Oregon St vs. BYU tonight on Dish Network

Tonight’s Las Vegas Bowl game match up between the 15th ranked BYU Cougars and 16th ranked Oregon St Beavers promises to be one of the best college bowl games this year. Both teams have high profiled quarterbacks looking to boost their NFL stock.

Senior Max Hall leads the Cougars, while the Beavers are relying on a solid performance from senior Sean Canfields. While these two look to help keep their teams in position to win the game, the game marquee players will be Cougars tight end Dennis Pitta, and the Beaver brothers Jacquizz and James Rodgers.

For the Cougars, Pitta is the go to man when they need a big first down. The 6’5 248 pound senior has arguably the best hands out of any tight end in college today and holds the NCAA record for most receiving yards by a tight end. Every week opposing teams try to match their best defender against Pitta and usually come up short. Given the fact that Pitta and Hall are brother in laws you can tell the off-season family workouts have paid off when watching them play together on the football field.

On the other hand the Rodger brothers; James and Jacquizz are probably two of the most dynamic players in college football. With James being the older sibling by one year, they became one of the best duo threats in high school while attending Lamar Consolidated high school in Rosenberg Texas.

After winning a state championship in high school Jacquizz decided to follow his brother to Oregon St and give the cougars one of the best one two combos in college football. While James is the downfield threat at wide receiver, Jacquizz is the one that gives every opposing defensive coordinator nightmares. He stands at only 5’7 and weights in at 193 lbs but runs like a fullback and has the speed of a track star. Both are very elusive, and if you give either one of them the ball in the open field you might as well just put the points up on the scoreboard.

If you like high powered offenses competing against each other this will be one of those games. Both teams average over 400 offensive yards per game and just over 30 points. While both teams come in with solid defensive units, I doubt that either teams defense will be able to slow down the opposing offense. In a match up like this, the team that commits the least amount of turnovers will be the one that wins the game.

NFL Red Zone and NFL Sunday Ticket – A Comparison

I am proud to call myself a sports fan. I like to watch my favorite teams play each week in their respective sports, and especially come playoff time. But I do however have one concern. It seems over the past few years more and more sports packages have become available like NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB Extra Innings, Etc.

Don’t get me wrong the idea of having the ability to choose to watch all 16 NFL football games being played each week is great. But, is it worth the $300.00 you pay? Lets face it, these Sports packages are perfect for a Sports Bar who has more then 4 televisions where they can get their money’s worth by watching most of the games being played. For those of us who do not own a Sports Bar, and live in an average house with at the most 3 televisions in separate rooms, we can only watch 3 of the games being played at one time. So let’s break that down 3 games at a time, so 6 well 7 with Monday night out of 16 games a week for the bargain price of $300.00.

The $300.00 does not include your regular programming package price, so it is additional to your normal bill. Now with out the sports package you would still be able to see the 7 games being played without paying the extra money. Of course your particular team may not be one of the televised games, but you also did not pay an extra $300.00. Not to mention that out of the goodness of it’s heart DIRECTV will automatically add the NFL Sunday ticket the following year of course at the new years pricing (which is always higher the next year). So when you receive that bill that automatically shows the NFL Sunday Ticket price you have to call in to let them know you do not want it this year, now it is prorated because the season has started so there will be some sort of charge.

Now let’s see, if I got the Sunday Ticket am I a bigger sports fan? NO! Dish Network may not offer the NFL Sunday Ticket, but they do offer the NFL RED ZONE. This is a channel, which is part of their multi sports package at a cost of $5.99 per month. NFL RED ZONE shows you all of the Touchdowns scored as they happen for each team each week. So let’s see, I can see every touchdown scored plus watch the normal televised games, for $5.99 a month. That works out to be what $71.88 per year, and a $228.12 dollar savings. Hmm, I may not be the smartest man but that sounds like one hell of a bargain compared to the Sunday Ticket, and who can use the extra $228.12 in their pocket. Think about it this way, that is just about the price of a ticket to the actual game.

Think about it, we as sports fans are being prayed upon by our cable providers. They know our dedication to our teams and the sports that they play. They use this to make so much money off of us each year that we cannot go to the games. Which in turn adds to the blackout of local sporting events. It is a vicious circle that is not going to end until we standup and stop needlessly spending money on these sports packages just to say we have them, when their value is not really justified unless you own a Sports Bar.

Quite honestly, Dish Network has the most reasonable option right now. NFL Red Zone shows you all the touchdowns as they happen, and saves you $228.12 a year. Count me in that is until one of these providers smartens up and gives us the option of following a specific team throughout the season. One team every game they play all season including their playoff run and championship games.

That I would pay for, tell me for $100.00 a season I can see every game the Yankees play including playoffs and World Series I am in. Tell me I can follow the Dallas Cowboys all season every game again I am in. Lets even get crazy and extend it to college teams. All home and away games for one team at a set price in any sport I choose, hands down I would sign up.

Not going to sign up for 16 games most of which I don’t care about for $300.00 a season you are kidding yourself DIRECTV nobody has the extra money to throwaway on what you think is worth it.

Until someone offers the opportunity to follow only your favorite team through their season, playoff run, and championship game, or games. I will switch to Dish Network, save over two hundred dollars a year, and still see every touchdown as it happens with the NFL Red Zone. The whole time I can still watch all the normally broadcast games.