Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Wide, Wide World of Tape Delay

It's not often I can compare my on-air work covering Xavier football to TV coverage of the Olympics ... but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Just like the Olympics in Sochi, or London, or Beijing, or pretty much anywhere outside the Western Hemisphere, the early season of Xavier Saints football on KMRY is going to be "time shifted." Better known as tape-delayed. So does that make me Bob Costas? Without the pinkeye, hopefully.

I recently posted a rumor that KMRY might broadcast the Saints opening game against defending state 4A champion West Des Moines Dowling live on Friday, August 29 - even though the Cedar Rapids Kernels are playing that same night. KMRY has carried the Kernels for the past several seasons, and with the end of the baseball season overlapping with the start of high school football, there have often been conflicts in late August/early September. That means the Kernels go on live, with Saints football airing on a delayed basis after football.

There was indeed discussion of changing that on August 29, with the notion of carrying Xavier-Dowling live over-the-air and the Kernels streamed online only. That Friday is the Kernel's last regular season game, though, and Fan Appreciation Night. So it was decided to keep baseball live and carry football afterwards, just as in previous seasons. I just wanted to make sure and clear that up, since I had the rumor out there already.

The Saints' second game, Thursday September 4 at Davenport Assumption, might face the same fate. Should the Kernels make the Midwest League playoffs - which is looking more likely by the day - the opening round of the playoffs might conflict with that Thursday game. I believe that date would be Game 3 (if necessary), so it might not be a broadcast conflict if that first round finished in a two-game sweep. But there's no way to know that until Game 2 is actually played on September 3.

Ah, the uncertainty of live sports! It's almost like the thrill of victory - and the agony of defeat. On tape delay.

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