West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Sports & Entertainment => Topic started by: Teddy Roosevelt on December 26, 2007, 04:04:56 PM
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Patriots' historic game to be available to all of America, after all
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- After weeks of insisting they wouldn't cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots' shot at history.
Saturday night's game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.
On NFL Network ...
Patriots at Giants
Sat., Dec. 29, 8 p.m. ET
Complete broadcast schedule
NFL Network is carrying eight games on Thursday and Saturday nights. Don't get NFL Network? Click here for more information.
The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.
"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course. "What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever."
NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.
The NFL had claimed that the onus of making the game widely available fell on the major cable providers with which the league has bitterly feuded. Companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have declined to carry the network as part of basic packages.
But lawmakers have pressured the NFL to ensure more viewers could see the game. Last week, two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who co-wrote the letter with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "delighted" by the NFL's concession.
"I think it was a smart move on their part," he said in a phone interview.
Leahy expected to speak with Goodell again next month about the ongoing question of how many fans will be able to see games on the channel. Saturday's matchup wraps up the NFL Network's second season of airing live contests, with eight per year. This one and a key Thursday night game between Green Bay and Dallas last month drew widespread complaints about the lack of availability.
"I never completely gave up hope, but I was getting a little discouraged Christmas afternoon when we still had not gotten a positive answer," said Leahy, who added that his staff members were talking with NFL officials during the holiday.
Local TV affiliates in the Boston, Manchester, N.H., and New York areas that were already set to simulcast the game under NFL policy will still air it. That means viewers in those markets will have four channels to choose from if they get NFL Network.
This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.
"We're happy to accommodate the NFL's request for a joint national simulcast of this potentially historic game to make it available to the widest possible audience," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal's chairman for sports and Olympics.
NBC was scheduled to air "Dateline NBC" and a repeat of "Law & Order: SVU" during the time slot. CBS was set to broadcast the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "48 Hours: Mysteries."
Patriots' historic game to be available to all of America, after all
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80579400&template=with-video&confirm=true
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Because I have the NFL Network I really don't care.
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i nkow what im watchin sat night 8)
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i nkow what im watchin sat night 8)
yeah seriously
gonna kick it at my boys house , watch the game get some drink on, some 360 and get some honeys for later yeaaa
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i nkow what im watchin sat night 8)
yeah seriously
gonna kick it at my boys house , watch the game get some drink on, some 360 and get some honeys for later yeaaa
word sounds like a good time
im gonig to be riding a bus for 8 hours back up home (im in NY and going back up to bangor) and once i get home im callin over my boy and rolling up a fatty
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fuck man, gon be a SICK week in the nfl..lords knows i'll be watchin that pats-giants leadin up all da way 2 my titans-colts game
my nerves is fuckin crazy right now :D
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Try to relax homeboy lol
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Try to relax homeboy lol
LOL i can't :D
lmao i'm just wayy 2 passionate bout sports..ain't a team i like better in all of sports than the titans and i never even been 2 nashville LOL
the idea of us back in the playoffs 8)
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Try to relax homeboy lol
LOL i can't :D
lmao i'm just wayy 2 passionate bout sports..ain't a team i like better in all of sports than the titans and i never even been 2 nashville LOL
the idea of us back in the playoffs 8)
I hope they get in too, then beat Pit (or SD dependin on what happens) and then beat NE. If that were to happen and Jacksonville won then the three of the 4 AFC South teams would be in the semi-finals.
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I hope they get in too, then beat Pit (or SD dependin on what happens) and then beat NE. If that were to happen and Jacksonville won then the three of the 4 AFC South teams would be in the semi-finals.
thanks ;D
if we play pitt, 100% we win that game..but if we do get in we'll likely be playing s.d, and that is a toss-up IMO. after that i don't know 8)
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eli will throw 5 ints like usual
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eli will throw 5 ints like usual
mofucka eli wont be playin long enough to do that
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i like the announcers better on the NFL network Nbc an Cbs suck.
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I hope the Pats get beat.
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I hope the Pats get beat.
same, but ain't happenin
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Game time... and I'm praying for an upset.
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Game time... and I'm praying for an upset.
my fairy tale ending is...
pats over giants
titans over colts
titans over chargers/steelers
titans over pats
i'd love nothin more than my titans bein the one to screw their season up
;)
if that don't happen..go ANYONE who's playing them LOL
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TOUCHDOWN OPENING DRIVE! WHOO-HOOO!
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GO GIANTS.... im a fins fan so you know I have to pull for the Giants.
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74 YARD TOUCH DOWN KICK OFF RETURN! ;D
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GO GIANTS.... im a fins fan so you know I have to pull for the Giants.
I'm a fan of any team playing the Patriots, so you know I have to pull for the Giants.
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fuckin dope game so far
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Very smart by the NFL to broadcast this game on network TV. They are turning this into free NFL network promotion.
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TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!! Giants up by 12!
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pats touchdown. brady (sets single season record for 50 t.d passes) to moss (sets single season record with 23 t.d receptions) :-X
31-28 pats, LETS GO GIANTS!!
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Eli Manning picked by Ellis Hobbs :-X
31-28 pats with 9:45 left...
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Maroney 5 yard T.D run
38-28 Pats with 4:35 left in the game :-X
giants choke as usual :-X :-X :-X
the perfect season :-[
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That INT was one of the two plays of complete incompetence by the Giants that lost them that game. The underneath guy was wide open and had enough for the first. The other play of complete stupidity was playing Moss man to man on the open side of the field on 3rd and long. You take back those two plays and play basic little league football instead and that game could have been completely different.
Oh, and early on if that was an illegal contact penalty then Rod Harrison should be called for it on ever play.
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they had their shot... at least it wasn't a blow out...
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I don't know if I hate the Pats or the Giants more right now. >:( Talk about a choke job.