time in the past 25 years.

On the plus side, I'm watching more games featuring the SEC, Pac 10, Big 12, ACC, and the Big East. Way to go, Big 10!

I hear there's a THRILLING game between Northwestern and MSU going on in East Lansing

Too bad no one can watch it!

It's an outright shame that the Big 10 Network isn't available to the vast majority of Big 10 fans. What a fiasco...

You can't miss what you don't have...

It's a sad state of affairs for the Big 10 when most fans have accepted the fact that we won't be getting the Big !0 Network on our cable systems anytime soon. We've bitched both to the conference, and the cable cartel, till we're (maize and) blue in the face, and it hasn't made one single solitary bit of difference. It's not as either entity is going to go broke, so is there really any reason for compromise?

I've heard of this network, but don't know a soul that gets it. Does it actually exist?

As the football season is now 1/4 over, you'd have to think that it's a dead solid lock that we cable customers won't have the Big 10 Network available anytime this season. I'm not optimistic that we'll be seeing the Big 10 basketball season either. If an agreement couldn't be reached during football season, why should we expect anything different for hoops?

For those of you who say, "Get a dish," I'll say, "I wish I could!" Most cable subscribers don't have the option. It's either due to living in an apartment or condo, not having the extra cash to buy the equipment to up with one of the satellite companies, don't want to be tied into a long-term contract, even if the satellite companies do subsidize my box, or are tied into an TV/internet cable package. Trust me, ala carte internet sure as Hell ain't cheap.

I should know, as I was a very happy DirecTv subscriber for close to a decade. Great picture, tons of channels, rain fade was a total non-issue, never had any customer service issues. In fact, I'd recommend DirecTv to anyone. But as I no long have a house due to my physical limitations, I had no choice but to go back to cable. As cable is an government authorized monopoly, I only have one option for my TV, Charter Communications. I've had more outages in my several months with Charter, than I had in a decade with DirecTv. But I digress...

The Big 10 said the reason they started their own network (Other than it hopefully being a cash cow) was to make sure the fans got to see all the schools on a regular basis. Yet, for the first time I can remember, I haven't been able to watch every Michigan Wolverine game.

At this point, I'm ready to move on, and no longer worry about getting the Big 10 Network. It's not worth the grief anymore. Righteous anger will only take you so far, as that anger then turns to apathy.

If the Michigan game is broadcast on a network my cable package carries, that'll be just peachy! If it isn't? Screw it, I'll watch the SEC game on CBS, or whatever game ESPN/ABC has deigned to broadcast.

The Hell with it! Screw the Big 10, and the cable monopolies. I'm fed up. I don't care anymore. I'm not going out of my way to find the Big 10 Network. I'm no longer going to bother calling my cable company, as all that has done is try my patience. Getting the Big 10 Network is just not worth the time and trouble.

I'm sure that's not what Jim Delany and the Big 10 schools want to hear, but that's how I feel. I'm positive more and more Big 10 fans are feeling the exact same way...

College football season is here! Time to watch the Wolverines kick some Appalachian ass...What?

Oh, I can't see the Big 10 game I want to watch? You're kidding me, right? No shit? Not even on the WWLiS's Gameplan? Only on the Big 10 Network, which I'm more than willing to pay for, but I can't get? I'm stuck listening to lame ass Michigan mouthpieces Frank Beckmann and Jim Brandstatter on the radio? My only home TV option to watch Sparty on the deuce? Sparty?

Well... Fuck me...

That's how I'm feeling as we go into the first weekend of the college football season.

For the past few decades, on a normal college football Saturday, you'd find me in front of the tube at noon sharp. Beer and munchies in hand, I'd flip to one of the wolrldwide leader's channels, and tune in the Michigan Wolverines.

This season, I'm one of the of fans caught in a pissing match between mega conglomerates. The Big 10, the most pretentious and heavy handed group of schools in the nation, has drawn a line in the sand with their Big 10 Network. The cable companies, whom I despise, yet am forced to deal with as I have no other option, refuse to cross it.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Big 10 fans, are caught in a war of money, words, and power, unable to watch our favorite teams.


I've let Charter (My cable provider) know that I would very much like them to carry the B10N. all I've heard in return is bullshit mumbo jumbo, saying that it's being "Considered."

When it comes down to it, it's all about the money. In regard to the B10N pricing, this is what a Comcast rep had to say in today's Ann Arbor News...

"We don't feel that every customer should be burdened with a $1.10 month charge. There are a lot of customers that don't want to pay $13 a year."

Mr. Cable Mouthpiece says they have customers that don't want to pay for the B10N. That's all well and good. But guess what? I don't want to pay for 3 shopping networks, Court TV, the Hallmark Channel, Fit TV, the totally superfluous TV Guide Network, and countless other channels that I NEVER watch, and will NEVER have an interest in watching. Yet I have no choice in having to pay for those channels if I want to see networks I enjoy, like ESPN, FSN, FX, TNT, and Comedy Central.

You can't tell me that the B10N doesn't has as much, if not more, viewership potential than Fit fucking TV, or the "Why do I need a channel for TV listings when I have a built in on screen guide?" TV Guide Channel.

The cable conglomerates are totally talking out of both sides of their mouths on this argument. They claim they are doing us a favor by refusing to charge viewers extra for channels they don't watch (Like the B10N), but they have already been doing so to viewers for decades! (See any niche network you have programmed out of your favorites button, like Fit TV)

Not that I'm letting the holier-than-thou Big 10 off the hook. As much as they deny it, you know part of their not well thought out plan to gain basic cable traction in the Big 10 "Footprint" with the cable cartel was to have the Big 10 fanbase do the dirty work for them.

The bitching and moaning about our inability to watch the Wolverines/Buckeyes/Nittany Lions/Your favorite team would hopefully cause a consumer backlash, one with so much vitriol, that the cable monoliths would have no choice but to capitulate to the Big 10's wishes.

There's one small flaw in the Big 10's nefarious plan to become the biggest, baddest, most influential college conference in the land. They forgot that the cable companies have government awarded monopolies, and they couldn't honestly give 2 shits about their customers, and what their customers might like to watch.

You just need to spend 5 minutes on the phone with them to figure that out...

I'm willing to pay for it, so just give me my God damn Big 10 Network! Enough with the posturing, the press releases, the arguing back in forth in the media, as I have no sympathy for either side. Both are wrong, both are stubborn, both have more money than they know what to do with, and both are screwing over the people that give them all that money in the first place.

A pox on both their houses...

That's not the only cable incompetence I've had to deal with recently. This week, Charter threw we sports fans a bone, and added ESPNU! As Chris Farley would say, "Whoop-de-freakin'-do!"

ESPNU is just another network I'll rarely watch, though I'm paying through the nose for it. But I'll give them credit, it is a sports channel, and it has some live programming worth tuning in to see. It ain't the B10N, but it's a start.

As I investigated my new lineup, there was a surprise. Charter had bumped ESPN Classic off of basic. But where in the Hell is it? You'll never guess where I found it...

I do pay for an admittedly lame digital sports tier. You'd think that ESPN Classic, being a SPORTS NETWORK, would be moved to that sports tier. Nope, it was moved to a tier with likes of Woman's Entertainment, BET Jazz, and the Reelz Channel? What the fuck is the Reelz Channell? I'm already paying Charter WELL over a $100 a month, and they expect me to pay for that crap on top of it? Please.

Once again, the sports fans gets bent over by the cable company the Big 10 large, money grubbing, corporate asses.