Unverified Voracity Introduces Head To Wall

I has a a comeback. Youtube now possesses a clip reel from the monster Metrodome comeback of a couple years ago:

MGoVideo. This looks like it's still a work in progress, but there is now a dedicated torrent tracker for Michigan stuff at mgovideo.com. Huzzah.

(For those still banging together rocks and downloading from Kazaa: Bit Torrent is a new generation of peer-to-peer file sharing that is entirely distributed, which means it's hard to shut down. It also has performance advantages because everyone who is downloading a file is simultaneously uploading it to the other downloaders.)

Can we get a project together here? There is now a place that will organize and track uploaded torrents. I've been in contact with a couple emailers with large libraries of old games who were looking for a way to share those games amongst Michigan fans. As the kind of site that gets frequented by guys who know why I always use "==" when declaring two things equal, there must be a number of readers who can guide video librarians in the process of turning analog into digital; as the kind of site also frequented by students there must be some other readers out there with some really rippin' upload speeds. The ability to go back and watch old games would be awesome.

So, plan of attack: if you know all about codecs and ripping and such and can spread your expertise to people in possession of lots of old games, drop me a line. Ditto if you are in possession of said games. Hopefully we can get this up and running.

More BTN. The New York Times has an article with lots of interesting quotes from the partisans involved. Tremble at Jim Delaney explaining that they "take risks" because they would like to "stay competitive"! Wonder as he follows up that rousing explanation with this:

"I'm not confident of anything right now," said Delany, who can expect a bruising few months. "All I'll say is I have a hard time seeing many more offerings with more appeal than ours."

! (Also marvel at superfluous "more"s inexplicably not excised by the interviewer.) Boggle at network President Mark Silverman's, um, acknowledgment of free will:

As for carrying the network in non-Big Ten markets at 10 cents a subscriber, he said Comcast would most likely make it available as a subscription service like Major League Baseball's Extra Innings out-of-market package.

"They have a right to do as they wish," Silverman said.

Yikes. Upon review, it kind of looks like the author of the article took every possible opportunity to juxtapose a weak-sounding quote with Comcast tough talkin' and scary precedent, but none of that sounds good at all.

The other side is presented by some Comcast suit who loves taking my irony measuring devices, smashing them into thousands of tiny little pieces, and hurling the irony-ometer confetti skyward:

Comcast is developing a campaign that will attempt to prove that the network is too expensive and too provincial to be broadly distributed.

"I have no doubt that the Big Ten will try to rile up their fans and alumni to say that big bad Comcast is denying their content to Big Ten fans and alumni," said David Cohen, an executive vice president of Comcast.

He added, "We'd like to make the network available to those who want to watch it and not force customers who have no interest in the content to have to pay for it."

...says the man who makes sure that my dial is full of things like "Not Without My Daughter: A Mother's Fight: All Movies On Lifetime Have At Least One Colon In Them... Er, In Their Title" and the Golf Channel. There is a reason Comcast sucks and everyone hates it and this is it.

(The bitchy, power-suit wearing quasi-MILF who snarks on satellite and ADSL is also a good reason. What is up with that woman? Why does she bob her head like she's about to say "oh no DirectTV di'in't"? Does Comcast really think getting nagged by a woman who seems the very embodiment of henpecked married life sells cable? Also there are those fake news ads in which fake talking heads also rip on satellite in the smarmiest way possible. They're atrocious, offensive ads possessed of the same smugness of Lily Tomlin at the phone company. Only a virtual monopoly could get away with it.)

Comcast is right: the Big Ten Network is a money grab. There is no other reason to do it. But unless they throw it on digital and tell me it will cost $1.10 for me to get it, I have no sympathy for their little public opinion pity party. And when the average cost of cable has gone up 93% in the past decade, you cannot possibly claim that it's the Big Ten who is aligned "against consumers."

Games you may or may not be at the bar for. The UM Alumni Club of Greater Boston declares that Michigan's games against Appalachian State, Northwestern, and Eastern Michigan will be sentenced to the BTN dungeon. FYI.

Etc.: Someone loves JJ Putz (via WCH). Varsity Blue deploys a Worst State Ever shirt.