11/05/24
March 17, 2003
If war begins this week, NCAA might postpone games: You know, I really could care less about this whole Iraq thing, but now I'm pissed. I've got the US as a One Seed over the Sixteenth Seeded Iraq, but France may pull the upset in the Old Europe bracket. The Kentucky Wildcats should make short work of baghdad by raining threes. I just don't know about the Middle East division this year.
posted by Stan Chin to basketball at 11:04 PM - 7 comments
CBS is driving this. You don’t see the NIT or the women’s tourney talking about postponing games or changes to the NCAA wrestling championships. It has little to do with the safety of the teams/fans or a show of deference to the armed forces and everything to do with CBS’s plans to go with 24 hour war coverage without sacrificing lucrative ad dollars to ESPN or diluting the viewership across their various sub-networks in the process.
posted by kloeprich at 11:36 AM on March 18, 2003
kloeprich, while I agree with your analysis...there has to be somebody in CBS's programming department that realizes that if every single other network goes to 24 hour news programming then their viewership will be diluted, while if they are showing March Madness everybody trying to take a break from 24 hour news coverage will converge on them. Seems like if the show that you are running up against war coverage is one of the biggest sporting events in the calendar year, you have what it takes to go head-to-head.
posted by vito90 at 12:16 PM on March 18, 2003
I hear ya Vito, but the negative publicity that CBS would incur to showing a sporting event during serious times is probably preventing them from doing so. They may win the ratings battle if they do that, but the backlash could be tremendous by outraged, way-too-serious blowhards. Not to say I disagree with you by any means though.
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:39 PM on March 18, 2003
Well, you know, there's nothing a little spin couldn't fix. In the midst of such serious times, CBS needs to re-package March Madness with a more serious tone ... March WAR Madness! NCAA Final MOTHER OF ALL Tournaments! NCAA: Operation Enduring Free-Throws! March Madness: We ARE the BOMB! March Madness: It's a Saddam Dunk! or my personal favorite ... March Madness: Moment of Truth
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:44 PM on March 18, 2003
HAH! "The Road to Baghdad"
posted by vito90 at 11:47 PM on March 18, 2003
"The Mother of all Bombs."
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:44 AM on March 19, 2003
It seems like a bit of an overreaction. Do the basketball authorities really expect terrorists to target basketball games in the USA, even if they had that capability? Having said that, I guess if you'd told me they'd fly planes into the twin towers I'd have laughed at the ridiculousness of the concept. A minor point, but why do Americans say "could care less" when you clearly mean couldn't care less? Not a swipe at the USA, just interested in the origin.