defend the indefensible: BLACKOUTS

Lions blacked out on local TV

probably the worst "rule" in all of sports imo.

I remember growing up in Saginaw MI the home games were blacked out quite a bit. Lots of antenna wrangling to receive the feed from Alpena but it was usually in vain.

It suuuuucked

sucks but sometimes they are merciful

i mean imagine if the lions actually win this weekend

the policy was actually worse at one time o_0

Prior to 1973, all games were blacked out in their city of origin regardless of whether they were sold out. This policy, dating back to the NFL's emerging years on television, resulted in home-city blackouts that even extended to championship games. For instance, the 1958 "Greatest Game Ever Played" between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants was not available on TV to New York fans despite the fact that tickets were out of reach to most

imagine if baseball did this. the florida marlins would never be heard from again.

you can find just about any game streaming on the interwebs if you're patient enough.. you actually planning on watching this? it's on broadcast here in DC

defend the indefensible: BLACKOUTS
Lions blacked out on local TV

probably the worst "rule" in all of sports imo.

― omar little, Thursday, September 24, 2009 3:15 PM (1 hour ago)

defense: it's the lions

PRO - you can go to the game and do this...

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BroKxVMsoSU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1";></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BroKxVMsoSU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

you can find just about any game streaming on the interwebs if you're patient enough.

lol yeah this is how I watch basically everything. blackouts what?

the common sportswriter solution has been that the stadium should donate all their unused tix to church groups, big brothers and the such and thus remove the blackout. Makes sense to me.
Gawd, if the 1 and 26 Detroit Lions beat washington and no one knows, will it count?

you can find just about any game streaming on the interwebs if you're patient enough.

How do I do dis.

channelsurfing.net

which is mostly just an organized collection of justin.tv streams

Blackouts are nothing new. Why is the media making such a big deal about it this year?

justin dot tv, go to sports - american football, sometimes you can find games streaming, takes some patience because NFL tries to shut them down, but if you pay attention to the chat on the side of the screen often someone will post a link to another stream that's working..

but if you pay too much attention to the chat at the side of the screen you will hate humanity 4eva

you can also try usstream dot tv under sports - football, or search for team name.

heh. that hasn't been true for the ones i've watched lately because there were so few people viewing & were mostly diehard fans, but if you try for ncaa football, yeah, it's.. something.

yeahhhh which I do

i was watching WVU football on it a couple weeks ago, was fun watching the west virginia local ads.

ole miss not looking so hot vs south carolina here. come on, rebels. spurrier MUST LOSE. redskins fans everywhere are counting on you.

ole miss has no absolutely bizness being ranked 4, and it will continue to be if they pull off a win. I'm rooting against em.

http://www.atdhe.net/

they really look like garbage. good grief. 16-3 and it shouldn't even be that close.

yeah they ain't gonna win

meltdown

lolsissippi

alternatively:

lol miss

ugh, can we keep boring ass college football to one thread

stfu

I am psyched about the Raiders blackout because this means I will not have to watch them.

this rule is such a piece of shit. i remember back when i was still living in miami (so like 4 or 5 years ago) there would always be like OMG THERE IS GONNA BE A BLACKOUT and then the local cbs station would just buy up the remaining 3k seats or whatever.

it's such horseshit tho because no one is ever gonna be like "oh man can't watch the game! better drop $125 so me and my son can watch the lions lose to the vikings!" - instead they'll just go "oh well i guess i'll just go to the grocery store and mow the lawn and take a nap and wake up in time to watch that eagles-giants game"

I'm actually happy I get some variety this year by not having to watch Jacksonville games every week. As much as I like Jones-Drew, following the Jags is not in any way enjoyable.

(Still stuck with Bucs games on Fox, though... oh well)

unless you have RAMS + CHEIFS every week i dont wanna hear it

see i'm trying to watch the chiefs this season, because of all the guys from new england who've gone to that franchise. we always get nfc east matchups even if they aren't good, and particularly cowboys because for some bizarre reason the cowboys' biggest market outside dallas is dc. far as i can tell i will be able to tape kc/philly on sunday..

but very glad i'm going to a bar to watch NFL because during pats/falcons we get washington/detroit! theoretically meeting up specifically to watch the redskins but.. yeah right.

but if you pay too much attention to the chat at the side of the screen you will hate humanity 4eva

― iatee, Thursday, September 24, 2009 9:07 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha otm!

We usually go to 3 or 4 Raiders games a year so that counters any blackout woes. (In case you're wondering, the lure of going to Raider games at all rests largely in the tailgate.) I know my team sucks. And it sucks to watch them lose on tv. But shouldn't that be my right as a goddamn Raiders fan to be able to choose if I want to watch them suck on live tv? Football is football. Winning football is better than losing football, but no football SUCKS. And I feel for any other team that has to endure the blackout codswallop, because it's a pain in the rear if you aren't in a position to attend games.

do you dress up like darthraider?

lol no. in fact DarthRaider most of those OTT costume dudes are kind of, well, tools. They wander the stands seeking photo ops IN THE MIDDLE OF A PLAY. You dress like that because you 'love' your team? ...then sit the frak down and stop desperately seeking approval.

Senor Raider's kinda cool though. I like him. And I got my photo taken with Raider Claus at Christmas. During the tailgate it's kinda fun to see them all, but yeah, during the game. GTFO.

I realise in revealing all this I'm at risk of becoming some kind of anthropological anomaly: "Hmm. You're a RAIDER fan? Fascinating...."

i don't see how you can watch football and surf internet simultaneously; i'm leaning hard on the tivo these days

so the blackout rule prevented detroit from seeing the lions finally win a game. this raises two questions: 1) isn't it cruel to prevent a bunch of jobless people from seeing HOPE? 2) why are the lions still charging ppl for tickets?

Gawd, if the 1 and 26 Detroit Lions beat washington and no one knows, will it count?

― sorry to put this kind of shit on your thread (forksclovetofu), Thursday, September 24, 2009 10:09 PM (4 days ago)