ESPN and Duke

[OldHoyafan]

First off, Happy New Year to all Hoya fans.
Today, New Years Day, ESPN has as one of its feature college basketball games Bucknell at Duke. Give me a break. Holidays are reserved for high profile matchups between high rated teams either in pros or college. Like the first game on ESPN today Texas v Memphis two top 25 teams. Now as a Hoya fan I would be estatic to see the Hoyas play St Leo's today on ESPN, but I am a Hoya fan. It is very presumptious of ESPN to think that anyone but a die hard Duke fan would want to see this game today. They do it ,because THEY have assumed Duke is "AMERICA'S TEAM" , therefore everyone no matter their individual team loyalty, wants to see Duke beat up some patsy on New Years Day, or any other national holiday. Duke is now the #1 rated team(although ESPN had no way to know this when this game was scheduled), therefore I would enjoy watching them playing another rated team today even at Cameron Field house, but not see them play what amounts to a scrimage game. Oh well, thats my rant, its raining and I can't play golf as an alternative, jeez.

[][-][ 0 `/ /-\ 5]

Yes we are all tired of seeing duke on espn but how much more does bucknell have to do to be counted as a real team? Bucknell could put up a challenge for Duke but sadly for the sake of the Hoyas we should root for Duke.

[Bahstin]

I am as sick of watching Duke on TV as I am reading about them on this board.

[Eurostar]

bucknell has made some noise in the last few years. there are worse games that have been on espn.

[CTHoya08]

oldhoyafan said:

Duke is now the #1 rated team(although ESPN had no way to know this when this game was scheduled)

I disagree. I think just about everyone had Duke pegged as #1 before the season, and even with a couple of tough games so far, it was very reasonable to expect they would still be in the top 5 at this point of the season, even if they had lost a game or two. Bucknell is actually pretty good, so this is not a total patsy game for Duke. There is no way to tell, however, whether or not ESPN would have broadcast the game if Bucknell wasn't any good.

[TigerHoya]

Duke at UNC-Greensboro was on as part of the JP ACC package yesterday. That one was even worse.

[reformation]

To add insult to injury the Duke - Uncg game was televised yesterday in London--Duke is evcerywhere

[BeantownHoya]

Does ESPN show Duke maybe too much? Yes
Has that been pointed out on this board way too much? Yes
"Old Hoya" the one thing that is obvious is that you haven't even looked at today's College Bball schedule. Name 2 games today that you would rather see.
The only other Top 25 team playing is Washington and their playing Colgate. I guarantee Duke v Bucknell will bring more viewers.
Honestly the next best game today may be S. Illinois v Wichita St.
I don't mind the ESPN bashing but at least back it up when you do.

[OldHoyafan]

beantownhoya2 said:

Does ESPN show Duke maybe too much? Yes
Has that been pointed out on this board way too much? Yes
"Old Hoya" the one thing that is obvious is that you haven't even looked at today's College Bball schedule. Name 2 games today that you would rather see.
The only other Top 25 team playing is Washington and their playing Colgate. I guarantee Duke v Bucknell will bring more viewers.
Honestly the next best game today may be S. Illinois v Wichita St.
I don't mind the ESPN bashing but at least back it up when you do.

Back it up with what my friend? My point was that ESPN has proclaimed by inference, that Duke is the defacto "America's Team". To create this illusion of fact, they constantly show Duke playing some weak team at home(with that weak team getting waxed by Duke by games end). As a basketball fan, whose team is off for the weekend, I would prefer to watch a competative game between S. Illinios v Wichita St. any day.

[BeantownHoya]

ESPN will put on whatever game will get them their highest ratings. They obviously won you over since you must have tuned to know that Bucknell was getting "waxed". I would also guess, unfortunately that the Duke game received a higher rating then a very competitive Memphis/Texas game. I don't disagree that I as a basketball fan would rather see S.Illinois/Wichita St. - but the common "sports" fan or casual watcher will tune it because it says "Duke".

Also I think it's unfair to categorize Bucknell as weak. They are 9-3 have beaten Cuse, and Depaul on the road and beat St. Joes easily. They have a better RPI and SOS than Gtown (and I wouldn't consider us weak). They also went to the tourney last year and beat Kansas. My point was, even though I agree that Duke is their poster child, that they picked the 2 best games today ,and the 2 games that would give them the best TV ratings.

[RockawayHoya]

Normally I'd agree with the opinion that Duke vs. Random Team Waiting to Get Killed At Cameron is a game that shouldn't be on TV, but Bucknell is a different story, and for all the reasons Beantown listed above.

[Deleted]

I think we all get enough Duke in the media. We don't need everyone obsessing over them on the board.

Enough already. Stop the insanity. Let's try and make 2006 a "Duke Thread-Free" year.

[theEDGEfactor]

lol i didnt even see the uncg duke game on my tv at all and i got satellite kinda crazy that a place a half a world away gets a game that we didnt but i got into a fight with my friend who loves duke- his argument- duke is so good that they deserve to be on tv for every game. my argument- ??

[lichoya68]

look i hate duke but bucknell beat some good teams this year.. two duke is number one .. and they must be good casue they killed bucknell tonite so go hoyas beat.............................................................................................................................................................providence..........

[RBHoya]

The more people keep whining about Duke always being on tv, the worse it is. ESPN has succeeded through heavy exposure, in making Duke a "love or 'em hate 'em" team, much like the Yankees in baseball, Notre Dame in college football, etc. If people weren't tuning in to watch Duke, they wouldn't be airing them. It's that simple. The execs at ESPN don't have some secret Duke infatuation, they aren't all Duke alums... They're all about one thing, MONEY, just like every other major business. Duke makes them money. Some people watch Duke because they like them, some people watch Duke because they hate them and want to see them lose. Either way, they're watching, and that = $$$ for the fellas up in Bristol.

The truth is that anytime I check out a college sports message board other than this one, be it Big East, Big 10, ACC, whatever... It seems like EVERYONE feels the same way about Duke, and is complaining about how Duke is on tv too much. If all these people really hate Duke, and don't want to see them any more, they need to one simple thing: ignore them. Hating Duke doesn't keep them off of tv, but not watching them does. Instead of feeding into the "love 'em or hate 'em" that ESPN perpetuates, just ignore them. Don't watch them. Don't complain about them on message boards. Just ignore them. Because you can be damn sure that if Duke isn't drawing big numbers, ESPN isn't going to be showing almost all of their non-con games anymore. It's all about money, so if you really can't stand to see them and really hate the way they're overexposed, then don't be the lemmings ESPN wants you to be and don't feed into their junk. If you do, and you're on message boards complaining about Duke, ESPN has succeeded. Just flip the channel.