Screw Fox Screw Fox Screw Fox!!!!!!!!!

[Vraille Darkfang]

Yes,

This is a Rant. About American Football, or more exactly the extreme Stupidity of Local TV Stations.

In the interest of not destorying my TV, I'll let out my frustration here.

I was watching the Bears/Bucs Game on our local Fox Station (Channel 38).

After Bucs down 24-3. They've pulled off one of the best combacks I've seen.

In fact, this is the Best Game I've seen this year.

So, Bucs Tie it 31-31 with a few minutes to go in the 4th. This one's going to overtime.

Cut to Commercial.

Come back from Commercial.

And.....

Crap. The Football Equivalent to Total Crap is now on my TV Screen.

When faced with the Choice of showing the 1st Place Bears going into Overtime in a High-Scoring game with Important Playoff Considerations or....

The Rams vs Raiders. 1 Lame Duck competing for #1 Pick Next Year & the other a Train Wreck that jumped the playoff tracks weeks ago. A totally meaningless Game with absolutely no Signifigance what-so-ever.

The Geniuses at Channel 38 thought "Let's put the Crap game on, as the Rams are the 'Local Team'" (For the Record, KC Chiefs are more the 'Local Team' around here).

This is the Baseball Equivalent of cutting from Yankees/Redsox (whoever is on top of the American League), tied in the bottom of the ninth....

And switching to any Royals game of the Last Decade or so.

So, rather than be able to watch the end to the best game of the season...

I'm forced to watch two teams that are barely above Arena League this year.

I'm not amused.

I'm also not watching. (Nor will most of the Football Fans I know). We want to know we'll get to watch the Best Games ALL THE WAY TO THE END!!!

In fact, I doubt I'll be watching any NFL on Fox if they are going force me to switch to the Lame Duck Rams every week whether I like it or not.

Fox,

You took away a Dimaond & switched it with a Lump of Coal.

You're on my naughty list.

Or the NFL Football Package is on my Chistmas List next year.

I will not be holden to your "You must watch your local team, no matter how crappy they are and no matter how good the other games are."

I suppose it could be worse.

I could live in Arizona (I'm telling you, if Lienhart really develops, the Cards'll deal him rather than pay him when his contract it up).

 

[Crothian]

This is one of the best Over Times I have ever seen!! I cannot believe how exciting and bone crunching this is. If I had to miss it...I don't know what I would do. It would involve many tears. My life is better because I get to watch this OT game.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

That reminds me of the Simpsons episode where one of the computer nerd staying with the Simpsons pulls the TV plug out just as Bart and Lisa are about to watch the "Itchy and Scratchy" episode where Scratchy finally gets one over Itchy.

Who won in the end?

Olaf the Stout

 

[kenobi65]

I will not be holden to your "You must watch your local team, no matter how crappy they are and no matter how good the other games are."

I don't think it's just a Fox thing, and I wouldn't be surprised if that decision was out of Fox's hands. My suspicion is that it's an NFL rule. The assumption that they make is that people would rather watch the "local" team...though, obviously, there are cases like this in which that may be a questionable assessment.

OTOH, if they'd stuck with TB/Chi, the station would likely have gotten calls from angry Rams fans, who would want to watch their team's game regardless of record.

Stinks all the same.

 

[Crothian]

I would think it is a local station choice.

 

[Bubbalicious]

It completely depends on what the STATION'S "home market" is according to the NFL. If it is actually closer to Kansas City, then it was a station choice, but if the city is closer to St. Louis, then they may been required to switch.

To emphasize, where your city is doesn't matter. It is figured by the station broadcasting. At 4:15 (Eastern, 3:15 your time), the announcers said that some viewers would be switched to "home market games". If the station IS in the Kansas City market, then you should call the station to complain. Complaint calls CAN affect a stations policies on such matters. Posting a complaint on ENWorld will have NO effect.

As for the game, about halfway through overtime, the officials decided they just wanted the Bears to win so they could go eat. A Bucs player got a first down and fumbled the ball along the sideline. At least four players touched the ball while they were out-of-bounds, but "upon review" they just gave the fumble to the Bears anyway.

Amazingly, (and amusingly) this didn't work. Gould missed a short potential game-winning field goal for the Bears, then the Bucs punted back to the Bears. The Bears then completed a pass that should have been ruled incomplete. The officials refused to review it. This reception directly set up the successful game-winning field goal that followed soon after.

 

[jaerdaph]

My hate of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck know no limit!

If the Yankees game is on Fox, I listen to it on the radio instead.

 

[Aeson]

My hate of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck know no limit!

If the Yankees game is on Fox, I listen to it on the radio instead.

I can't stand them either. In my case if the Yankees game is on TV, I don't watch it.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

It completely depends on what the STATION'S "home market" is according to the NFL. If it is actually closer to Kansas City, then it was a station choice, but if the city is closer to St. Louis, then they may been required to switch.

To emphasize, where your city is doesn't matter. It is figured by the station broadcasting. At 4:15 (Eastern, 3:15 your time), the announcers said that some viewers would be switched to "home market games".

From a pure, physical distance standpoint.

Yes, the closest AS the Crow Flies NFL Team is the Rams. From a How Much Red vs Blue do you see on Sunday & Which is easier to drive to, Arrowhead vs, whatever the Rams Stadium is called nowdays...

The Chiefs are the predominate Team (Excluding the Greatest Show on Turf Years) where "Whatever Team is Winning is our Team Crowd" crawled out to worship at the Alter Warner-Bulger

My problem is that they cut out before the 1st game was over.

A really, really, really good game.

For quite possibly the WORST scheduled game of the entire weekend (at least Lions-Pac has Brett Farve passing Dan Marino to look forward too).

I mean Raiders-Rams? The Raiders have ran away with the Craptastic Team award. Blowing away such perenial contenders as the Browns, Cards, Lions.

Would it have really killed them to miss the 1st 5 minutes of the Rams Game?

We are talking about a Scorefest in Chicago. 60+ Points. The Bears & Bucs. Two Defensive Teams got into a shootout.

Stations pray for games to turn out like that. Homefield Advantage at Stake. Massive Forth Quarter Comebacks. Overtime. That game had everything a programmer dreams of.

Rams-Raiders.

Not so much.

If you were a Football Fan. Chicago-Tampa was about as good as it got.

Rams-Raiders had.....

Ummm... The suspense Al Davis might Keel over on Camera?

The only people who rather watch the 1st 5 minutes of the Rams game over overtime at Chicago were such die hard fans, that I'd be a bit scared of them (or they got family on the team).

It might be the policy to shift to "Home Team no Matter what!"

But if that means cutting from one of the 10 best games of the year to Crap Bowl III the policy needs to be examined.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've been through this myself.

The NFL has, as part of its broadcast agreements, clauses that dictate what gets shown where, and what may be pre-empted for what.

Currently, I live in a major market- the D/FW Metroplex- so whenever its time for the Cowboys to come on, I get the Cowboys, regardless of how apocalyptically fantastic the game I'm watching was.

They have even cut away mid-pass to show me guys talking about the game that is 15 minutes away from kickoff.

Complaining about it to the station got me nada, zip, zilch because they have NO choice- they don't change what they're broadcasting, they get fined (or more accurately, they are assessed certain contractual financial penalties).

You really don't have many choices. You can move to where your team is the "home" team, get better cable access, or complain directly to the NFL and hold your breath.