Affirmative MACtion

Ahhh yes, late Autumn. A sporting season in and of itself really, with college football rivalry games and BCS shuffling, the NFL playoff race kicking into gear, college hoops cranking up and the inevitable bickering about what steroid-freak deserves what MLB award. And when you have five spare minutes in-between all of it, you can flip to Versus to see who the next Philadelphia Flyers thug is to be suspended because of some head hunt. (Still better TV than the NBA.)

However, you can always tell it's mid-November without even looking at the calendar, because that's when ESPN starts whoring out College Football games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to the viewing public via its resident pimp, the Mid-American Conference. The usual explanation from the MAC higher-ups is about as predictable as an O.J. Simpson armed robbery is to the FBI.

"Despite the non-traditional weekday scheduling, we feel the opportunity to be on ESPN due to the exposure it allows our member institutions and their programs is too valuable to pass-up."

That's not from anyone in particular, but that's about the gist of it. It doesn't make much sense to me, as some students at these schools went for an education as well as to watch football games. Classes and studying take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but seem to be conspicuously absent on Saturday. On top of that, when they graduate, they tend to avoid being unemployed thanks to their degree, and Tuesday and Wednesday nights are traditional work days if you haven't heard. A little hard to get out to a football game, especially if you live a ways away. So it all adds up to a crowd of maybe 10,000 in a stadium that seats 25-30,000, which makes for a shitty picture for the television camera. In turn, the rest of the BCS glitterati who already think they are better than the MAC can point to in their minds tangable proof that the MAC is inferior..."just look at the crap crowds they get!" Well, thats not really fair when you alienate your students and alums that aren't diehard enough to skip out on school or work to make a Wednesday night game. And some are diehard enough and would, but simply cant. That's even worse, and I really feel for those fans. Enough with the "exposure" buzz word. That doesn't mean doodily squat. Exposure at what cost? Wouldn't you rather have a large, boisterous and happy crowd of students and alums on a Saturday afternoon for your campus to enjoy, than a half empty stadium for the entire country to see and judge unfairly? I've never been in college athletic administration, but I have a hard time believing any revenue generated by being on ESPN offsets the beating these MAC schools take at the gate. And in college football when you're not in the BCS, perception is everything. We MAC dudes know there are some great players and good football being played in the conference. Beaming an empty stadium to the rest of the country on ESPN makes it difficult for us to show that, but the MAC has victimized themselves.

The MAC is hardly the only guilty party in this problem however. Hey ESPN, is MAC football really inferior enough that there is no way it can be nationally televised on Saturday? Ummm...no. Here's a novel concept, developed by NBC and CBS with their NFL coverage over 30 years ago. REGIONALIZE. No one in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana or Illinois gives a rats ass about an Arkansas-South Carolina game, so why can't that slot be held for Miami against Akron for the midwest instead of playing it tonight? And if someone does care about the titanic Razorbacks-Gamecocks clash that is so crucial in determining that seventh SEC postseason bid and the accompanying dream trip to Nashville for the Music City Bowl, that's what ESPN Gameplan is for. You capitalize two ways, you gain viewers in the midwest and any you would lose that care that much about an irreleveant SEC game will gladly fork over the dollars to see it on Gameplan if it's not on in your area. Seems like a win-win. You can yap about the gap in talent between the BCS and the MAC all you want, but the fact is whether the players are better or not, how is an irreleveant SEC game when both teams will make it to a lower tier bowl, better television than two schools vying for a division title, with the only guaranteed bowl bid going to the conference champ? It's essientially a football edition of a conference tournament in a one-bid league in basketball, and ESPN never seems to have a problem televising those games, one of the great things that network does. And we know how exciting those are, and they get huge ratings, because it's basically an prequal to the actual NCAA tourney. Win or go home. The conference race in MAC Football is very similar.

Further more, ESPN embarrasses the MAC during these telecasts, with resident douchebags like Mark May acting like it's an act of charity for ESPN to visit a MAC stadium in the first place. That's crap, because the MAC is doing ESPN the favor by supplying quality programming over having to watch the same poker circle-jerk again that's been airing since friggin' July, and sacrificing ten grand in attendance to do so. Then the game turns into a three hour public service announcement for the upcoming Ohio State-Michigan game, because after all if you're a real college football fan, you totally care who wins right? Sorry kids, while you're salivating over Jim Tressel's metrosexual sweatervest look and Lloyd Carr's comically droopy face that likens him to Eeorr from Whinnie The Pooh, I'll be at the Bowling Green-Buffalo game not giving a shit. So it would be nice if ESPN would focus on the game they are actually airing with its own excitement and implications. Even if it is just the "lowly" MAC.

The topper this season was two MAC games, Akron at Bowling Green, and Bowling Green at Eastern Michigan getting moved to the last two Friday nights to accomodate ESPNU? Getting bumped off Saturday so the real life equivalent of "ESPN 8 The Ocho" can televise even more meaningless ACC games between teams that won't even make bowl games is the ultimate insult and martyrdom by the MAC. There is zero reason the occasional Saturday afternoon slot on ESPNU can't be reserved for a MAC game, and once again the network could regionalize the action between that and the ACC. Further, Friday night may be even worse for attendence and fan morale than Tuesday and Wednesday. Just to clear up any doubt, college kids party and go to bars on Friday night, and once again only the die-hards will show to the stadium. Bowling Green, a team in contention, barely survived drawing nearly 13,000, though that's still very poor. Eastern Michigan, a 3-7 team after losing to BG, was humiliated more so than usual with the awufl history of their program, announcing 4,304. Certain games in this weekend's Division II and III tournaments will draw better than that. And bear in mind that was a paid attendance figure, the actual attendance may have been half that. Again I must ask, is it worth it? Do people outside of the midwest and the immediate areas of the MAC schools really flock to the TV mid-week to see these games, justifying the "exposure" card?

It seems the only thing that has been exposed is the MAC's poor judgment in pandering to ESPN.