Here are some Big Ten college baseball links that I submit for your review.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Roman Augustoviz does a piece on the rebound at Minnesota. Honest-to-goodness media coverage of college baseball in the north. Shocking.
Behind The Plate previews the Indiana/Northwestern series.
Tom at the Illinois Baseball Report does a Q & A with an Ohio State fan about this weekend's honkin' huge series. (Hey, is that the OSU Drew that comments here?) Illini and Bucks making friendly before a big game? I suppose this is my fault?
Chris Webb, of Buckeye Nine fame, chats up College Baseball Today's Eric Sorenson about the Bucks, the RPI, the regional hosting process and other topics.
Speaking of Big E, Sorenson goes listapalooza in his weekend preview. A number of Big Ten references are included.
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6 comments:
Yes that is me that did the Q & A with Tom from the ILL Baseball Report. It was a fun thing to do and now i hope the Bucks back me up and take 2 out of 3 from the Illini. Lol! Go Buckeyes!!
A lot has been made about the Big Ten Networks coverage. Since this is the Big Ten Blog most flock to I'll post this here.
Yes it would be great if the Big Ten can up and choose games as the season progresses.
Its not that easier.
There is press access that needs obtained (you'd think not an issue, but at OSU where you have radio, student radio, student news, the ozone, BSB, Dispatch, tv, those credentials fill up fast, and not every school has a Bill Davis that can hold it all, though to be fair not every school garners that attention)
There are hotel and travel accomodations that need set well in advance. The different play-by-play and color that do the games for the BTN are not BTN employees, their local personalities who have agreed to fill in. The BTN could not, especially in baseball, have their own two-man crew to send out every weekend. So you have to work with who you have in each region like Randy Rinehart in Columbus.
Some universities have conflicts that prevent a televeision crew, and trailers to attend.
And its the Big Ten network, with emphsais on the Big Ten. Without support from each university it would not exist. Yes to fans OSU-Illinois is a better game than NW-Indiana, but the network is about exposing the players and each university. A season full of Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota would spark some backlash.
As would covering only baseball and ignoring track, lacrosse, softball, tennis, etc.
Just like a decision to have the Big Ten at a pre-determined site, a lot goes into the decisions being made.
Maybe in a few years the Big Ten can have different crews for different weekend series. Its just not a financial reality and smart business right now.
Two things to add to that...
Student crews. Would they even attempt to look into that? Students already do the BigTen programming in many cases. Why not let them work the crews? The quality of camera-ship wouldn't fall that much from what I've seen. Make it like ESPN does with announcing. One game/series of the week gets the good announcers with expanded coverage, local BTN markets get student announcers. In many cases it could be done for almost no charge for the announcing. The students would also be more familiar with at least one team eliminating rambling remarks about fluff stories the announcer casually studied during the week (not to mention the mispronunciation of names).
Second, why can't we see mid week games? Tuesday has become "campus programming nights" in many cases when softball doesn't take over (and yes, I do support softball as a valid replacement).
I agree that the current business model may not allow the increase in games shown, or even better games shown each weekend. I just think there are avenues that could be pursued. Judging by the limited access I have to the inner workings of the channel, I'm just interested to know what their opinions are on those two points.
Adding to that, if NU/IU gets washed out again tomorrow, it would at least offer them a secondary game to show. It just seems like a solid back up plan that can work within a smaller budget.
Ask and ye shall receive.
I don't know if it'll be Todryk-Krebs, but I'll be sure to track a Big Ten representative formy next Q & A.
I know we can't complain about media coverage but at least the writers can try to do some quick fact-checking. Roman's story in the Star-Tribune talked about how Ohio State was in first place, a half-game ahead of Minnesota. Oops. Not quite right, there Roman.
Even the Big 10 Network screwed something up last weekend. On one of their nightly highlight shows, the host talked about how this year's Big 10 baseball tournament was being held at Bill Davis Stadium. Unless I missed something, isn't it taking place at Huntington Park in Columbus?
C'mon, guys. At least pretend you care about getting the info correct.
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