Fed up!

After realizing five minutes before the BYU-Utah basketball game was to start that the mtn. was not televising it I decided to finally voice some of my opinions to the mtn network. Here is my email.

Subject: ARE YOU SERIOUS!

Content: "Not that I have a lot of confidence in The Mountain's ability to actually broadcast mountain west games, BUT I at least thought that you would be capable of covering the BYU-Utah basketball game today. I'm talking about mens hoops not womens! I guess I was wrong. To me, your inability to televise some of the most important games (not just basketball but football as well) reflects how poorly run the mountain network is. "

Marty Fletcher

When Marty does his color commentary during halftime on the mtn, he has a few objectives: 1) be as loud as possible, 2) come up with weird nicknames for players that don't catch on and only he uses, 3) don't really have a point--just say whatever comes to mind and use as many catch phrases as possilbe and 4) try to impersonate Dick Vitale but without the occasional humor and insight.

Don't get me wrong, I like Marty being around. The unintentional comedy is always high. The best is when he is done with with one of his random and inconcise comments and then the anchor has to bring it back to the subject at hand. Marty - stay classy.

Diamond in the rough

I found this blog recently and it has been what my friend Miller described as a "diamond in the rough."

2018 Taylor

Whenever I frequent Costco I try to make it a habit of purchasing a hot dog and a Coke for a total of $1.50. (If there is a better deal on the planet please leave it in the comments because I don't think one exists.) But last night when I was there after work I decided to take it up a notch. On top of the hot dog and soda I purchased a $1.00 churro. It came to a grand total of $2.68. And let's just say that I didn't walk away disappointed. I think this will need to be a regular occurrence. Some might say, "Wait a second Taylor, a Coke, hot dog, and churro is an incredibly unhealthy dinner." And to that I say, "That is for 300 pound, 2018 Taylor to worry about."

Small Frosty

This has nothing to do with the mtn. unless you consider the rage I felt inside yesterday was very similar to the hatred I have for the mtn network. Yesterday as I was leaving work and heading to school I stopped off at the Wendy's in Provo to grab a bite to eat. I can't remember the last time I ordered anything that wasn't on the dollar menu. So I ordered a JCD (Junior cheeseburger deluxe), DS (Double Stack), and a SF (Small Frosty)-I'm trying to watch my weight. After I ordered I noticed the new pricing for the frosty's: Small = $1.49, Medium = $ 1.79, Large = $ 2.19. These prices are 50 cents more than what I have been paying for years. I know companies are experiencing tough economic times so a little price escalation is expected, but 50 CENTS is absolutely ridiculous. Despite the fact that it was delicious, I couldn't believe it and I'm tempted to never buy another frosty again. Please let me know if this crisis is sweeping the nation or if it is just centralized to Provo Wendys.

Bull riding or Volleyball?

Sounds like it was a pretty exciting game last night between Utah and TCU. Not that I would know from watching it since I was left to choose between either bull riding on VS. or woman's volleyball on the mtn. Thanks for nothing mtn.

BYU-Utah still on the mtn

The mtn is holding strong. They are refusing to allow another channel to pick up the BYU-Utah game. There was an article in the SL Trib with details. One of the shocking things that was revealed is that Versus, CBS CS and the mtn decide which games each is going to pick up. Versus is showing Air Force-TCU and CBS CS is showing a Conference USA game and so the mtn gets BYU-Utah. Really? Seriously? No, seriously? There are so many bad things about this TV package, but I think one of the worst things is the short-sidedness of the MWC officials. Didn't it cross their minds that there could be a chance that a game in the conference could have national interest? If so, wouldn't you want a clause in the contract that would say that one of the national networks like CBS could pick up the game. Seriously, this never even crossed their minds?

Anyway, the best part of this article is the comments. Here is my personal favorite from a man that goes by josh_arseneau:

"Oh joy. We get to watch the biggest game of the year with a one angle reply from two camera's purchased from a KUTV storage shed. If you squint and pull on the corner of your eyes sometimes the picture looks clearer."

"in between hunting and mixed-martial arts"

Here is a great quote from a national writer about the sad state of the BYU-TCU game being shown on Versus:

"If you're hoping to take a gander at the game, remember that the Cougars and Horned Frogs are playing on Versus, must-see TV for outdoorsmen but perhaps not the place one expects to find one of the college football season's pivotal games.

"This is what the innovative Mountain West has to do as it tries to elbow its way into college football's elite. If it has to squeeze its games in between hunting and mixed-martial arts, so be it."

The writer seems to be trying to spin this in a positive way by using words like "innovative". Instead of innovative, I would replace that word with something like "sad," "sorry," "pathetic," etc.

Shaky Camera

Besides the usual terrible commentary that has come to be expected when viewing anything on the mtn. and the random 10 minute segments on whatever catches the attention of the broadcasters when they get bored with the game (last week it was Y mountain in Provo, this week it was on "carharts" after seeing a few guys in Wyoming wearing them), I think that the mtn. has a newly aquired camera man by the name of "Marky Marks". During an injury on the field the camera man was trying to get some footage of the injured player and some other players on the field and I began to get dizzy from all the shaky camera work. This went on for a couple minutes. I've only seen that quality of camera work one other place. I figured it had to be Marky.

In a totally unrelated topic that has nothing to do with the mtn. I just can't get over Robin lopez's halftime interview last night. Although I can't quite put my finger on it there is something very strange about his voice. Don't get me wrong though, I have no qualms of any kind with the man (yet) and I would love it if the Jazz had him or his brother. I just can't get past that voice.

Overrated?

Was anyone else shocked when BYU was up 34-0 and Utah State finally scored in the 4th quarter and then there were chants of overrated from the Aggie fans? I thought that chant was only reserved for when you were winning. I guess when you are used to seeing your team lose by 40 to 50 points than you think it is a moral victory to lose by 20. Like I have mentioned earlier, it has got to be hard to be an Aggie.

snl skit

This is a few minutes well spent.

Storming the field?

I will be the first to admit that last night's game between Utah and Oregon State was a pretty exciting game. I did however find it quite amusing that U of U fans in celebration for the victory of their #15 ranked team in the Nation to storm the field after beating a non-ranked team. I didn't really care a whole lot. In fact if it was even remotelyl possible (which it's not) to storm the field or court at BYU, if you can manage to fight your way through the ropes and countless security gaurds, than I would do it. As I sat and watched this display of over-excitement I decided to text my irrational Ute fan brother and the following text conversation took place:

Me: "I'm not going to say much because that was a pretty sweet game, but I just want you to realize that you would totally be bashing on cougar fans if they stormed the field after beating a non-ranked team."
Irrational Brother: "I'm on the field!"
Me: "Are you serious?"
Irrational Brother: "Yes, I'm five feet away from King Louie."

A few minutes later he called and confessed that he would be guilty of what I accused him of in my recent text-I'm very proud of him for admitting it.

In addition, as I was driving to work this morning I heard talk show hosts on both KFAN 1320 and 1280 the zone mention how ridiculous it was for Ute fans to storm the field since they were favored to win by 14 points in the first place. Were Ute fans expecting to lose that game or what?

Thoughts on the Utes win

As mentioned in an earlier post, I had some conflicting feelings about the Utah-Oregon State game. I convinced myself that it would be better if Utah won. It would mean the MWC went 6-1 againts the PAC-10 this year. It would make the game on Nov.22 in SLC that much bigger. But as the game went on and OSU somehow found a way to give the game away in the last two and a half minutes (this could be a whole post in and of itself) and as Louis Sakoda trotted out to kick the game winning field goal, I found myself hoping that Louis would miss it. Maybe it was the thought of seeing all those Ute fans in disbelief. But anyway, I think it was for the best and now if both BYU and Utah can get by TCU, the game on Nov. 22 (featured on the mtn, laugh) is going to be epic.

Here is Greg Wrubell's take on the game. He is a blatant homer, but he is our blatant homer. You can tell that he was disgusted that Utah won and very fearful that this might mean that Utah leapfrogs BYU in the rankings and national spotlight.

The Who Cares Test

In my communications classes one of the basic rules of any media outlet is to ask yourself, who cares?  If the public or audience you are trying to target doesn't care about the message or image you are sending then you are wasting your time and money.  So, every once in a while I apply the who cares test to the Mtn. programming and will randomly turn on the station to see what they are showing.  I just turned it on 5 minutes ago and they were airing Mountain West Peak Performance and were highlighting Colorado St. women's volleyball.... Now, you tell me, does anyone care?  I'm sure that Colorado St. women's volleyball is very excited but seriously WHO CARES???  I would love to see there ratings on that show.  I bet about 0.000000000000001 percent of there overall audience is watching that program, and that's being generous!  

We're not alone

Yesterday as I was driving from work to school I was listening to "1280 the zone" on the radio. Gordon Monson and Kevin Graham were discussing how awesome it would be going into the BYU-Utah game if both teams were undefeated and playing for a chance to play in a major bowl game - maybe even the national championship game (very similar discussion to a previously posted blog by Jones). After several minutes of talking about how amazing that would be (and very likely if Utah beats Oregon State this week I might add), Gordon grumbles "yeah, and it's going to be on the Mtn." At this point Kevin and Gordon both erupt into laughter at the very thought of such a HUGE game being broadcasted by such a crappy station. Can't the mtn. (I will no longer be capitalizing their name for they are unworthy of a capital letter) just realize that they are awful and just go away and leave everybody alone. What did we ever do to them?

It has got to be hard to be an Aggie

Interesting article in the SL Tibune. The jist is that USU has to average 15,000 fans over a two year period or they can't be in Division 1. They are a little under that average currently, so they are really excited for the BYU game because they are hoping for a sell-out of 25,000. What a sad and sorry state to be in as a football program.

Why can't the Mtn. schedule better?

By far my biggest complaint about the Mtn. is the inability to televise ALL of the conferences games.  Clearly the money making programs for the station are men's football and basketball.  If this is so, why can't every game be televised?  As Brandon showed us, it's not like they are full of intriguing programs and they don't have spots for these games.  I remember last year, BYU was playing Air Force in basketball and the Mtn. didn't cover the game. BYU was ranked 1st in the conference and Air Force was around 3rd.  It was a big game and would have attracted a lot of viewers.  So I assumed another game would be airing, but I turned on the Mtn. a few minutes after tip-off and they were showing a re-run of some stupid women's volleyball game that happened over a week ago!!  It's not that difficult.  You get together with the teams in the conference and make sure that no conference games conflict with one another.  If they do you make a 2nd channel to insure ALL of the money making games (basketball and football) are on T.V.  What a joke.  

Do I want the Utes to win on Thursday?

Usually my m.o. is to wish the Utes would lose every game. So when Oregon State plays at Utah on Thursday my natural reaction would be to wear orange and cheer loudly for the Beavers. However, the idea of BYU and Utah both being 11-0 when they meet at the end of the season with a BCS bowl on the line would be off the hizzle for shizzle. The national attention could be the biggest either school has ever had leading up to the game. And if BYU could win...wow, my joy would be full. So let me put it this way, I want Utah to win on Thursday but if they lose, I won't be crying myself to sleep.

BYU basketball schedule

The upcoming BYU basketball schedule was announced recently. Apparently the mtn has wised up and is going to broadcast all of BYU's conference games. Inexplicably, they have failed to pick up some some conference games in the past (BYU at Air Force last year), but then also refused to let BYU-TV air those games. Luckily this won't be a problem this year. However there are a few pre-season games that are not being picked up, for instance, Long Beach State is on Nov. 14. What else could the mtn be possibly showing on a Tuesday night? Luckily, the mtn is picking up the Wake Forest game. Hooray.

Speaking of big games, I wish Coach Rose would schedule more. Their only big games are against Wake and Arizona State. Hardly daunting. Why not schedule more teams like Gonzaga, Washington, Arizona, UCLA, etc. I think part of the reason BYU has failed to do well in the NCAA tournament is that they have failed to play in a lot of big games and they get overwhelmed when they get to the big dance. As a fan, it is really hard to get excited about Western Oregon and Idaho State.

HD for Bull Riding?

Apparently Versus and the Golf Channel share a HD channel. Whenever a BYU game has been broadcast on Versus, the game never makes it onto the HD channel.

The other night I was flipping through channels and I noticed that on the HD Versus/Golf Channel station bull riding was being broadcast in HD. What the? The bull riders get HD? Who cares about bull riding? 1.2% of Americans? They can't get those same HD cameras to a BYU game? What else are they going to show on the HD channel? Re-runs of LPGA events? I was thoroughly disgusted.

BYUTV vs. the mtn

The BYU-Utah State game will be on BYU-TV this Friday. We will see if a not-for-profit tv station can produce a better broadcast than the mtn. My money is on BYU-TV.

Pros & Cons

Con=BYU had a bye this week so I was unable to watch them play. I always look forward to sitting on the couch for several hours straight when they do play.

Pro=I didn't watch 1 second of television on the Mountain this weekend.

More Highlights

I hate to attempt to add anything to the seemingly flawless blog previously written by my good friend, but there were a couple of highlights from the BYU-Wyoming game that I feel also need some attention. Although I only watched about twenty minutes of the game this past Saturday, the Mtn. provided gem after gem of awkward and frustrating moments.
After Sammie's interview with Ryan Millar, and after the two terrible interviews which followed, the broadcasters in the booth began another interview with some unknown Olympic athlete which seriously lasted about 15 minutes. Besides the fact that no one cares about what this person has to say - no offense to her, I'm sure she is an incredible athlete to have gone to the Olympics - it is incredibly frustrating when you only have a short time to relax and watch some football and so you turn on the tv to the presumed football station but are only able to see every other play because there is some meaningless interview going on. Why don't the incompetent "broadcasters" just tell us that they have run out of things to say and that they are bored with the game.
Another highlight which proves this same point is how after this interview they spent several minutes (game still going on mind you) showing some footage of people up on the "Y". This of coarse led to a discussion about the "Y" and some theorizing on how it is painted; rollers, brushes, big buckets of paint that they just let drizzle down from the top of the letter; the announcers had no clue but they sure enjoyed talking about it. It was so ridiculous that I wanted to show Becca why I was so frustrated so I changed the channel to a couple of other stations with football games going. It was like walking out of the dark into the light for the first time. I heard play-by-play analysis, breakdowns of previous plays along with replay footage, and knowledgeable announcers with helpful stats. Listening to their commentary was like going to a porsche dealership knowing that you will never have a porsche, but be stuck driving a Mazda GLC hatchback for the rest of your life. But as long as the Mtn exists, this is exactly how I will feel.

Highlights from the mtn's coverage of the BYU-Wyoming game

Here are some highlights from the mtn's coverage of the BYU-Wyoming game:

1) The broadcast crew's interview with LaVell Edwards. It seemed like Todd Christensen really liked giving the coach a hug now and then. I counted at least four side-hugs liberally given by Todd during the course of the interview.

2) Max Hall's 62-yard perfect touchdown strike to Austin Collie rendered unviewable because a fan was cheering in front of the camera. Over the years I have watched hundreds of BYU games and this has never been a problem until the mtn started broadcasting the games.

3) Sammie's (the sideline reporter) interviews with the olympic athletes. You would think that they could get a field level camera, but Sammie had to do the interview with a camera that is on the other side of the stadium up in the bleachers. Sammie starts out by interviewing Ryan Millar, team member of the gold medal winning men's volleyball team. Sammie's first question, "So Ryan, your team won the gold medal, but your coach's in-laws were murdered at the games. What was that like?" Right at that moment, BYU scores a touchdown (which we can't see because of the interview), the fans go wild, Ryan is distracted and says something like "oh nice, we just scored another touchdown." And then Ryan has to make the subtle transition back to the murder of his coach's in-laws. Let's just say the interview didn't get better after that. The interview actually ended with the audio going in and out and the audience being unable to hear what Ryan was saying. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Sammy still had to do two more interviews...

New Material Please

If you ever need to understand the fact that the Mtn. is in desperate need of some new material, just take a look at their tv schedule at any given time and you will find something that looks like this:

Mon, Sep 22	12:00 AM	The Mountain Cap Recap of MWC Athletics
Mon, Sep 22	12:30 AM	Net Impact
Mon, Sep 22	1:00 AM	Paid Program
Mon, Sep 22	6:00 AM	The Mountain Cap Recap of MWC Athletics
Mon, Sep 22	6:30 AM	The Mountain Cap Recap of MWC Athletics
Mon, Sep 22	7:00 AM	The Mountain Cap Recap of MWC Athletics
Mon, Sep 22	7:30 AM	The Mountain Cap Recap of MWC Athletics
Mon, Sep 22	8:00 AM	Net Impact
Mon, Sep 22	8:30 AM	MWC Football Encore Iowa State at UNLV (9/20/08)
Mon, Sep 22	11:00 AM	The Mountain Cap Recap of MWC Athletics

I mean seriously, how many times can you show "The Mountain Cap" over the coarse of an 11 hour period. Apparently the answer is 6. Not to mention that during this same eleven hours there are only three different programs being televised. Four if you count the paid programming (which just might be the best portion). But then again it might be a blessing that the Mtn. isn't coming up with any new material.

Andrea, Oh Andrea

Andrea Lloyd - Women's Basketball & Volleyball Color Analyst; Studio Analyst

"Andrea brings a wealth of basketball knowledge to The Mtn., having played 14 seasons at the professional level in the WNBA, ABL, Italian, and European Leagues. She earned a gold medal with the women’s basketball team at the 1988 Olympics, and was a four-year starter and three-time first-team.

All-American at the University of Texas. She was honored as a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June of 2007. Andrea began her broadcasting career with FSN North in 2002, where she worked as a color analyst covering University of Minnesota women’s basketball and the WNBA Minnesota Lynx. Since that time she has worked for FSN North, FSN Midwest, FSN Southwest, CSTV, and others." (Biography taken from themtn.tv)

As we kick of the inauguration of "down with the mtn.", I would feel somewhat amiss if my first post was not about Ms. Andrea Lloyd. For the last couple of years we have had the privilege of hearing detailed analysis from Andrea on the Mtn. In addition to her large stature she has quite the resume as is seen below. The only thing that I can't quite understand after reading her biography on the Mtn.'s website is why her broadcasting career took such a rapid decline, going from FSN, to CSTV, and now with the Mtn. (it doesn't get any worse than the Mtn). I feel bad for whatever mishap that ocurred in her life that caused this to happen. With this being said I would rather listen to Andrea cover a game any day of the week than to have to hear the wannabe Dick Vitale Marty Fletcher.

Bronco doesn't like a playoff?

I really enjoyed Bronco's interview with Jim Rome. I thought he answered Rome's questions in a direct way and he represented the university well. The only issue I had was Bronco's opinion of the a football playoff. He told Rome that he was in favor of a playoff in principle but didn't know how we would get to it structurally. I think the structure would be easy: have a sixteen team playoff, have the final eight teams play in the BCS games (Orange, Rose, Sugar and Fiesta), and then have the remaining bowls stay intact for all the teams that didn't make the playoff. In college basketball, the NIT is still around although the NCAA tournament is all that people care about. In my opinion, Bronco needs to be on the front line, banging the drum of a playoff. If even non-BCS coaches are not in favor of a playoff, than this is never going to happen.

BYU-Utah game on the mtn? Kill me first...

I recently emailed Scott Pierce, the TV editor of the Deseret News. Here is our correspondence (I hope he doesn't mind that I post it):

Me: Hypothetically, let's say that BYU and Utah are both 11-0 going into their game, the entire nation is interested, and the game is schedule to be on the Mtn. What a joke.

Is there any chance that one of the other networks can pick this game up? CBS or CBS college sports?

Scott Pierce: That's an excellent question. I'm waiting to hear an answer myself to some inquiries I've made.

The problem may be that the BYU-Utah game was used as an inducement for DirecTV to pick up The mtn. You know, something exclusive that wouldn't be available elsewhere.

It might violate the agreement with DirecTV to put it on another channel.

I am actually checking into this. If I can get an answer, I'll certainly write about it.

Thanks for your e-mail.

So according to Scott, it might be that the BYU-Utah game was written into the fine print of the DirecTV deal. Those wily devils at the mtn continue to screw us.

UCLA fans bash on Versus

UCLA fans apparently weren't impressed with the coverage of the BYU vs. UCLA game on Versus. If only they new what BYU fans have to deal with. The sad thing is that Versus is the top of the network ladder for the MWC. As ABC is to the PAC-10, Versus is to the MWC. MWC fans actually look forward to games on Versus because the mtn. is so bad.