In the eyes of fans across the country, the Pac-10 will remain a
second-rate basketball conference for years to come. That’s
because last week, the Pac-10 and Fox Sports Net reached an
agreement making FSN the conference’s exclusive national
basketball television partner through the 2011-2012 season. Yes,
this deal will give the conference and its schools more money than
any other network. Yes, FSN generally does a great job with its
college basketball telecasts. But FSN isn’t ESPN. And ESPN is
the most-watched sports network in the country, the first place
most college basketball fans go to watch big games. Sure, ESPN
would have likely given less money to the Pac-10 for the games it
would televise. Sure, ESPN would likely force the conference to
break its traditional Thursday-Saturday schedule and play games at
different starting times. But that’s the network sports fans
across the country watch. Something the Pac-10 conference itself
and the coaches at its schools have always asked for is more
national exposure to rival the other major conferences. It will be
difficult for the Pac-10 to get exposure that’s similar to
what the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big 10 and Big East conferences
get while those networks are on ESPN and the Pac-10 is not. And
some of those conferences (most notably the ACC and Big 12) have
their games nationally broadcast on both ESPN and FSN. It is
possible to get on both networks. I have nothing against Fox Sports
Net ““ I enjoyed the basketball telecasts on that network last
year, and the network does a great job at covering local sports
across the country. But the national recognition and prestige comes
from being televised on ESPN, not FSN. So while the money FSN may
give is nice, in the long run, taking less money to get some games
on ESPN would be beneficial to the conference. You can argue the
Pac-10 had a down year last year and wasn’t as deserving of
the exposure of the other major conferences. But the strength of
the major conferences is very cyclical. Back in 2003, the Pac-10
sent six of its 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament and often sends
four or five every year. When the Pac-10 is back at its best,
coaches around the conference will be complaining that their
schools don’t get as recognized as those in the other major
conferences. Not finding a way to get Pac-10 games on ESPN will be
to blame for that.
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As UCLA fans, we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing basketball
and football players making an impact on the professional level
shortly after they leave Westwood. Younger students at UCLA can see
those star players in person at Pauley and the Rose Bowl, and
before they graduate, see those same players in the pros. But that
doesn’t happen much in baseball where players spend years in
the minor leagues after being drafted out of college. Casey Janssen
pitched at UCLA from 2001-2004, and in 2004, I and many others got
to see an amazing season in which he was the best pitcher on a
Bruin squad that went to the NCAA Regionals. Back on April 27, he
made his major-league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays, having a
rocky start. Two starts later, many of Janssen’s fans back in
Southern California got to see him pitch on TV this past Sunday
when he faced the Los Angeles Angels and pitched brilliantly. He
pitched 7 1/3 innings, not allowing a single run and giving up only
one hit. It was a pleasant, unusual sight to see someone I had seen
pitch in Westwood pitch well in the major leagues. Before Janssen,
no Bruin had made his major-league debut since 2003, when Garrett
Atkins (Colorado) and Chase Utley (Philadelphia) both broke into
the big leagues after being drafted out of UCLA in 2000.
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I was hoping Steve Lavin would take the North Carolina State
head coaching position ““ a job he was reportedly offered and
turned down a couple of weeks ago. While I agreed with UCLA’s
decision to let him go after a horrendous 2002-2003 season, I never
thought Lavin was as bad a coach as UCLA fans still make him out to
be. He did lead UCLA to five Sweet 16 berths in six years ““
which is tough to do at any school, no matter how prestigious a
program you have.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.