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03/16/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After months of haggling over carriage fees and other points of contention too boring to rehash, Versus is finally back on DirecTV.
DirecTV dropped Versus a month before the NHL season began due to an argument over how much Comcast -- the telecommunications behemoth that owns the sports channel -- was charging the satellite giant to carry Vs.
That meant for the first five months of the season, nationally televised hockey games on Vs. were nowhere to be found in the homes of an estimated 18 million DirecTV subscribers.
The important thing for Versus is that the channel is back as an option in millions of American homes and it's on the same DirecTV sports programming package as it was when the satellite giant dropped the station back in August.
Still, it's hard to say who won the battle since financial terms of the new deal were not revealed.
DirecTV seemed to have caved under the pressure, but the issue for them was always the fees Comcast was charging. Since we don't know what the carriage fees on the new deal are, or even how long the new agreement will last, it's difficult to guess if Comcast or DirecTV benefited more from the standstill.
If Comcast gets less than it was receiving from DirecTV before the previous carriage deal ended on Aug. 31, it probably won't be fatal. The Philadelphia- based company doesn't exactly have to pinch pennies, judging from Comcast's impending purchase of NBC Universal. The three digits on my last cable bill also convince me that Comcast won't need a government bailout any time soon.
Hockey fans will boast that DirecTV was forced to cave now that the Stanley Cup playoffs are less than a month away, but that certainly wasn't the only factor in getting Vs. back on the air.
The NHL is one of the four major sports, so it's largely assumed that the biggest draw on Vs. is professional hockey. That's because the mainstream sports media largely ignores mixed martial arts, which continues to increase in popularity.
The numbers also suggest that the DirecTV spat hurt Versus more in the realm of MMA than it did in terms of NHL viewership, possibly because MMA is bigger than hockey in rural areas of the country where Comcast is not as prevalent.
The first WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting) event after DirecTV drew 419,000 viewers -- over 250,000 less than had watched the previous WEC card on August 9. WEC is also staging its first pay-per view on April 24 and DirecTV will now be allowed to carry that event, which will feature Urijah Faber in the main card. Faber's previous three appearances averaged 1,112,000 viewers for Versus, making him the Alex Ovechkin of WEC.
Comcast may have even felt more pressure to get Vs. back on DirecTV in light of the cable station's first UFC event, which is scheduled for Sunday night.
Whether it was DirecTV's fear of missing out on the NHL playoffs or Comcast's desire to get its MMA programming back on the right track ratings-wise, the clear winners are satellite subscribers.
Versus may never step into the same league as ESPN in terms of viewership and power, but the station has acquired enough niche sports to make its presence essential to many Americans.
The NHL gives Vs. consistency and the respect that the sports channel desires, while MMA has been able to deliver the occasional huge ratings night if the right guy is fighting.
Together, the NHL and MMA have made Vs. a bit player in the world of televised sports something that seemed impossible just a few years back,
OVECHKIN SUSPENSION
Speaking of the Urijah Faber of the NHL, Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin's two-game suspension by the league was a no-brainer.
The Russian sniper drilled Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell near the end boards on Sunday, sending Campbell headfirst into the dasher.
The hit itself was not exactly dirty but reckless, the exact word that the NHL used to describe the play in its press release announcing the suspension.
Yet, the fact that Ovechkin was given a major penalty and a game misconduct by officials made it easy to hand out the two-game sanction. Campbell also broke his clavicle on the play and will reportedly miss the rest of the regular season.
Not to mention, Washington has already clinched the Southeast Division and with a huge lead atop the Eastern Conference standings, missing their best player for two games will not likely stop the Caps from taking the East's top playoff seed.
As for the impact this will have on Ovechkin, it's safe to say that this suspension won't change his style of play one bit. Ovie has been the same player since he entered the league in 2005-06, one who skates the thin line between aggressive and dirty. That's part of what makes him a great player, and certainly the reason he is the NHL's biggest draw.
<< Ovechkin responds to suspension
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin
issued a statement on Tuesday regarding his NHL-sanctioned suspension.
Ovechkin was penalized for two games without pay on Monday for his hit
on Chicago
<< Walcott believes he can make England's Cup team
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal forward Theo Walcott is confident
he can continue to prove the doubters wrong and challenge for a place in
England's World Cup finals squad.
The 21-year-old has been criticized in some quart
<< Tomlinson wants a championship with Jets
Florham Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LaDainian Tomlinson spoke with media
members on a conference call Tuesday, just days after agreeing to a contract
with the New York Jets, and said he is coming "to win a championship."
Tomlinson h
<< Juve's goalkeeping woes worsen
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juventus' goalkeeping problems have taken a
turn for the worse after it was confirmed Alex Manninger faces up to three
weeks on the sidelines with a thigh injury.
The 32-year-old Austria international
Stoke's Pulis OK with Tuncay's angry exit >>
Stoke-on-Trent, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has
drawn a line under the new controversy surrounding Tuncay's angry reaction to
being substituted in the goalless draw with Aston Villa on Saturday.
The Turkey fo
Lightning F Malone has surgery >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning announced on Tuesday
that forward Ryan Malone underwent a minor procedure on his left knee.
Malone, who has compiled 21 goals and 44 points in 65 games for the Bolts, is
slated to m
Real's Valdano vows to keep Higuain >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Argentina international Gonzalo Higuain
could be handed the opportunity to spend the rest of his career with Real
Madrid.
General director Jorge Valdano has revealed that preliminary negotiati
Golf still the biggest priority for Tiger >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When people find out you're a golf writer,
in the last few months, the inevitable question varies in form, but mostly
sounds like this:
"What's up with Tiger?"
Hard to answer, but the smarter fans alway
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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