TV Pet Peeves

I was watching a thrilling college football game between Miami and Lousville. Then what happens? My cable goes out. No, not all of it. Just the sport, music, and Turner channels. So instead of watching this offensive explosion I had to sit through Baseball. What a joke. You would think that for $45 a month I could get better service. Nope.

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We also found out that our company (Charter) was sued for driving up prices through line fees and other hidden costs. A class action suit was brought against them and now I might be getting a year of high speed internet access. Pretty sweet.

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For a while now, I have noticed a disturbing trend on ESPN2. At the outset, they were supposed to be a station for “alternative” sports, which at the time was “extreme” sports. Now that “extreme” has become normal, they have gone to other sorts of programming. Billiards, Hunting and Fishing, even Poker have entered into the daily schedule. I don’t have a major problem with this sort of broadcast. But the last few years have seen a rise in things that are not sports, but merely competitions. The National Spelling Bee and dog shows have headed up the list. I suppose there is a place for these shows on TV, but not on my ESPN. How is the Spelling Bee going to get better ratings than something else, say the #1 sport in the world, soccer?

Well, have I put up with it for a few years, but enough is enough. I turned on the TV yesterday, and ESPN2 was showing the National Scrabble Tournament Finals. You read correctly. Scrabble was being televised. Two nerds were dukeing it out for a $25,000 purse. They even had insights into training such as the 4-6 hours a day that the contestants spent learning the 120,000 acceptable words in Scrabble. What a joke. Sure, they may be way smarter than me. And, perhaps intelligence should be praised over strength and agility. But seriously, does it have to be on ESPN? I recommend we start a new station dedicated to televising this crap. Spelling Bees, Dog Shows, Scrabble, Firefighter competitions, Lumberjack wierdness, even Poker (which I love to watch and play) should not be on a “sports” network. Get the hell off of my ESPN and stick the Game Show network, or Animal Planet, or wherever else you can show this crap. But leave the sports on ESPN. Please.