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thursday, march 18, 1978
The fans want it, they get it and they pay for it
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Story by Jim Hunt
Daily Nebraskan Photos
A mad dash to the liquor store to pick up a twelve
pack of brew, run home in time to throw a couple of bur
gers into the pan, tear open a bag of chips and voila
you're ready for another weekend of television sports.
From noon Saturday until Sunday evenirg the Ameri
can public is under a constant barrage of sports on the
boob tube. John Q. Public can see everything from the
best in college and pro football and basketball to the
doldrums of tennis and golf.
For example, this past weekend with the Nebraska
Boy's State Basketball Tournament, the opening round of
the NCAA Tournament and professional basketball, those
of us basketball nuts who thrive on the game had a chance
to watch no less than 1 1 games.
When you throw in two golf tournaments, a bowling
tournament, a tennis tournament, a boxing match, a ski
match, SportsWorld, Wide World of Sports and Sports
Spectacular, it's no wonder many housewives are ready to
sell the family's color TV to the first pawn shop they
can haul it to.
Yet the public wants it so that's what it gets, and gets
and gets.
Although I think basketball is the greatest game ever
invented, CBS has gone overboard in its coverage of pro
basketball. Pro basketball begins in arly November and
ends around the first of June. Coverage starts on Christ
mas and bores us through the regular season until the
playoffs begin in mid-April.
No one cares about the regular season, so why don't
they just broadcast the playoffs?
Even though college basketball is the king of sports
and we get a healthy dose of Big Eight Conference games
on Saturdays, NBC has gone overboard with its Sunday
coverage.
Every Sunday we are "treated" to one of the finest
college games in the nation and it seems like three out of
four Sundays we are stuck watching Notre Dame.
I don't know about most people, but watching the
Fighting Irish on the tube every Sunday does about as
much for me as the potato famine did for Ireland. As a
good Irishman I don't intend to give up green beer on
St. Patrick's Day, but if that Notre Dame leprechaun
shows up again, I just might be tempted to pour one on
him.
Even though the networks devote many hours a week
to sports coverage and cover many of them well, there are
some pseudo-events that just do not belong on television.
These include Challenge of the Sexes, Celebrity Challenge
of the Sexes, Superstars, Superteams and Dynamic Duos
and similar staged events.
Who really cares if the Dallas Cowboys are better than
the Kansas City Royals in a tug-of-war competition?
In actuality all thpse competitions do is waste good air
time and give the people who have run out of Sominex a
headstart on their Sunday afternoon nap.
Although millions watch sports on television each
week, the networks are not the only ones to benefit from
this rise in the entertainment value of sports.
Over 500,000 people turned out to watch the Univer
sity of Kentucky play this year. In Lincoln over 172,000
have turned out to see the Huskers play this season, in
eluding a record 14,912 UNL fans for the Kansas State
game at Manhattan.
Attendance at college and pro football games continue
to skyrocket and baseball is enjoying an increase in
attendance.
One of the few sports which seems to be declining is
hockey. In recent years the NHL has been hit by sagging
attendance and the loss of its network TV contract.
With ticket prices soaring as high as $10 for profes
sional football games and $8 for pro basketball games, it is
easier to see that many Americans are spending more
money to watch the OJ. Simpsons and the Julius
Ervings do their things.