Breaking news tonight: Fox is pulling out of the bidding for the BCS contract when the current one expires. That means one thing: No more college football on Fox after the 2009 BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl.
The Guru has a one-word response: HALLELUJAH!
Fox was the worst thing that's happened to the BCS. A network that carries ZERO regular-season games should not be the one that televises its most high-profile games. The Fox announcing crews always seemed to be reading players' names off a speed card because they have never seen any of them until the very moment they stepped into that booth. And the dearth of knowledge ... basically, Fox is always trying to get college football out of the way for the "more important" NFL games.
The most criminal part is Fox's treatment of the BCS standings. Like it or not, the BCS standings are the central element of the whole system, yet Fox never wants to give the announcement the time of the day. The standings usually come at the end of the 4 p.m. NFL games on Sunday - unless it's after the 1 p.m. games. Sometimes they'll banter for about five minutes in the post-game show "The O.T." Sometimes they just put it on the screen against the backdrop of an emptying NFL stadium.
Either way, the message was: We don't really give a crap.
With Fox out of the way, ESPN is the only network negotiating with the BCS and that means ESPN will be the exclusive carrier of all BCS bowl games, including the Rose Bowl. I'm OK with that. ESPN is the sports empire, so it makes sense that it should add another fiefdom into its global enterprise. This works.
So yeah, Fox. Thanks for nothing. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
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