BU: '22-'23 Season: Sail The Boats

[J.D.]

I try, added a Comcast package specifically for ESPNU years ago. It is impossible when attending a regional in person and if I recall the old format correctly, is more difficult on the first two regional days with the new format. The regional final days are great. Unless the Manch final goes to OT, I should miss a only little of the Fargo final. On Thursday, I’d prefer MN/Canisius be the early game like BU is. St. Cloud/MN ST is the one game I will miss completely.

I will have my phone ready to watch that game as I sit in Manchester. So if you have ESPN+ you can do it. Maybe they have a free trial period...

[Leonidas]

Yeah, I'm not sure what we're arguing about. It is what it is and we're not gonna change it. I'm just happy I can see the game. As I said, (and you 'younger folks' might not even be able to imagine this), there was a time where we had to read about it in the next day's newspaper - that's a big, book of really thin, smelly paper that people would buy at a newstand to get the latest news. That's IF they bothered to even have the score in it...there used to be a game on occasionally on PBS (Channel 2 in Boston), but that was usually the Ivy League. Or Providence College basketball...then later, maybe in the 70s or early 80s there would be a weekend game (with Bob Gamere or John Carlson) on once in a while. Today you can get anything you want 24/7 so whenever they want to have the game is fine with me as long as I can see it (and if I can't, I can record it on my DVR). Remember the days when you had to use a VCR and the tape would run out if the game ran too long? I'm very happy...let the games begin.

I remember calling the Globe sports desk and being given the BU game result.

And on Saturday night, Comcast's DVR block for the game ended after regulation. Shame on me.

[Darius]

Right and this is my exact point that it is stupid and the obviously don't care about attendance. Nobody watches every game of the NCAA hockey tournament (if there are a few who do, the number is statistically insignificant). No reason both regionals shouldn't be 5:00 and 8:30 (or 4 and 7:30). Most people I know won't even end up watching the game on TV with a 2:00 start.

I try, added a Comcast package specifically for ESPNU years ago. It is impossible when attending a regional in person and if I recall the old format correctly, is more difficult on the first two regional days with the new format. The regional final days are great. Unless the Manch final goes to OT, I should miss a only little of the Fargo final. On Thursday, I’d prefer MN/Canisius be the early game like BU is. St. Cloud/MN ST is the one game I will miss completely.

[chickod]

But we can't hear Tom Caron say "in the nation" a million times. I can't stand Buccigross but he's passionate about college hockey so I'm torn.

He was actually a little better this past weekend...only said it 245,056 times...

[J.D.]

Because (as we have already discussed and are coming "full circle"), THEY DON'T CARE. As I understand it, it was part of the agreement for them to get the NHL contract.

Plus, an added bonus: We can hear Buccigross yell "SHOTTTT!!!!!!" every time someone wrists one from 60 feet.

But we can't hear Tom Caron say "in the nation" a million times. I can't stand Buccigross but he's passionate about college hockey so I'm torn.

[chickod]

Hey, have they finally retired Barry Melrose? I heard no mention of his name on the selection show...

[chickod]

This is a pretty good summary! With all the networks ESPN has plus ESPN+ streaming which I have, we couldn't do an 8 game Super Friday regional day? Stagger the starting times as best you can throughout the day. Start it at Noon for all I care, anything is better than starting this on Thursday afternoon. I usually attend one of the regionals as it is and will DVR a game that I miss etc but I don't need to see every minute of Minnesota-Canisius as an example. I wouldn't say BU has a "massive" traveling crowd but they should certainly have the biggest crowd on Thursday (I know Cornell fans travel but BU should still have the numbers). Why on earth would you then put BU in the 2 PM time slot on Thursday?

Because (as we have already discussed and are coming "full circle"), THEY DON'T CARE. As I understand it, it was part of the agreement for them to get the NHL contract.

Plus, an added bonus: We can hear Buccigross yell "SHOTTTT!!!!!!" every time someone wrists one from 60 feet.

[J.D.]

But then you have the committee doing things for attendance and atmosphere while ESPN puts a game at 2 pm on a freaking Thursday, effectively killing attendance and atmosphere for a game ... NO ONE IS WATCHING. Durrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This is a pretty good summary! With all the networks ESPN has plus ESPN+ streaming which I have, we couldn't do an 8 game Super Friday regional day? Stagger the starting times as best you can throughout the day. Start it at Noon for all I care, anything is better than starting this on Thursday afternoon. I usually attend one of the regionals as it is and will DVR a game that I miss etc but I don't need to see every minute of Minnesota-Canisius as an example. I wouldn't say BU has a "massive" traveling crowd but they should certainly have the biggest crowd on Thursday (I know Cornell fans travel but BU should still have the numbers). Why on earth would you then put BU in the 2 PM time slot on Thursday?

[Nick Papagiorgio]

The old 12 team format WAS perfect unless you had a problem with teams getting byes.

The 12-team format was truly beautiful and we never appreciated how great it was while we had it. The packages alone for the 6-team regional (5 games!) were great value with 3 days of fun. Now you probably pay more for just 3 games even after inflation-adjustment to the older pricing. Another thing ruined by the money-hungry and incompetent *******s running almost every single institution in the country.

The rest of the stuff is dumb but almost becomes a circular argument. You need ESPN to carry it so you can watch it. You give the network the power so they will televise it and let them select the schedules but then they go and ruin it. All for a sport basically NO ONE watches except a few of us crazies. TV drives the bus with all sports now. But then you have the committee doing things for attendance and atmosphere while ESPN puts a game at 2 pm on a freaking Thursday, effectively killing attendance and atmosphere for a game ... NO ONE IS WATCHING. Durrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[chickod]

You mean all 7 people who actually might watch a game other than the one their team is in?

Yeah, I'm not sure what we're arguing about. It is what it is and we're not gonna change it. I'm just happy I can see the game. As I said, (and you 'younger folks' might not even be able to imagine this), there was a time where we had to read about it in the next day's newspaper - that's a big, book of really thin, smelly paper that people would buy at a newstand to get the latest news. That's IF they bothered to even have the score in it...there used to be a game on occasionally on PBS (Channel 2 in Boston), but that was usually the Ivy League. Or Providence College basketball...then later, maybe in the 70s or early 80s there would be a weekend game (with Bob Gamere or John Carlson) on once in a while. Today you can get anything you want 24/7 so whenever they want to have the game is fine with me as long as I can see it (and if I can't, I can record it on my DVR). Remember the days when you had to use a VCR and the tape would run out if the game ran too long? I'm very happy...let the games begin.

[Leonidas]

Three down . . . four to go.

[ericredaxe]

Well, not "zero." It's so that people can watch as many games on the ESPN networks with as little overlap as possible.


EDIT: Sorry, Scarlet...I didn't read your post before I wrote this...I know it's redundant.

You mean all 7 people who actually might watch a game other than the one their team is in?

[chickod]

Right and this is my exact point that it is stupid and the obviously don't care about attendance.

Yes, they don't. And we have been saying the same thing for, what, 20 years???? There are people who refuse to accept that hockey is a "niche" sport (especially COLLEGE hockey). I don't know how anyone can argue otherwise. They show lacrosse, softball and other stuff before hockey and the games often run over so that we miss the beginning. Nobody except most of us cares. The selection show is on ESPNU, which isn't even carried on every cable or streaming outlet (or is an "upgrade" or "extra").

I just feel fortunate that I can see the game at all, especially if it's at a time when I cannot get there. For those of us around in the 70s, NOTHING was on. I remember going to the Garden in 1974 to see Michigan Tech / Minnesota / BU / Harvard. (Vic Stanfield, Eddie Walsh, etc) As a student I could just hop on the T, but for anyone else there was no way to see the games. And in those days, sometimes a local station (Channel 5, or a UHF station like Channel 38 or 56) might have picked up the game. The point being, it was strictly "regional." It was unheard of to see ANY of these games if you lived outside of the region. So I guess the point is, it's hard to complain about game times or anything else.

[J.D.]

I agree. More of a demand for basketball. I do not like the new format starting the tournament Thursday afternoon. But from what I have read the coaches are very much in favor of the off day in between. That's the biggest problem of all. Granted it's probably a good idea but it does not help attendance for a Thu afternoon start or by asking traveling fans to pay for an additional night's stay. I would be all for every regional being on Friday/Sunday and you could stagger the regional finals easily on Sunday. Sure that's a lot of inventory to try and cover on Friday but as we can see there's no perfect system unfortunately. Well, since they went to 16 teams. The old 12 team format WAS perfect unless you had a problem with teams getting byes.

[ericredaxe]

If the Manchester games were 5:00 and 8:30, the Allentown games would start at 2:00. You can't please everyone with game times. They want to give fans the opportunity to watch as many games as possible as the games need to be staggered. In previous years the game time was noon. It happens every year. Every single year. And every single year, people comment and complain like it's the first they've heard. No one complains about the NCAA basketball tournament. Those games start at noon.

I was assuming we would get the second game as our game is the 2 seed/3 seed game, but it appears that every region is having the #1 seed play the later game now that there is an off day between the semis and final game. The off day bothers me more than a 2:00pm start.

Right and this is my exact point that it is stupid and the obviously don't care about attendance. Nobody watches every game of the NCAA hockey tournament (if there are a few who do, the number is statistically insignificant). No reason both regionals shouldn't be 5:00 and 8:30 (or 4 and 7:30). Most people I know won't even end up watching the game on TV with a 2:00 start.

Basketball is different since it appeals to a much wider audience and there are 64+ teams to schedule vs 16. Now that they are in the sweet 16, every basketball game happens during evening hours.