12/21/24
August 17, 2012
SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Unless you have Dish or DirecTV, you won't be able to watch Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1, England's Championship league or the League Cup. They've all moved to a new channel called BeIn Sport USA.
That's a bummer on losing so much coverage from GolTV and FSC, although I was thinking about switching back to DirecTV in any event in light of the fact that Comcast here in Chicago refuses to carry Fox Soccer in HD. Guess this makes that decision a bit easier.
The article rcade linked is only showing up for me as a truncated piece -- here's the full thing from another source to the extent that is affecting anyone else.
posted by holden at 10:18 AM on August 17, 2012
I didn't know Championship was on anywhere. I'd love to see some of those games this year now that Sheffield Wednesday is up.
Comcast here has Fox Soccer in HD.
Interesting stats from that last link: "The EPL averaged 185,000 viewers for 118 live telecasts on Fox Soccer last year, 321,000 for 48 broadcasts on ESPN2/ESPN and 58,000 for 54 games on ESPN Deportes, according to data from Nielsen Media Research and the networks. Serie A averaged 54,000 viewers for 96 live telecasts on Fox and Ligue 1 53,000 for four broadcasts on Fox."
posted by rcade at 10:20 AM on August 17, 2012
I might actually get to see Ipswich this year then.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 10:34 AM on August 17, 2012
Play-by-play man Phil Schoen and highly excitable color commentator Ray Hudson have moved from GolTV to beIN Sport.
I just died a little inside. And now I have to figure out if I'm paying extra for GolTV or if it comes in a "The Better to Screw You" package with Fox Soccer. It seems hard to believe they would launch with just distribution on the dish networks. I'm guessing/ hoping negotiations with the dish companies were just easier, given the way Comcast and Cablevision played hardball with the NFL Network. beIN Sport's Twitter account is being a tease.
posted by yerfatma at 10:51 AM on August 17, 2012
Wonder why they don't offer a web feed for pay like FSC does.
posted by billsaysthis at 12:14 PM on August 17, 2012
Probably some licensing rights thing. One of the things that bugs me about this is I assume it means no more La Liga on ESPN. I enjoyed the Sunday afternoon games on ESPN2 and the ESPN3 integration with Xbox meant a good chance of seeing important matches on demand or live.
posted by yerfatma at 12:36 PM on August 17, 2012
While we're talking about historic pitching performances, last night Clay Buchholz became the 44th pitcher to throw a nine-pitch inning while striking out the side. It's the 47th "immaculate inning".
posted by yerfatma at 02:49 PM on August 17, 2012
Is there a term for a three pitch inning - getting three guys out on the first pitch?
posted by beaverboard at 03:45 PM on August 17, 2012
Sorta unsurprising follow-up: Tyrann Mathieu is reportedly in a drug rehab in Houston being mentored by John Lucas. Best of luck to him.
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:01 PM on August 17, 2012
Is there a term for a three pitch inning - getting three guys out on the first pitch?
"A Death in the Family"? Aren't all major league hitters aware their manager will kill them if they swing at the first pitch after two one-pitch outs?
posted by yerfatma at 04:10 PM on August 17, 2012
While we're talking about historic pitching performances, last night Clay Buchholz became the 44th pitcher to throw a nine-pitch inning while striking out the side. It's the 47th "immaculate inning".
Pfft. I remember when a pitcher struck out the side with only TWO pitches.
On Monday, Steve Delabar became the first pitcher in history to record 4 strikeouts in one inning during extra innings.
posted by grum@work at 04:28 PM on August 17, 2012
Is that the first time it's ever happened or just the first time in extra innings?
posted by bender at 04:47 PM on August 17, 2012
If you're on Twitter, you should be following @cantpredictball for weird stuff like this.
posted by yerfatma at 04:53 PM on August 17, 2012
Is that the first time it's ever happened or just the first time in extra innings?
It's the first time in extra innings. I think it has happened many, many times before (60?).
posted by grum@work at 05:06 PM on August 17, 2012
My suspicion is that US rights for every league apart from the Premier League have been comparatively cheap, and that al-Jazeera Sport (owners of BeIn Sport) decided to raise the stakes and the leagues went with the highest bidder instead of thinking about exposure. Given the way that Setanta Sports overpaid and underdelivered (and pretty much went tits-up) I wouldn't be surprised to see the same here.
posted by etagloh at 05:59 PM on August 17, 2012
Brian Urlacher hurts knee, Jenny McCarthy dumps him.
posted by phaedon at 06:04 PM on August 17, 2012
Brian Urlacher hurts knee, Jenny McCarthy dumps him
Too bad Urlacher lowered himself to dating the skank in the first place.
posted by cixelsyd at 08:36 PM on August 17, 2012
It was his turn. The next Reaping will be on Tuesday. May the odds be ever in your favor.
posted by Etrigan at 08:41 PM on August 17, 2012
Too bad Urlacher lowered himself to dating the skank in the first place.
If you're gonna slag Urlacher's exes as being "skanks", save that for Paris Hilton. Jenny McCarthy's an easy enough target for her anti-science anti-vaccination diatribe bullshit.
Summary: Urlacher has really poor taste in women.
posted by Ufez Jones at 08:59 PM on August 17, 2012
If you're gonna slag Urlacher's exes as being "skanks", save that for Paris Hilton
Ya got me.
Y'all following the road wives of athletes much closer than I.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:52 PM on August 17, 2012
English football (all professional divisions) starts tonight.
"The despair? Oh, I can handle the despair. It's the hope I can't stand."
posted by owlhouse at 02:50 AM on August 18, 2012
"English football (all professional divisions) starts tonight."
ESPN just showed us their first Prem game of the season, so I got to watch Arsenal pass the ball around for an hour and a half while failing to break down a defensive team.
In words Arsene would understand, plus ca change...
posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:57 AM on August 18, 2012
Brian Urlacher hurts knee, Jenny McCarthy dumps him
Brian, I've got some bad news and some good news. Which do you want to hear first?
posted by rcade at 04:27 PM on August 18, 2012
I'm really pissed about this venue change for soccer broadcasts. I get the new channel, but I don't get it in HD, so it looks like utter shit on my tv.
I'm probably only going to be watching soccer on ESPN now. This makes me sad.
posted by insomnyuk at 08:33 PM on August 18, 2012
Unless you have Dish or DirecTV, you won't be able to watch Serie A, La Liga, Ligue 1, England's Championship league or the League Cup. They've all moved to a new channel called BeIn Sport USA.