Blown coverage

Even if the entire secondary of the Detroit Lions were to suffer a tragic outbreak of polio, it's likely they could still provide better coverage than what was afforded the TV viewing public a short while ago.

On Saturday, the American finals of the Little League World Series were going on. The game pitted a team from California against one from Tennessee. It appeared to be a blowout, with Tennessee leading 15-5 going into the bottom of the 6th and final inning. Then California came roaring back to score 10 runs and tie the game at 15. The inning wasn't over. With 2 outs, the next California batter stepped up, and -- zap -- the local ABC affiliate pulled the plug on likely the most exciting comeback in LLWS history so they could switch over to the Detroit Lions' pregame show. Not a real game, mind you, the talking head prelude to an (expletive) exhibition game. Are you KIDDING me?

Then it went from bad to worse. While the Lions were tangling with the Oakland Raiders on the west coast, somehow TV coverage of a pivotal NASCAR race at Bristol got lost in the shufffle and wasn't available to most in the Detroit area.

On a personal note, I had been invited to my neighbors Paul and Lisa's house for a small NASCAR race-watching party. Upon arriving, Paul, an avid NASCAR fan, was discovering he couldn't tune it in. No TV kind of takes the fun out of a race party. I wasn't sure who his "provider" was so I hustled back across the street to check out what was going on with DirecTV, which I subscribe to. Sure enough, the "guide" listed the race on an obscure channel, called ESPNna. I think the "na" technically stands for national, but clicking on it, I was informed the program was NA in my area. As in not available. Well damn, if it's not available, then why is it on the guide in the first place?

Again, let's not forget the Lions-Raiders game was meaningless to all except the marginal players trying to survive the inevitable cuts that will come shortly. Meanwhile, the race at Bristol was of importance on the NASCAR circuit. They're getting down to "cut time" themselves regarding who makes their version of the playoffs, aka "The Chase". Playoff implications vs a grapefruit league game. We were force fed the citrus. Please.

ESPN has a number of regular channels, and checking those out revealed their flagship station was carrying high school football, of all things. Wait a minute. Prep football? On Saturday? They're showing replays of the Friday Night Lights thing while ignoring a NASCAR race? Couldn't they have shown the race on that channel? Who's in charge of this F-troop outfit anyway?

The answer would be Disney. They're the parent company of ESPN, ABC, and all the affiliates involved. Granted, Disney has been a very successful company over the decades, likely because old Walt himself once took great pride in organization, efficiency, and giving the people what they wanted.

I've been to every Disney theme park in the Orlando area, and even to the original way out in Anaheim.

But never have I seen a Mickey Mouse show quite like this.