ALL UCONN ALL DAY
Sat., February 27, 02:42 PM
Or almost all day. I’ve written before about the unique relationship between our local PBS station and our Connecticut Women’s Basketball Program. It started about fifteen years ago, when the team was in the running for the NCAA Championship, which they eventually won. There are a lot of University of Connecticut alumni around here, and the game was not readily available. The president of the station decided to take a chance on a new venture, and the station aired the final game.
To everyone’s surprise, not only did the game draw a large audience, but the fund-raising (which you get instead of commercials) was the most successful they had from any show that season.
It was worth trying again, and eventually the station had an agreement that any game that was not on national television would be available on Connecticut Public Television. This season the fund-raising was frenetic; several large corporate sponsors had withdrawn their support because of the bad economy. Airing basketball games, particularly when you have to borrow someone else’s feed, is expensive. The viewers were asked to fill in, to the tune of $20,000 to $30,000 per game. The volunteers begged, they cajoled, they offered incentives. Most years I just renew my membership (at the senior citizen level, of course), but even I felt I could add something this year. I believe they made their quota almost every time.
Traditionally the last home game of the season is Senior Night, when the graduating seniors are honored. They are accompanied by family, with flowers for the ladies. The seniors are given framed versions of their team shirts, and everyone poses for photos. It can be very emotional for everyone involved.
This year, for some reason, the game belonged to ESPN. It would be a daytime game, not a night game, because ESPN was in charge. (They could have just chosen the last game of the season, on Monday — but maybe they have that one too.) CPTV arranged to stream the ESPN broadcast, and they decided to make a day of it. At nine a.m. they did the last “Geno Show” of the season. Coach Geno Auriemma is articulate and amusing. He embodies what you would want from someone teaching your kids, requiring selflessness and hard work, as well as passing grades. At ten a.m. they aired a tribute to the five graduating seniors, with commentary from the coaches and the other members of the team. They are all very different, each wonderful in her own way, and very attached to each other. At eleven-thirty they went to the arena, where we were able to watch the senior ceremonies.
At noon the game began. Someday, somehow, ESPN will hire some decent sportscasters, who know what is going on in the game. A media guide is published every year, but I would bet that these announcers never look at it. They are, in the fashion of the day, very much enamored with the sound of their own voices.
After Connecticut won its 68th game, UConn 84, Georgetown 62 — they were unbeaten last year and this year so far — basketball coverage continued.
They aired the senior ceremonies again for anyone who had come in too late, and then they re-aired the tribute. That was followed by last year’s “Tribute to Perfection,” which ended at about six-thirty.
The only good thing about having the regular season end is that there will be a few tournaments to play. They don’t call it March Madness for nothing.
What I love about women’s basketball is that they are students first. (Of course, Geno would kick ’em off the team if they didn’t pay attention to their grades.) When they first became famous, there was no professional women’s basketball in the United States. Women had to be prepared to travel to Europe if they wanted to play, always remembering that they had better have some other career to fall back on. Men’s college basketball is mostly an audition for the NBA, and no one seems to care whether they graduate or not. We are very proud of our girls.
