The Center Circle, by John Fuller: Wrestling on TV? It's not a joke - it's now a reality
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John Fuller (TheMat.com)
11/21/2003
This morning when I got out of bed, I changed my routine a little bit. Outside of my normal bowl of Golden Grahams and a couple swallows of juice straight from the carton (is there any other way), I decided I would watch my new digital cable channels. Now, granted, I paid an extra $10 for these channels, but for a sports freak like me, they are the best. I get numerous Fox Sports regional channels, including Fox Sports Central which I hope will show many more Pistons games than I am getting with ESPN. How can a team place in the top four and be outdone on national television the next year? OK, enough venting about hoops. Just remember, I did grow up in Flint, Michigan, A.K.A. - hoops capitol of the world. But I decided there was one channel in particular I wanted to get to - channel 170 on my cable box. I know what you're going to say. "But John, what are you doing watching the Garden Hose channel or whatever it is? My remote doesn't even go up past 100!" You're right - almost. My channel 170 is College Sports Television, the soon-to-be cable giant. At least I don't have Direct TV, where the new network is at channel 610. YIKES! College Sports Television has taken to the airwaves. Network guru Brian Bedol has created this channel in hopes of giving college sports fans what they really want - college sports. Not just football and basketball, but ALL college sports. We're talking about track and field, baseball, soccer, volleyball, lacrosse, hockey and yes, wrestling. Tonight I now have the choice of watching the Michigan Tech vs. Minnesota hockey game. Even with being from Michigan, the only other time I have seen Michigan Tech on TV is for a snow alert. However, I am more interested in the UFC fight tonight that features Matt Hughes, Frank Trigg and Matt Lindland - ALL former amateur wrestlers. But I'll have Michigan Tech in my heart the whole time, along with a few cold ones. Bedol is the genius behind Classic Sports TV (now known as ESPN Classic) and Nick at Night. He was also a major player in helping MTV (yes, the one that used to play music) and Court TV get off the ground as well. If you ask my mom, one of those Court TV fanatics who thinks she is now a lawyer, judge and witness all at the same time, she'll tell you Bedol is one step under Jesus himself. The point here is that we, the wrestling community, finally have a channel to call ours. We finally have a place to go where we will be able to see some of the greatest wrestlers of all time while also seeing Ray Brinzer in Oklahoma State AND Iowa singlets. Maybe we can even talk them into doing a Ray Brinzer day. OK, so we would be better served with a Cael Sanderson or Dan Gable day, but you catch my drift. And we have Brian Bedol to thank for this. College Sports Television plans to air some of the top college wrestling dual meets in the 2003-04 season. The network also produced a broadcast of the Sunkist Kids/ASU International Open, a freestyle and Greco-Roman tournament. If this network isn't on our side, then I don't know what is. This is the biggest step in getting college wrestling back in front of sports fans since Gable was on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Of course, Cael didn't hurt our efforts either, but as both men have proven, one man can't revive a sport nationally. That is, as long as sports fans can find the channel. College Sports Television is working very hard to get in front of the average sports fan. They have petitions linked from their web site, www.cstv.com, and also a search method to find out of College Sports Television is offered in your area. If you haven't signed the petition to get College Sports Television yet, then I urge you to do so immediately. Or you can be like me and just call Gina at Adelphia Cable every week and complain that College Sports Television is not a channel on digital basic cable. But hey, what's an extra 10 bones out of my pocket? If it really starts to hurt me, I'll write it off as a business expense. I wonder if I can write off Golden Grahams too?