Bad Choice College Gameday
I know that the Gameday crew wants to mix it up, but I'm sorry, the BYU-TCU atmosphere looks pretty lame from what I've seem. I'm not saying it should have been Ann Arbor, hell, go to East Lansing, or pick one of the several SEC games of interest. There looks like there is literally like 14 people behind Herb and Desmond, just a strange pick.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:37 AM ^
It's the only game between two ranked teams. Number of people holding stupid signs behind Lee Corso shouldn't be the driving factor behind choice of GameDay locales.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:40 AM ^
Only matchup between top 20 teams, even if it is only shown on Versus. I like it.
EDIT: No worse than when they had it at Boston College. That made no sense.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:07 AM ^
re: BC, what the hell was that all about? I am remember thinking that it made no sense too.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:19 AM ^
I thought they were at BC because the one BC defensive player (Mark Herzlick) announced he is close to being cancer free and will be back to play football next year?
THIS WEEK ON THE SHOW
GameDay makes a very special visit to Chestnut Hill, MA for Florida State versus Boston College to hear about BC Linebacker Mark Herzlich's inspiring story and struggle in his battle against cancer.
http://hoopshoops.blogspot.com/2009/10/espns-college-gameday-hits-bosto…
October 24th, 2009 at 8:41 AM ^
I'm fine with the location. There are really no compelling match-ups this week, and I think it is a huge deal for many of these schools like TCU and BYU to have the gameday crew stop by. I fully expect to see a large number of fans behind them during the actual show.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:17 AM ^
I've actually had my mind changed in one hour per this blog. I now formally change my position to being fine with their choice. But Boston College was bad!
October 24th, 2009 at 10:28 AM ^
That campus is perhaps the worst setup possible for a Gameday crew. The city hates the noise (my wife grew up near BC in Newton, where the main campus is located), so everything is subdued and not nearly as raucous as other schools, and the campus itself is largely built on some major hills, which limits the crowds gathering around the set.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:45 AM ^
Also keep in mind: it's friggin' 6:45 in the morning out there in Utah.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:45 AM ^
In fairness to BYU, it's 6:30 AM mountain time. Only the lunatics would hang around the ESPN booth at this hour (rather than the somewhat mentally off that normally hang around it).
October 24th, 2009 at 8:52 AM ^
The scenery looks gorgeous, fwiw.
October 24th, 2009 at 8:53 AM ^
I'm freaking sick of ESPN's love affair with the SEC. So this is fine with me.
October 24th, 2009 at 9:15 AM ^
This is the best game nationally, and it is nice to see ESPN mixing it up. I remember when they went to other venues like Penn's Franklin Field and Army, which allowed fans to learn something about college football history. I am hoping that they will be at Oregon next week for Oregon-USC, which would be another new site (or site that they have not visited in a while). Part of what makes college football so great is that there are so many wonderful programs around the country, and, as a fan of the game and its history, I like to see variety (especially when there is no other game that is clearly better on a national scale). I'd love to see the gameday crew visit Wisconsin, which seems like a really underrated place to me nationally.
Additionally, it makes great business sense for the network to get out and show that there are other schools of interest outside of the SEC (this is particularly important for them on the West Coast and in the middle of the country), since their origins can be linked to covering UConn sports and the Hartford Whalers.
My two cents.
Beat Penn State!
October 24th, 2009 at 10:13 AM ^
Why on earth would ESPN go to the location of a game that they're not even showing. It's basically like saying don't watch the games on our channels.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:23 AM ^
This is back to their roots. Back when gameday was a studio show and only occasionally traveled, they only did so for the years biggest games. These were rarely, if ever, on ESPN and since there was no ABC affiliation yet, basically the big game was guaranteed to be on an unaffiliated station.
I hate it when the ABC primetime game dictates where gameday will be. Often times they end up overhyping a game that doesn't deserve it (and is also a bad trend for Michigan since besides the odd night game at PSU or Iowa, most big 10 teams play during the day).
October 24th, 2009 at 10:53 AM ^
Fair enough. I like your argument that the primetime game shouldn't dictate the location of gameday, but I still think that if I'm running ESPN programming I want to showcase games that my station is affiliated with. Maybe it's a nice thing that they're not.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:02 PM ^
I understand the reasoning of why ESPN would want to have gameday at ABC/ESPN's "game of the week," however, that brings up all the questions on whether ESPN is a news organization first or purely there to promote their own properties. They have to choose, too often they try to play it both ways.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:25 AM ^
SEC matchups are always on CBS, and Gameday is there almost every week.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:26 AM ^
Don't knock it, man. ESPN's "we decide what's important" attitude is the #1 complaint about the station. For once they're not overpimping something they're showing at the expense of actual bigger games elsewhere.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:26 AM ^
I have to say I'm glad they're going to what they think is the best game of the week, regardless of what network the game is playing on. I remember a few years ago they were only going to ABC/ESPN games even if it clearly wasn't one of the better games of the week, they must've gotten a lot of heat over that. I think pushing their own agenda is one of ESPN's biggets problems - one of the reasons the Daulerio's of the world get readers - so I'm glad they aren't doing it here.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:30 AM ^
I don't know if this qualifies as "the best game" tihs week, but it does deserve some attention. Nobody would really know much about this game other than the end highlights otherwise.
What sucks is I'm one of the 5% of Americans who get Versus, but I won't be home to watch it.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:57 AM ^
You should change your plans. There is a lot of good sports on starting around 7 ET.
Iowa-MSU
TCU-BYU
USC-Oregon St
Florida-Miss St
Game 6 ALCS
I'll need picture-in-picture-in-picture-in-picture-in-picture.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:33 AM ^
I'm aware. I umpire baseball on the weekends as my major source of income. I'll catch most of them on ESPN360 later anyway.
Have fun today guys. Go Blue.
October 24th, 2009 at 12:08 PM ^
Night games at the end of October? What level of play?
October 24th, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^
Is it just me, or are the camera angles really tight on the Gameday Crew? They pressed for space or short of crowds?
October 24th, 2009 at 10:51 AM ^
I thought it was a bit eerie that they had Erin Andrews talking to urban Meyer is a poorly-lit hotel hallway since, you know...
October 24th, 2009 at 11:12 AM ^
which directv doesn't even get anymore