# Is this what cable TV has come to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2016, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140 "2016-05-07T03:58:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/21 "2016-05-08T16:02:02Z")
The funny thing is that when cable started becoming nationwide back in the 70s this is exactly was people were being promised: stuff way too niche for the Big Three. I remember predictions you’d see stuff like chess on cable channels. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/22 "2016-05-08T16:12:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > [Great Caesar’s Ghost!](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Women%27s+Curling&num=100&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDjPOLo8fMAhUk56YKHfGADN0QsAQIIw&biw=1662&bih=1067) Yeah, sure. Lets face it: The only way an average guy is going to have a woman that pretty staring at him that intensely is if you were both in a plane crash in the Andes last week and today she saw you as Meat. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/23 "2016-05-08T19:16:24Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > It’s the Big Ten Network on an early Friday morning in May. What, exactly, were you expecting? Michigan-Michigan State football from 1972? That’s probably what most people think conference-specific sports networks air when they’re not airing live football or basketball. The SEC Network schedule for Mother’s Day consists pretty much entirely of SEC baseball, the Auburn and Alabama spring football games, and an SEC-based sports news program (something like an SEC-specific version of ESPN’s SportsCenter). ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/24 "2016-05-08T19:28:46Z")
[Anyone for Quidditch?](https://www.facebook.com/events/542694579087872/) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/25 "2016-05-08T23:30:20Z")
Then there’s this: > **[Tom Koch | 43-Man Squamish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Koch#43-Man_Squamish)** > > In 1965, Mad #95 included "43-Man Squamish", written by Koch and illustrated by George Woodbridge. The absurdist article detailed the convoluted rules of an imaginary sport, and made enough of an impression to be mentioned in both men's New York Times obituaries, including the first sentence of Koch's. > In the article, new terminology is introduced with no explanation; much of the humor derives from the reader's half-successful attempts at gleaning a meaning from context. Exactly what everyone on... ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/26 "2016-05-09T00:50:56Z")
Mi tío es enfermo, pero la carretera es verde! We tried to play it in 6th grade. Class size was big enough, but the girls didn’t want to play. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/27 "2016-05-09T05:26:28Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > I remember predictions you’d see stuff like chess on cable channels. ESPN has run tournaments for Magic: the Gathering (a fantasy-themed collectible card game). Admittedly, at least when I was aware of such things, it was on ESPN2, in the wee hours of the morning, but still… ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2016, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/28 "2016-05-09T07:26:45Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I am a recent re-adopter of cable TV, and just checked the at-this-moment-or-soon listings. What the Big Ten Network is showing is Womens’ Lacrosse. LACROSSE! WOMEN’S! When I was a lad my brother, who went to The Hop (Johns Hopkins), introduced me to the Sub-Ivy craze, lacrosse, and gave me an illegal (too short) stick. I had never heard of the sport, outside of history books, and nobody I knew even had that. Now they are devoting national, basic cable, time, deep in the early morning, to the women’s version. Well, I never. Am I going to get flamed for linking to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VLmEMFq8F8)? ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/29 "2016-05-10T02:46:57Z")
I like watching women’s lacrosse. The rules make the strategy different than men’s lacrosse. A close game between skilled teams can be really good. I also like watching field hockey, AFL, archery, squash, gymnastics, high diving, table tennis and badminton. I am bored as shit of the same old, lame, big 3 American sports. Luckily YouTube and ESPN online give me a source for most of those (not AFL though). ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/30 "2016-05-10T20:45:14Z")
I am fine with them showing women’s lacrosse. Women’s Softball can be quite competitive and fun to watch, so why not lacrosse? What irks is a sports network showing a Texas Hold 'em tournament. They are televising _POKER_, ferchrissakes!!! If you can do it while seated and smoking, it is not a sport. Hell, it’s not even an activity. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/31 "2016-05-10T20:51:39Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > [Anyone for Quidditch?](https://www.facebook.com/events/542694579087872/) I played in college (5th in the nation baby!) and honestly miss it. That nonwithstanding, their is now MLQ(Major League Quidditch) in a handful of cities across the nation, it’s getting crazy popular in colleges, hand to god in the next 5 years we WILL see it on some kind of broadcast, even if it’s on ESPN3. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/32 "2016-05-10T21:25:26Z")
Anyone up for [Drone Racing League](http://www.drone360mag.com/news-notes/2016/04/espn-to-televise-drone-racing) on ESPN? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140/33 "2016-05-10T21:28:44Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I played in college (5th in the nation baby!) and honestly miss it. > > That nonwithstanding, their is now MLQ(Major League Quidditch) in a handful of cities across the nation, it’s getting crazy popular in colleges, hand to god in the next 5 years we WILL see it on some kind of broadcast, even if it’s on ESPN3. I always thought the rules of Quidditch (as given in the books, at least) were fundamentally flawed. Catching the snitch is worth so many points (and ends the game) that the other parts of the game, and almost all the players, are often made completely irrelevant. On the other hand, if your team is behind by so much that even catching the snitch won’t win the game, what are you supposed to do? Now, there could be an interesting situation where the lead changes between just over, and then under, and then over 150 points, and the seekers are alternately trying to catch the snitch (when it would win the game) or not (when it wouldn’t). But even that doesn’t quite work, because each goal is worth 10 points, so the lead can’t vacillate over and under 150 without being 150 and setting the stage for a tie. For a world where trains leave from fractional-number station platforms, having everything be a multiple of 10 seems like a bit of a miss from Rowling. TL,DR: Great game if you’re writing a story setting up one person to be the hero, kinda pointless if you’re not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-what-cable-tv-has-come-to/754140.md?page=1)