I look forward to New Year’s Day every year, because of all the football on TV. Since it’s mostly US college football, I don’t know much about the teams, the divisions (Big 10? Pac 10?), or what Bowl signifies which championship. But I do love watching football, and most of what is shown on New Year’s Day is good football. That’s all that matters to me.
So yesterday, after watching Arkansas and Wisconsin meet in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, it’s time for the Rose Bowl between USC and Michigan. It’s being shown on TSN, which is a cable sports network here in Canada. I enjoy the first half of the game, and then…
TSN announces they are leaving the Rose Bowl to show a hockey game!
Yes, TSN is abandoning a once-a-year football game to show a regular season, run-of-the-mill, nothing special, no-playoff-berth-at-stake, hockey game. The kind that is on TV every night between October and April here in Canada. I am Canadian and love hockey, but I don’t need to see every game possible. Especially on one of the biggest televised football days of the year.
To its credit, TSN did announce that those of us who wished to continue watching the Rose Bowl could switch over to an ABC affiliate (US networks are normally offered here in Canada), which I did. But I was rather miffed, and disappointed in TSN’s decision to show half a football game. I can certainly understand if TSN feels that they would get a bigger audience with hockey than US college football; but if that was the case, then I would rather they carried none of the football game if they weren’t planning to show all of it.
What about you? Those of you watching the Rose Bowl on TSN, were you disappointed also? Did you switch to ABC as well? Did you watch the hockey game instead? What did you do?