ESPN Disregards Fans Once Again

Message loud and clear – You don't matter

Dear college sports fans,

I regret to inform you that your presence is no longer required. We know you made plans around your attendance and that this might affect your family negatively. 

We here at college sports would like you to know that we took how you might be affected lightly, and wish you whatever in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

NCAA Athletics

While that’s obviously not a real letter, it is the message college sports fans have received loud and clear over the past week or so. The other thing that is pretty obvious is such a sentiment doesn’t really come from the NCAA.

OK, the sentiment might, but definitely not the actions. Everyone knows the NCAA is about as powerful as gas station bathroom toilet paper.

No. It’s so clear who’s causing all this that there’s no need to “Scooby Doo this [excrement],” as Dr. Strange would say. No one has to wait until the Mystery, Inc gang slides off the mask to reveal who really was behind it all.

Nope. We all know that 100 times out of 100 times, if it involves college sports, who’s under the mask will always be someone from ESPN.

ISAIAH JOE / REGGIE PERRY / JIMMY WITT, JR / Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

If you didn’t catch it amid the litany of breaking news on Tuesday, the Arkansas vs. Mississippi State game got moved at the last minute to 4 p.m. because Florida at Ole Miss became one of nearly 30 college basketball games to get postponed or cancelled.

The smartest thing to do would have been to move Georgia vs. Garner Webb off its SEC Plus designation to the 4 p.m. slot, which would have meant a 5 p.m. start in Athens because the Bulldogs and their fans reside in the Eastern time zone.

It would have been a win for Georgia. Its fans could have listened to the game on the drive home and then watched the recording on their DVRs upon arrival because it would now be on a channel most of them have instead of buried in an app.

Also, Georgia might have had some late arrivals by those who had tickets, but couldn’t get off work a little early to make the game, but how rowdy was the crowd going to be for a mid-week non-conference game against Garner Webb anyway?

Instead, ESPN execs decided to take the first true road game Arkansas has played since a trip to Texas A&M in March of 2020, and, not only kill what would have potentially been an explosive atmosphere, but hang both fan bases out to dry.

HUMPHREY COLISEUM / Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

One of the most shocking things I learned during my first year of college is that for some reason, Mississippi State really cares when it’s time to play Arkansas. A friend from my high school went there, and on his first weekend back in town, couldn’t wait to tell us that the Bulldogs thought of Arkansas as a bit of a rivalry.

This was about five years into the move into the SEC for the Hogs. At the time, we often forgot Mississippi State was in the conference, and were a bit blasé each time they rolled around on the schedule for pretty much any sport.

But things are different now. The Bulldogs have been a big enough thorn in Arkansas’s side over the years in various sports, that Hog fans care even when it’s not the SEC opener.

That’s why this is so wrong. Humphrey Coliseum should be packed with fans who snuck in miniature cowbells and Sonic tater tots screaming to their heart’s content.

Instead, hundreds of Mississippi State fans will find themselves stuck with tickets they can’t use.

They had plans.

Some were going to head to The Veranda. Some were headed to Oby’s. And others were going to nab a No. 2 with bacon from their favorite carhop.

Regardless of where they went, they were going to meet up at 8 p.m. for a conference game against a team they love to hate. They were going to lose their minds and college basketball in the SEC was going to be better for it regardless of the outcome.

Across the river in Arkansas, fans were going to be able to finish cleaning up the clutter left over from Christmas, order some pizzas and gather around the television as a family to yell at the refs every time they thought a foul should have been called.

But those things aren’t going to happen now.

Many Georgia fans won’t get to watch their beloved Bulldogs. Mississippi State fans will have to fight for refunds because they didn’t get to watch their beloved Bulldogs.

And as for Hog fans, they’ll have to let Chuck Barrett tell them when to be angry as they drive home alone from work catching part of the second half on their local radio affiliate.

It didn’t have to be this way. ESPN had a ton of options that would have done what was best for fans.

But then again, college sports fans don’t matter.

At least that’s the message we’ve all been given once again.

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