Comcast Blinks

I may be a few days behind the current events, but Comcast blinked in the war between the Big Ten Network and the cable companies that refuse to add the channel to their expanded basic lineup. Comcast reported disappointing third quarter results last week. While their earnings were not necessarily disappointing, they surprised Wall Street with their announcement that they lost 65k subscribers in the third quarter. That means that 65k people either (1) switched to another cable provider, (2) dropped cable, or (3) switched to satellite television. Option 1 is unlikely given that this industry gorges on monopolistic behavior. Option 2 is unlikely since people are addicted to TV and cannot comprehend living without cable. (how did I do this for 18 years of my life??)

That leaves Option 3. Now why would so many people leave Comcast during the third quarter? It's just slightly ironic that Comcast is the largest cable provider in the Big Ten states. Or how about the fact that the Big Ten Network launched during the fiscal third quarter? This may not be the only reason Comcast lost subscribers, but I bet it is the #1 or #2 most significant reason.

Comcast's refusal to add the Big Ten Network to their expanded basic lineup in states home to Big Ten schools has hurt their stock price. Big time. Comcast's stock was at $26 on the day that the Big Ten Network (BTN) launched. Today? $20.75. Down roughly 20%. That stings, but not enough for Comcast to move of their hard stance against the BTN.

The Detroit Free Press published a scathing article about Comcast last Thursday. Great read, even if I must admit that the reporter might have let a little bias into his column. UM Athletic Director Bill Martin also chimed in, though once again, there is BTN bias.

The Big Ten Network is no saint in this standoff with the large cable providers. However, The BTN openly acknowledges two goals: to provide more comprehensive coverage of Big Ten sports and to make money. Comcast and other large cable operators claim to be looking our for their viewers who don't want to pay more for channels they won't watch. I can name about ten channels on their lineup that no one watches. The difference is that Comcast does not own this channel. Comcase claims that adding the BTN to a specialized sports tier is a fair solution. Of course this destroys the viewer base the BTN needs, and it also allows Comcast to charge viewers far more than the BTN would charge Comcast to carry that station.

Comcast raises a fair argument. Unfortunately, they are also hypocritical.

The real issue is that Comcast does not want to add a network to their expanded basic lineup that they do not own. Fox Sports is 1/2 owner of the BTN. That's why Direct TV was quick to pick up this channel (Fox owns DTV). Comcast recently launched a sports network in Oregon that will air regional sporting events, including Portland Jail Blazers basketball. All cable customers in that market saw their cable bills rise $2 per month, even if they did not want this station. Hmm...that's even more than the $1.10 the BTN wants to charge Comcast.

Comcast also recently raised rates for expanded basic cable in SE Michigan, and removed channels from their lineup at the same time. So much for looking out for their customers.

Despite Comcast's refusal to play ball and honestly negotiate with the BTN, this issue highlights what is great about our society. If you really want to get the BTN in one of these states, you can vote with your wallet. For instance, you can get Direct TV. Comcast might have you in a bind if you are also getting a discount on cable internet, but I am sure there are other legitimate options out there.

If people in Big Ten states really want the BTN and Comcast is your cable provider so that they can watch several of their team's football and basketball games, getting a dish is the best bet. I'm sure you won't miss Comcast's pathetic customer service either. Losing subscribers will continue to shock their stock price and ultimately force Comcast to do what other cable carriers have already done: negotiated a low price from BTN (below the $1.10 per month the BTN has requested), added the channel to expanded basic, and NOT pass along the additional cost to subscribers.

The real problem is that when satellite and cable companies are the biggest stakeholders in the stations that we watch, customers fall prey to monopolistic tendencies. This is especially true when the barriers to entry in these industries is so huge. Imagine spending tons of money to lay cable wire in Comcast country, only to see them price their product so cheaply that no one will change over to the new cable provider in their area. Just because they can.

I Hate the CrazyChicas

Mouse posted this link to a Michigan sports blogger describing annoying types of college football fans, and then provided a call out to an unnamed friend of hers.

I just wanted to say how much I hate her and the rest of the self proclaimed 'CrazyChicas'. Now that I've said that, I think it's sad that I fit almost all of these descriptions to some extent. However, I contend that I am a great Michigan football supporter.

Michigan Alumns. Pfft...They're EVERYWHERE!

Ok, ok. I just pulled out a quote from my Germany trip last year that no one gets (other than Maverick), but it's appropriate! :)

I didn't post my thoughts about the football game over the weekend, but I was thrilled to see Michigan play such a great game. First time that I wasn't irritated at any point during the game all season. I'm sure FlyingV appreciated my positiveness for the afternoon.

Since the game was exiled to the BTN once again, we made another trip to Buffalo Wild Wings. We were pleasantly surprised to see so many Michigan fans at the sports bar. There was a family of five near us where the three kids were all dressed up in Michigan gear. It was awesome. When Michigan scored a TD just before halftime, one of the kids came over to our table and lead us in a rousing chorus of The Victors. Once again, awesome.

There was also a couple recent Michigan grads at the table next to us that ended up joining our table for the second half. One of them apparently knew one of the new hires from Michigan that was with our group. This girl also was from Plymouth and grew up about 1-2 miles from where I grew up. I was going to ask her if she knew random people from Plymouth until she said she graduated high school in 2003. Holy crap I am old.

FlyingV invited the girls to his planned party for the Illinois game next week. The girls work at Pratt & Whitney and apparently work with another older Michigan alumnus that was in the band. After thinking about it for a second, I think I know who that person is. Mouse, go ahead and chuckle.

Since we were all in a good mood from the game, we did not heckle a guy wearing an OSU shirt that came into the sports bar around halftime and sat at a table right next to us. It probably helped that his daughter (~18 months old) was wearing an OSU cheerleader outfit. While we jokingly may have made a 'child abuse' reference, we couldn't help but smile when he was trying to get his daughter to say 'Go Bucks'.

In summary, watching the Michigan game at Buffalo Wild Wings was awesome. I can live with the occasional UM game on the BTN for a pro-Michigan atmosphere like that. If only it didn't take them ~30 minutes to get our game on the big screen (as opposed to one small TV). Seriously, why are 60% of the TVs on the South Florida game when about 25% of the place was filled with loud, obnoxious, hungry, and thirsty Michigan fans.

Buying my Way to the Top of the List

I've been doing some research into getting season tickets for Michigan football lately. There is a lot of information about Michigan's new preferred seating program on Mgoblue.com. I wasn't clear on a couple issues, so I e-mailed the ticket office earlier this week. Sensing a potential new Victors Club donor, they called me back today and spent 20 minutes answering all my questions about the Victors Club, getting football season tickets, etc.

Long story short, I think I am going to make a "waiting list donation" to the Victors Club when I go back to campus next month. While it will not guarantee the right to buy two season tickets for 2007 (unless I give $1,000+), it will make my chances of getting high enough on the waiting list "highly likely". Once i get tickets, it will only cost me $50 per season ticket to renew (in addition to the ~$425 annual cost per season ticket), so this should only be a one time cost unless something backfires (i.e., more people make the "waiting list donation" than did in 2005 or 2006).

I'm still not sure that this is the best idea since I only make it back for two or three games each season, but I figure that between my family and some of you out there, I can find someone to buy my tickets when I can't go (for nothing more than face value, of course). This way, I can always go back for the biggest home games, and have an inside track on purchasing tickets to select away games in the Victors Club section (i.e., the good seats given to the away team).

Am I crazy for thinking about doing this? It's not like this will kill my budget, but doe sit make sense to try and get season tickets when I know that I will only be able to attend less than half of our home games in a given season.

It's Called a Desert for a Reason

I came across this article in the Detroit Free Press today. Needless to say, I have no plans to vote for Bill Richardson for president in 2008. You basically write off any votes from the states that touch the Great Lakes when you say that we should have a national water policy that ships water from our Great Lakes to the Southwest.

I have the solution to the water starved Southwestern states. If they want to develop desert terrain, expect to have less water to use. Don't try to have a lawn. Don't open golf courses. If you can't live that way, move away. Other states shouldn't have to drain their resources and destroy their environment to support states that are overpopulated and cannot sustain their own natural resources.

If these people need more water to sustain their lives, they should try conservation or moving to a different part of the country with the resources to meet their needs. There is a huge need in Michigan for new businesses and jobs to lower Michigan's huge unemployment rate. Maybe some of the companies located in these areas can move to Michigan and have access to the wonderful resources of the Great Lakes state. Yes, that is a cold hearted stance, especially given that my grandfather lives in Arizona. However, I can be a 'compassionate conservative' from time to time.

Sadly, these debates happen once every couple years. Thankfully, states touching the Great Lakes (and Canada) have enough clout that I don't expect the U.S. to every try to implement a water policy to drain the Great Lakes to support our overpopulated deserts.

What scares me most about this whole thing is that these comments came from a Democratic presidential candidate. Richardson view is probably a result of his time as New Mexico's governor. They could lose the upper Midwest states and the entire election with that issue. At least no one else in the party has publicly supported Richardson's position.

What a Crazy Season!?!

This has been the weirdest college football season that I can remember. Does any team want to win the national championship this year? I think that LSU has already locked in their spot with an amazing win last night, but who's going to join them in the B(C)S title game?

Well, it won't be Michigan this season. However, I am more concerned about being bowl eligible than I am about winning the Big Ten. Both outcomes are still possible, but we need a healthy and fast defense as well as some more creative offensive play calling to have a shot at Ohio State this year (or Purdue or Illinois). The next two weeks for Michigan will be very difficult and go a long way towards determining whether the Big Ten title or bowl eligibility will be a bigger concern through the month of November.

While I won't go so far as to say that OSU is really good, they are by far the class of a very weak Big Ten at the halfway point of the season. Their defense is fast. Given their schedule, they have a decent shot of getting blown out in the national title game again this season.

I should have bet on Northwestern this year. MSU always melts down after their first loss of the season, and it's always so fun to watch them lose it.

Les Miles might be the popular choice to replace Lloyd Carr after this season (assuming Carr retires). However, am I the only one that wishes that for UM QB Jim "Fredo" Harbaugh didn't go on that rant about Michigan's academics before the season started? I think he'd be a much better fit for the program, given Les Miles's "loose morals". Damn you, Fredo. Damn you.

Would have been an interesting season for the RCI. Where are you at, RoopDogg?

ALSO - we were watching the UM-EMU game yesterday at Buffalo Wild Wings. There was a local soccer tournament that day and large groups of kids were coming in for lunch while we were watching the game. A bunch of kids in maize & blue jerseys was sitting near us. Seeing that we were cheering loudly for Michigan, they started cheering for EMU and booing Michigan every time we made a big play. I mean, seriously. THEY WERE WEARING MAIZE AND BLUE JERSEYS! WTF?!?

I Have Parents!

For the first time since my dad helped me move to CT over five years ago, I have a parent in town visiting me! My mom came into town on Wednesday afternoon for the second leg of her one week east coast "tour". She was visiting my brother last for a few days. Unfortunately, she had a minor slip and fall accident her last day in Washington DC and has not been able to move around very easily with her injured foot. I had to scrap some of our hiking plans and find activities that did not involve walking more than 2-3 city blocks at a time.

Regardless, it's been nice having one of my parents actually see where I live for a few days, even if my mom can test my patience after a few days.

Fear the Purple

So after an annoying flight delay, I made it back from my awesome weekend in Chicago this evening. Here are the highlights:

Gameday
It could not have been a nicer day for a college football game. Sunny. 75-80 degrees. Hardly a cloud in the sky. Northwestern has massive amounts of free parking on campus near Lake Michigan for tailgating, which is AWESOME! We were only about one mile from the stadium, and the first beer was cracked open at 8AM. There was a massive crowd of students wearing maize tailgating not that far from where we parked, so we were in very friendly territory.

A short while later, that large group of students started singing 'Eye of the Tiger'. Yup. We were tailgating right next to the band. (and some things never change...)

As for the game itself, I'll keep my comments to five bullet points.

• It's great attending an away football game where nearly half of the fans are wearing maize or blue. We owned NU's house.
  

• The first half was so frustrating. Michigan's defense is so sloooooooooooooow.
  

• Michigan's Big Ten hopes (and quite possibly bowl eligibility hopes) depend on a healthy Chad Henne. He's amazing. Mallet will be great someday, but just not this year.

• I'd whine about how much I hate our offensive play calling and Mike DeBord, but MGoBlog took my thoughts and expressed them creatively. Absolutely brilliant commentary. Here are some of Brian's best comments:
• "When Mike Debord plays rock-paper-scissors, he always picks rock.
  
  Rock totally beats scissors. Why would anyone pick anything else? Sure, occasionally someone will throw his own rock, but this is Michigan. We can out-execute their rock. And there are rumors of this thing called "paper". Apparently it beats rock, which seems darned unsporting, but Mike Debord will believe that when Mike Debord sees it...
  
  ...Hey, Bonzo scored a touchdown. Now we're ahead. Let's go back to rock. Rock beats scissors."

• "This was another log for the 'Lloyd Carr always coaches like he has a killer defense and a pounding ground game no matter the facts on the ground' theory."

• Michigan can run the table if the coaching staff approaches the game as if they started with a 14 point deficit. When Michigan opens up the playbook, the team can score a lot of points. Enough to cover up an absolutely pathetic (and injury ridden) defense. The only really good Big Ten team out there right now is OSU. Michigan is not good enough to beat them today, but if this team gets it together and the coaches decide that tools of deception like 'paper' and 'scissors' can compliment 'rock', Michigan can beat OSU seven weeks from now.
  

As for other game-related comments, we had this real annoying NU jerk sitting a couple rows behind us. I brought my cowbell along at the request of the CrazyChicas, even though I wasn't really feeling it. I didn't play it much during the first half, but this jerk starting riding me hard in the third quarter. He kept taunting me when I played the cowbell and supported my team in the second half. I was really getting pissed, especially since his comments were unimaginative and often vulgar (frequent use of the words 'douchebag', 'Independence Bowl', and 'Appalachian State'). However, I didn't believe that turning around or reacting towards him in any way would accomplish anything, so I never turned around. After all, he's a Northwestern fan, so making fun of his football team is like making fun of a mentally disabled child. It's just plain cruel and doesn't make you look good. I also started playing the cowbell to drown him out whenever he started yelling at me or my group of friends. Eventually, Michigan took the lead and the annoying fan quietly left the stadium with about six minutes left in the game.

I was totally proud of how our group responded to that a-hole, and apparently so were the Michigan fans around us. One person came up to us as she was leaving and complimented our group of ten for acting with such great class and being supportive of the team all afternoon. That made my day.

Post Game Shenanigans
There were not really any post game shenanigans. We continues our tailgate for another 2-3 hours after the game ended and grilled some brats. We went out for a nice bar crawl at a few of the 'Big Ten' bars in Lincoln Park, but it ended up being a fairly short evening since everyone was exhausted from the looong day. I must say that the Ohio State bar was much trashier and smokier than the Michigan bar (Duffys). However, that shouldn't surprise anyone.

Sunday
I met up with FlyingV at Duffys on Sunday for the Lions-Bears game. It was nice to see the Lions finally get a win over the Bears, but the bar patrons (especially FlyingV), were not very happy. On the bright side, Duffys has an amazing brunch buffet on NFL Sundays. I'm still full today!

When all was said and done, I had a fabulous time with the CrazyChicas, FraudPolice, and two of the SybilGirls. Every time I return home from a weekend in Chicago, I wonder why I don't live there today. I love that city.

I didn't take any pictures, but if Mouse of MplsJu send me some good ones, I will post them later. Hopefully I get a good picture of D$'s costume. That was classic...

Annoying Travel Note
Quick comparison between the United terminal at O'Hare and the US Air/United terminal at Hartford/Springfield airport:

• Number of people waiting to go through security on a weekday afternoon
• O'Hare - around 200-300
• Hartford - around 20
• Number of 'manned' x-ray machines
• O'Hare - 3 (one of which was only for first class passengers)
• Hartford - 2

Go figure. To top things off, after waiting about forty-five minutes to get through security, I was grilled about why I had a cowbell in my carry-on bag. Seriously, why does TSA care? Yes, it's random to have a cowbell, but does that really pose a security risk? Why don't you spend less time asking stupid questions and more time getting everyone through the super long line. That, or open one or two of the 10 'unmanned' x-ray machines.