The Front Row: Throw us a bone

Regardless of what happened yesterday afternoon, this has still been the most enjoyable Arizona football team to follow in quite some time.

The 24-23 loss at Stanford was the classic trap game. With that Pac-10 lead in their sights, the Wildcats took on a sneaky squad on its home turf during its homecoming weekend and laid an egg. It happens. We’ll cover it in much more detail in Wednesday’s “Wildcat Notebook.”

The real shame from yesterday’s game was the lack of a television outlet.

For the first time in years, Arizona football actually matters in this area. There’s a better-than-decent chance — especially given the topsy-turvy nature of the Pac-10 this season — that the Wildcats will play meaningful football well into November.

Meanwhile, five games — the two blowout wins at home to start the season, yesterday’s Stanford loss, and the back-to-back road games at Washington State and Oregon in a couple weeks — won’t be televised.

Hopefully, someone will pick up the Oregon game, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

How is Arizona football supposed to build a devoted fan-base when the road games aren’t availble on any TV network — not even one of the million cable/sattelite channels that now carry college football? If someone had picked it up, fans could’ve packed their favorite sports bars and enjoyed the action together.

Nope. Instead, those of us who live south of Tucson were left fiddling with their radios, hoping to navigate through the oppresive static and find any sort of clear broadcast.

Fox Sports seemed like a perfect outlet, but the 2 p.m. kickoff time didn’t fit into their time slot. Had the kickoff been moved up 90 minutes, the game would’ve been broadcast. However, Stanford officials refused to move the game, due to the homecoming festivities.

Therefore, every Arizona football fan who didn’t make the trip to Stanford was out of luck.

The circumstances make sense, sort of. Of course, it’s the fans that lose out. Doesn’t it seem like the phrase “the fans lose out” gets written a few too many times these days?

I’m fully aware that sports is a big business, with fat TV contracts and rigid broadcasting rules. This will never change.

But shouldn’t these technological advances make it easier, not more difficult, to catch our teams in action?

In this case, it might’ve been a good thing to avoid seeing Arizona’s collapse in Stanford. But shouldn’t these relevant contests have a TV home — especially the ones that take place hundreds of miles away from Arizona Stadium?

Until this situation gets figured out, those of us who want to keep track of Wildcat football will stick to the radio dial. It’s better than nothing, I suppose.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747