Hey FOX, stop pretending to know something about college football

More proof why FOX sports has not business doing college football games. Even this studio production is amateurish, even worse than watching Jim Wharton on WTAP in Parkersburg. The only positive are the guests. At least they are knowledgeable.

ESPN buys Rose Bowl

If it didn't already, ESPN officially owns the sporting world now. The Worldwide Leader added the Rose Bowl to its stable of bowl games starting in 2011. Remember ESPN had already pried away the other BCS games by outbidding FOX.

Look, I won't miss the horrible announcing on FOX. But this means there are almost no bowl games remaining on network TV. This isn't a positive. I get ESPN and so do most of my friends. But not all of the approximately 300 million people in the U.S. have cable or satellite TV.

Personally, this doesn't impact me much at all. I enjoy watching college football on ESPN. It will also mean better announcers and better coverage, since these guys and gals actually do games during the season (unlike FOX).

However, this will probably mean lower ratings for all of the big bowl games in 2011, but the BCS doesn't care as long ESPN is willing to dish over hundreds of millions of dollars. Audience be damned.

FOX F-ups

'Eye and 'Eer have duly noted our disgust for the coverage that FOX-TV has tormented all of us to during the BCS Bowls. Well, it didn't get much better last night. Clearly, Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis were watching a different game than the rest of us. This exchange in the second quarter drove me nuts.

Brennaman was getting all jacked up for no reason. Isn't there someone talking to him in his earpiece to let him know he's f-ing up? The down and distance is right there at the top of the screen. Someone tell these idiots.

So when Brennaman and Davis are telling Bob Stoops to go for it on fourth down it is actually third down. They even seem surprised when the Sooners are stopped on third down why the offense isn't leaving the field.

This doesn't even touch on the poor play calling by BCS choke artist Stoops.

Just what ESPN needs - more power

Apparently the powers-that-be who make decisions for the Bowl Championship series (the Illuminati?) are considering having all the BCS bowls, including the championship game, shown on ESPN instead of broadcast TV.

What a rotten, rotten idea.

First - can you imagine the non-stop, cross-promotional stream of absolute crap that will pass for ESPN and SportsCenter in the days leading up to these games? Ugh. Dr. Lou giving a thpeech to every team in the B THEE ETH? Mark May talking, even more than he already does? Herbstreit getting more highlights? Desmond Howard butchering English in several exotic locales? Craig James giggling like a 12-year old while Jesse Palmer offers insights such as "How big a play was that?"

Second - What major sport has its championships shown on cable only? Is MLS a major sport? Not in this country. Criminy, even HOCKEY has the Stanley Cup finals on broadcast. Sorry, but national broadcast still has cache in this country that cable doesn't have. It would be a very, very shortsighted move to choose ESPN although I'm sure the World Wide Winer is already filling up the wheelbarrows with cash.

To me this seems that the BCS folks have been unimpressed with FOX's efforts at the past few BCS title games and want more attention/money. That's fair. FOX hasn't exactly rolled out their A teams for this game. Barry Alvarez and Charles Davis? I guess.

Heck, let's go back to the old days. Dig up Charlie Jones and Lindsay Scott and put the Orange Bowl back on NBC. Dick Enberg's still around - get him in there.

Sigh. We should give up. Soon, ESPN will own the world. We should accept our fate. I, for one, welcome our new lazy-eyed, Boo-yah yelling overlords.