2011 Blue-Gold Game to be Aired Live on Versus

Best sports news I’ve heard all year!

Yay that’s great!!!

It sure is great news, Versus could be a great platform to spread Notre Dame football across the country in addition to what already occurs on NBC.

I think its pretty cool—I see the classic games played on the Big Ten network and pine for some of the Irish classics. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Versus typically carries Pac-10 games, correct? While ND fans are happy about this, it is ultimately in the best interest of Comcast/NBC to add national value (over regional) to increase viewership and thereby increase revenues.

Of course, this will begin another round of irrelevancy by those haters out there everywhere.

Just wish that I had Versus.

Jim,

Yes, Versus carried a lot of late night (for us Easterners) Pac-10 games with some afternoon games thrown in there on occasion too. I believe most of that coverage, if not all of it, was through Fox Sports West or whatever they call it out in the California area.

Being a national brand will be beneficial for both ND and Comcast. I’m excited to see where they take this. They still have a huge hill to climb to rival ESPN, but the more Notre Dame coverage the better!!

Ted,

Inevitably some people won’t have the channel. I’m shocked how many people still don’t have basic cable across the country. What’s your situation?

Where I live, Time Warner offers Versus as part of the Standard cable package along with channels like USA, FX, ESPN, TBS, TNT, Fox News, CNN, TLC, History, Comedy Central. MTV, etc. etc…the pricing isn’t too bad.

If people are going to complain (not saying you are Ted) that they don’t want to have to buy the standard cable to watch Versus and ND, then I don’t know what to say. I don’t watch a ton of TV, but I don’t know how people can live sometimes without ESPN, Comedy Central, and many of those channels.

If Versus is only offered on an expensive pricing tier by your cable provider, that’s different.

Also, Versus is home of the NHL and their coverage has steadily improved in both quantity and quality over the past few years.

What’s important to this discussion is that Versus has already linked with NBC and their hockey coverage so there is a nice duality going on there.

Hopefully Notre Dame can do something of the same…having the games aired on NBC but then having all of this other content on Versus.

Notre Dame Versus the World. Versus is beginning their broadcast of Irish historical games on St. Patrick’s Day. Go Irish!!

I have a fever… and the only prescription is Eric’s next Pre-Spring Depth Chart.

Linebackers coming up this week.

Watching Caps-Lightning on Versus right now. Just saw a quick 10-second commerical called “Celebrate the Irish” promoting the three games on St. Paddy’s Day.

I smiled.

Awesome news Eric. I really like the possibilities that this opens for the future.

Now if I were actually going to be in the country I would be really psyched. Of course if I were at home I would also have time to be doing things like writing long-winded posts on OFD about the many reasons I believe the 2011 season is going to be great for Notre Dame.

Thankfully you and Michael have been all over it so I can at least stop by and read yours!

I would ask the wife to DVR the game and burn it to a DVD to mail me but that is well outside of her technological capability range. Hmmmm….. I’ll have to figure something else out.

This little OFD sabbatical can’t end soon enough…

Whiskey!

Hope you’re holding up out there. Don’t worry, if you can’t watch the game I will break it down so hardcore it’s not even funny.

3,000 words on every single move Hendrix and Golson made?

Yup.

I’m jealous.

Perfect, I’ll be looking forward to that. I’m sure that you will cover all the bases in ludicrously fantastic detail. As always, great stuff.

I’m thinking that the Spring Game will be the catalyst that officially kicks this QB battle into high gear. I will also be sure that to try and get the Coach to DVR the game and give us his two cents on how the D looks. That should all make for some good conversation.

I will try and do a better job of carving out time to stop by and check in. So far so good on this end…

The quarterback battle alone is going to be so, so intense. Throw in the likes of Lynch and Ishaq with second year players that we haven’t seen yet like Roberson, Welch, Moore, Utupo, Nix, and Lombard. It’s only 40 days away.

Stupid question since it’s too late to turn on the DirecTV without waking up Mrs. OderName. Is Versus broadcast in HD? Maybe I’m over-sensitive to it, but honestly, watching all those Big East Network games the last few years without HD made the concerned seem cheap and small – would hate if ND’s stuff is only available in standard def.

(Yeah, I know, HD won’t matter for the classic games from ‘92 & ’93, and it’s still better than und.com, but still . . .)

*Conference, not concerned. Stupid iPad.

We were just speaking of you, whiskey. “OFD sabbatical”? We do miss your analysis, and would look forward to Coach’s expert analysis. This will be the first time I can see the B-G game.

Welcome, Alice, Adam and Ted. Feel free to join in with your comments anytime. I look forward to the matchups in the B-G game – offensive vs defensive lines, WRs vs CBs, play calling on both sides.

Wonder if Charlie, Urban, or Jon Gruden are free for the weekend?

Yes, Versus broadcasts in HD

I don’t know the first thing about what constitutes “a smart and savvy decision by Notre Dame and NBC”.

I finally had come to grips with the fact that I couldn’t spare the time or $$$ to make the trip out to SB with my son, and now we’re going to be able to see it! I’m overjoyed by this news and predict that a truly sick number of people are going to tune in.

Spread the word! GO IRISH!!!

Michael, I was just referring to my inability to carve out enough time to write any posts lately. I didn’t necessarily mean to insinuate a one year rest from work. I rarely see any news from back home and when I do have a few minutes to get on the internet I typically just stop by here to see what’s going on. Good times!

Time is going by quickly so I do at least have that going for me. I’m already looking forward to settling back into a more “normal” routine. You guys keep at it and I’ll jump back into the mix as soon as I’m able.