Comcast and Big Ten Network both stink!

By Rick Morris

One of the reason's that Deadspin.com is the 800-pound gorilla of sports blogging is that head honcho Will Leitch will often sum up a situation better than anyone else can. The imbroglio with Comcast and the Big Ten Network is one such example: "Whenever corporation argue with each other, the only certainty is that we'll all lose," Leitch writes.

Indeed, we are witnessing a situation in which there truly is no "good guy." The Big Ten Network is trying to extract the maximum amount of moolah to worm its way into as many homes as possible -- naturally, after it has sold off its most attractive football games to the ABC/ESPN family and its most attractive hoops contests to the ESPN channels and CBS. Thank God The Big Ten Network has responded to the crying needs of the free market for endless repetition of Wisconsin-Northwestern cross country events!

And as usual, the cable and satellite providers are as sympathetic a group of folks as your average lobbyist for the trial lawyers. Comcast, fresh off of destroying the NHL's TV visibility through its broadcast rights for the Versus "network," is trying to gain public sympathy by hiring operatives to troll Big Ten college football message boards. The smarmy half-baked "apology" from the firm responsible for said disingenuous postings of course did not mention why similar posts showed up on numerous other message boards.

When the history of sports in the 21st century is written and we look back at how greed and Big Money ultimately destroyed the games we love, both pathetic entities in this battle will have their tales told.