tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

NCAA Basketball Final at 9:23pm. Really??

Yesterday in looking at the "Sports on TV" column in the local Sunday Sports section, I saw that this evening's Kentucky-Kansas national championship game is scheduled to start at 9:23pm. Really??? How many youngsters who may be basketball fans are going to be able to stay up and watch this game?? Probably not many.

In what has been a disturbing trend that has been happening since the mid 70's, championship games are scheduled later and later in order to accommodate prime time television. Let's take baseball for example. When I was a kid, World Series games were played in the afternoon. I can remember racing home to watch the remaining innings left in the game. As we got older, depending upon the teacher, we were allowed to listen to the game on the radio. Great memories. But all of that is ancient history as World Series games begin around 8:37pm and usually end well after 11pm. Hmmmmm....how many 10 year olds are watching???

The NFL kind of has it right as the Super Bowl begins sometime around 6:30pm. However, with the mega-halftime show, the game usually ends sometime after 10. Kind of makes it tough on a little boy or girl to watch the big game. But the league moguls and television big-wigs could care less if little Johnny and Suzie can watch the big game. It's all about the big advertising dollars.

The NCAA which is suppose to be about student-athletes could also careless about whether or not their future athletes can stay up and watch their championship games. But then again, you have to be dreaming if you think the NCAA gives a damn about anything but the long green. And you want to know why kids turn to X-Box.