Dear ESPN, Please Give Us Back Dickie V

It was announced yesterday (sort of) that Dickie V will not, for the first time in over 35 years, call the Duke/UNC game when the Tarheels make the 10 mile trek from Chapel Hill to Durham tomorrow evening.

Which is outrageous.

I remember the first time I saw Dickie V with my own eyes.  I'd waited all day outside the graduate student entrance of Cameron Indoor in hopes of getting a good-enough spot for my first Duke v. Carolina game.  I already had a ticket, it's the standing space I waited for. And I waited.  And waited. And waited.

I ended up standing next to a few semi-drunken grad students from (probably) the business program and exchanging skin cells with the 5 other people lodged beside me.  But even in the midst of that horrid experience, it was that night that I peered up into the rafters of Cameron Indoor and saw him: the man they say created the college basketball hype.

The next year my friends and I wised up and waited days instead of hours outside the graduate student entrance. The floor--to stand on the floor--was our goal.  When we stood outside Cameron rubbing our hands together just to keep warm, up pulled a jet-black escalade. From its dark interior with media and fan attention to rival Taylor Swift, there he came.  Jovial, outgoing, loud, and hilarious from the very first step out of that vehicle.

 Dickie V wanted to be with the fans, the Crazies, in a way no other tv announcer had done before.  He held our signs, took picture after picture, handed out autograph after autograph, and made sure to make eye contact with every single Crazie who simply wanted to see him.

Once we entered Cameron on that day, we had hours to wait on the court until the game began.  He came by handing out autographs and taking pictures, making sure we knew that he knew how dedicated this fanbase is. It was that day that he pointed at me, as I was decked out in a Cameron Crazie shirt and my ridiculous Duke hat, smiled and said, "I love your hat." Thumbs up, too. Day. Made.

So yeah, ESPN, you could say I'm bummed that you'd pull him from this broadcast. No matter how good Shulman and Bilas are (and they are good), Dickie V is a lot more than just a broadcaster. Dickie V is a Crazie hero. And he's a Tarheel hero too.  And a Wildcat hero too. He's a college basketball hero.

Dickie V makes college basketball what it is. And, to pull him from a broadcast such as tomorrow night's is not only the end of an era, it's a signal to the student bodies of these remarkable universities that ESPN's relationship with the students isn't as important as they thought it was.

Please, ESPN.  Fly Vitale to Durham.  The Blue Devil Nation will thank you. America will thank you.

-B

BREAKING NEWS: Houston Astros Fan Lets Go of the Ball Too Late!

Funny video of an Astros fan who evidently doesn't have a lot of throwing experience.

Heard someone remark yesterday, "If you've never thrown a baseball before, why would you agree to throw out the first pitch?!"  What's hard to realize and remember is that even if you have confidence in throwing a baseball, throwing one on a downward slope from the pitcher's mound is another thing entirely.

This girl looks like she didn't have experience with either of those.

If The South Would Have Won

In light of the Hitler and ESPN controversy, I'm reminded of this song.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxEmry5lRKk&w=640&h=385]

The question is, of course, would we have had it made? And who is "we"?

Make no mistake, Florida does need to get back "on the right track" but it is not because of "Miami" and the need to "take it back".

Rather, it is because of this guy:

I say we take back Tallahassee.

I'm tired of this being a Republican vs. Democrat argument. I'm tired of this being a liberal vs. conservative argument. I'm tired of it being a Fox News vs MSNBC argument. It's not ok to compare people or leaders to Hitler unless they are oppressing and killing their constituents. And this is isn't a North vs. South argument or a Hate vs. Heritage argument either. This is about being responsible citizens of America.

Sometimes, for us all to get along, we all have to let go of something. I'd day this kind of country music would be a good place to start.

-B

The Future of Television

Today Netflix announced that they will be delivering an exclusive television series to Netflix subscribers in 2012. And, even better, it is not some no-name TV show. It's going to be called "House of Cards" and will feature Kevin Spacey as a lead actor. Guess who is the executive producer too? David Fincher. The show will be available to any device that can stream Netflix. Presumably, at a given time every week.

So, let's get this straight: you'll be watching a first run episode that no one has ever seen (so in a sense, live) from any device anywhere. It's like HBO, without having to go through a cable provider. And available to you when you're on vacation.

My point: isn't this exactly what television in 2011 should be like? I think we are becoming one step closer to getting rid of cable providers.

I've been thinking for awhile about how far we are away from completely Internet based TV. Even as it is now, I watch shows the day after with Hulu for the iPad hooked up to the TV via HDMI. I use the Apple TV to stream podcasts and YouTube to the television. We use Netflix to watch movies if we have a free night (don't remember when the last time that was...), also via Apple TV and the Wii. I use the MLB app for the iPad and Apple TV to watch any Major League Baseball game whenever. As of late too, I've been using the March Madness app for the iPad connected to the TV to watch tournament games that we don't get via cable. The NBA also has this functionality.

Brilliant. Completely brilliant.

I might add as well that because we don't have HD programming here, the quality is better via Apple TV and the iPad than it is via our cable provider.

I rarely use our TiVo anymore.

It is, and will continue to be, easier to break off from the cable provider.

As I see it, the only real issue (other than HBO shows and shows like Mad Men...none of which I watch) with this model is ESPN. Major League Baseball is going straight to their customers. You subscribe by the month and can watch any game whenever you want, get a radio feed whenever you want, AND watch a broadcast from either team's home commentators whenever you want. In an area like we live in with no teams close by, this is an absolute must for a baseball fan.

If ESPN sold their programming through a subscription to their customers, wouldn't you buy it? Then you could use any device whenever (including those hooked up to your television) you want to watch ESPN. I have a feeling if this became competitive (rather than monopolistic companies that are the only ones who serve your area controlling your programming, etc) it would drive the prices down. It would cut out the middle man between the channel that offers the programming and the consumer.

That model is always a better model. I'd much rather subscribe to NBC, CBS, ABC (or even better...specific shows) directly than pay a cable provider a ton of money each month for a bunch of crap that I don't watch.

I only hope the channels and producers see this. Huge opportunities are ahead of us.

This happened in music with iTunes and later Amazon. The customer of the labels was not the retailer, as they often thought...it was the listener. This has happened more or less in news publications since its conception. This needs to happen in movies (although the movie theater experience inherently means this may be impossible) and I definitely think it is about to happen in TV.

Congrats Netflix, I'm going to give "House of Cards" a try.

-B