It’s bad enough that some UCLA football games get tape delayed in the local LA market. It’s somewhat understandable when games against Montana on a busy NFL Sunday are delayed until later in the evening. But there is something that will not be acceptable regardless of the day, time, or issue: UCLA basketball should never be bumped off a live slot.
What is this, 1965 with Dick Enberg calling games on KTLA to be shown at 11pm after the local news? How can a brand name and fan base as wide and powerful as the UCLA Bruins get the disrespect of being pushed off live TV? It’s incomprehensible and quite frankly maddening.
The Pac-10 is generally a strong basketball conference, but it’s been down for the past two seasons ever since a rash of highly-talented players left school. This season has been more of the same; Washington is the only ranked team in the conference (20th, 13-4), ad Arizona is the next best team at 15-3. The conference is undoubtedly down, which means even when the top two teams meet it doesn’t become must-see TV. Think about it: not having Molly around never made Marnie hotter — she was always just average looking — same rule applies for U-Dub and Arizona.
That’s beyond the point anyway — I don’t care if it’s Brandon Roy, Nate Robinson, Jon Brockman, Todd MacCulloch, and Detlef freaking Schrempf facing Gilbert Arenas, Steve Kerr, Richard Jefferson, Sean Elliott, and Channing Frye. You don’t play a Washington-Arizona game over UCLA-Cal in the LA-market no matter what. How can you ignore both UCLA and USC basketball in LA on a Thursday night in January? It makes no sense, and the fans in LA deserve to be served their home teams.
