Brian Hoffman, Sports Editor
bhoffman@ourvalley.orgJust put it on my bill
For those of you out there who watch the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” you’ll understand when I say I could probably write a season full of episodes. Often times something will happen and I’ll say to my wife, “That’s a Larry David situation.”
Such was the case on Sunday of this past weekend. It was 11 a.m. and I was settling into my favorite chair to watch the women’s soccer World Cup Final between the United States and the Netherlands. I turned on the TV, checked my DirecTV listings to see what channel the game was on, and pressed the remote button for WFXR in Roanoke, the station that was carrying the game. However, instead of soccer I got this message.
“Nexstar, the owner of this station, has removed it from your lineup despite our request to keep it available to you. Please know that we are working with Nexstar behind the scenes to bring this station back as quickly as possible. We share your frustration and regret any inconvenience. Please visit tvpromise.com for more information and alternative viewing options.”
This was totally puzzling to me, as I just wanted to watch the game. So I went to that tvpromise.com site and apparently there’s a dispute between AT&T, who operates DirecTV, and Nexstar, who owns our local Fox station. The site went on to blast Nexstar for wanting way too much money to put their station on DirecTV, and that DirecTV wanted to keep it on the air during negotiations but Nexstar pulled it off.
That was one side of the story, so went to the WFXR site on the internet and got a whole different view. Of course, they blamed DirecTV for not agreeing to their price, which they claim is right in line with what other providers were getting. The site gave a phone number to call if you wanted to complain to DirecTV, and I did.
I called the number and, after a brief wait, a representative of DirecTV actually answered my call. His English wasn’t very good (can’t you see Larry David talking to this guy) and I had to listen closely as he explained that they were working to resolve the situation, and of course he put all the blame on Nexstar. I told him how upset I was that I was missing this soccer game, and did he know if this was going to be resolved before the Major League Baseball All-Star game on Tuesday, which was also scheduled to be on WFXR. He couldn’t give me a good answer on that.
What it basically comes down to is a price dispute between these two companies, and DirecTV customers are taking the hit. Looking down the road, NFL football is on WFXR in the fall. Hopefully this will be resolved by then, but imagine if it isn’t? Many of the local watering holes depend on these games to draw in customers. You can still get the football package, but the games on the local stations are usually blacked out from that lineup. I don’t know how that’s going to work, but I hope I don’t have to find out.
I imagine sooner or later both sides will come to an agreement and WFXR will be back on my DirecTV. Then, the difference will be passed along to me in my monthly bill.
Just in time
Talk about timing! FOCO, a company that sells officially licensed fan gear, has introduced a new collectable series of bobbleheads featuring the 2019 NBA Champion Toronto Raptors. The bobbles showcase the champs on top of a red basketball wearing the Raptors’ “City Edition” jerseys.
Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam are portrayed standing on a basketball base while wearing their red City Edition jerseys, along with a bobble of the Raptors mascot and, of course, the finals MVP and newest Los Angeles Clipper, Kawhi Leonard.
“The Toronto Raptors’ journey to their first NBA championship was an incredible run that fans have been celebrating since,” said Matthew Katz, Senior Licensing Manager at FOCO. “Once the Raptors defeated the Warriors in Game 6, we knew we had to create a unique product highlighting the team in bobble form for Raptors fans to celebrate this historic time in team history.”
The Toronto Raptors City Edition bobbles are available online at www.FOCO.com . The bobbleheads are available for pre-order now for $50 plus shipping and handling. The projected delivery date to customers is in October.
This item should be a one-time collector’s edition as the Raptors will likely not repeat with Leonard headed to the Clippers. As I wrote in last week’s column, I was hoping he would either stay with the Raptors or sign with the Clippers to keep the Lakers from having a “Super Team” that would kill the balance of competition in the NBA.
I’m good with the Clippers. The Lakers will still be good, and as many as 10 other teams have a legitimate chance of winning next year’s NBA title. With the Warriors going from a “Prohibitive Favorite” to just a “very good team,” this should be one of the most exiting NBA seasons in years.
If Kawhi had gone to the Lakers, they would have been even money against the field to win the championship next year. Instead, according to Mason Media, the Clippers have gone from 12 to 1 odds to become the overall favorite at 3 to 1 with the addition of Leonard and Paul George. The Bucks are now second at 5 to 1, followed by the Lakers at 7 to 1 and the Sixers at 8 to 1. The Bucks and Sixers really benefited from Leonard’s move, as that weakens the Raptors in the East and keeps the West from putting up a “Super Team” against the Eastern champion in the finals. The Raptors went from 8 to 1 to 16 to 1 after Leonard left.
Overall there are nine teams with odds of 16 to 1 or better to win the championship. Last year at this time there were only four teams with better than 20 to 1 odds, and the Warriors were far and away the favorites at 5 to 4, meaning you had to risk $4 to win $5. That’s basically what the Lakers would have been if Kawhi had chosen to go there.
By the way, last year at this time the Clippers were 100 to 1 and Toronto was 40 to 1. So, if you put $100 down on the Raptors to win the title in July of 2018, you walked away with a cool four grand this summer.
