Here’s a mixed bag of thoughts and things I wonder about from the sports world. Not sure how many of you have heard, but WSJV Fox 28, which has in the past and will be this season, the primary source for Chicago Bears regular-season games, was bought by WSBT (Ch. 22) and the majority of its programming will move to what is now SBT2, or over-the-air channel 22.2. The old shows on 22.2 will move to 22.3 and the 24-hour local weather channel will go away effective Monday. It wasn’t clear whether the news staff at Fox 28 will be merged with the current staff at Channel 22, but the local sports coverage landscape will have notable changes by the time the high school football season kicks off Aug. 19. But that’s not the only point of concern for those who enjoy Chicago sports teams. Before the end of July, the Federal Communications Commission, in order to clear out airwaves for things like smart phones and tablets, will try and buy out television stations and resell the air space to cell phone providers. Locally, that means stations that carry some (but not most) of the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks games may go away. At least two games a week are on My Michiana or CW 25 out of South Bend. Why would stations allow this to happen to them? $imple. According to a report by Ted Booker in Monday’s South Bend Tribune, those stations could sell their assigned frequencies for three times their market values. The same report said about 20 percent of the television-viewing public is using an over-the-air signal. Here in the Times-Union area, the signal from those stations typically isn’t strong enough to get here. Eighty percent of us are using either cable or satellite to watch TV, but that doesn’t help if the stations don’t exist. It’ll be interesting to see how all this shakes out, but with the Cubs in the midst of what many of the faithful believe is an historic season, there may be a lot of frustrated fans out here in TV land. Fortunately, radio has us covered, and ESPN 102.7 comes in loud and clear for every Cubs game. Still, it’s weird to me the games aren’t available on WGN out of Chicago; it seems unnatural somehow. And while I never considered myself a Cubs fan, I really miss Ron Santo on the team’s broadcasts.
Almost daily we read reports from Rio that the 2016 Summer Olympics, now less than two weeks away, may be the biggest bust in the history of the games. Haven’t we heard this song before? Facilities aren’t ready, there’s a health scare, the reliability of drug testing has been questioned, and an entire nation’s team was in jeopardy of not being allowed to participate. Almost every Olympics, winter or summer, struggles with the completion of facilities and infrastructure. It’s extremely expensive, and unless the government owns everything for the benefit of its people (think 2008 Summer Games) then there are cost overruns and resulting construction delays. I’ve been looking forward to the Opening Ceremony for quite some time; I always do. But I’m keeping a much closer eye on things happening away from the competition, and praying for the safety of all involved.
The news came out Monday that Peyton Manning and his wife, Ashley, were cleared by the NFL of charges of steroid use by Al-Jeezera America. Did anyone really think that Manning would have risked everything he’s gained to take steroids for one more year in the NFL. Granted, he went out a champion, but the Hall-Of-Fame legacy was secure before his plane landed in Denver. If I were a betting man, I’d wager Manning gets at least one head coaching or offensive coordinator job offer before he’s inducted in Canton in the summer of 2021. Obviously he doesn’t need the money, but it seems the game preparation will be something he misses. I’d think he would prefer coaching in college over the pro game, but the coaches travel more in big-time college football, and we’ve learned that his family will always be a priority. But if his alma mater comes a callin’, could Manning resist? Well, it’s another reason to follow the exploits of the University of Tennessee for the next couple of years, anyway.
