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Meanwhile, over at Big Sky Conf Headquarters...

grizzlyjournal

grizzlyjournal

Well-known member
We're a day from stepping into 2020 and 2 days away from the second week of Big Sky Conference men's and women's basketball games. I have friends at Big Sky headquarters... but I gotta get this off my shoulders.

I visited www.bigskyconf.com this morning to see if I could watch an in-demand stream of the first week of Big Sky games. FIRST: I had to disable my ad blocker, because the Big Sky locks you out if your Firefox, Chrome etc blocks ads.
Here's what I found at the Big Sky Conf site: A front page announcement for the Big Sky Conference men's and women's post-season basketball tourney with a running clock: 68 Days, 12 Hours, 34 minutes, 12 seconds. If you scroll down, you'll find an index, but: NO stories, NO scores, NO photos of any games.
• I navigated to the "Watch Big Sky" index and scrolled through every team's list of games for on-demand streaming: NO Big Sky conference games. None. Nada. Nothing. A few mid-December games. The only available Montana men's game -- vs. North Dakota. SO, I navigated to the PlutoTV BIG SKY site via a link for Big Sky games. Here's what I found: A re-broadcast of the 2019 Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff Show!!! From August of 2019.
THIS is what Big Sky fans are being offered after what was arguably one of the wildest conference opening weeks of hoops action over the past several seasons... for both men's and women's games. What a story! "Wait, we need to start advertising the post-season tourney! It's only 3 months away!"

For comparison: I decided to check out offerings at several other Mid Major conferences:
• Big West: Immediate on demand availability of ALL first-week games at three sites (Big West Digital TV, Espn3, and BigWest Youtube).
• WAC: Immediate on-demand access to every WAC men's and women's basketball games from Dec. 28-29.
• WCC: Front page access to ALL men's and women's hoops games with viewing links. The WCC has a page with links to a minimum of nine (9) different ways fans can watch WCC games on TV, by live stream, and by on-demand stream.

I could go on. But I think you get the picture. Wait! There's NO picture. Of any game. At www.bigskyconf.com. Ugh.
Ok EverettGriz. I'm turning this rant over to you.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
We're a day from stepping into 2020 and 2 days away from the second week of Big Sky Conference men's and women's basketball games. I have friends at Big Sky headquarters... but I gotta get this off my shoulders.

I visited www.bigskyconf.com this morning to see if I could watch an in-demand stream of the first week of Big Sky games. FIRST: I had to disable my ad blocker, because the Big Sky locks you out if your Firefox, Chrome etc blocks ads.
Here's what I found at the Big Sky Conf site: A front page announcement for the Big Sky Conference men's and women's post-season basketball tourney with a running clock: 68 Days, 12 Hours, 34 minutes, 12 seconds. If you scroll down, you'll find an index, but: NO stories, NO scores, NO photos of any games.
• I navigated to the "Watch Big Sky" index and scrolled through every team's list of games for on-demand streaming: NO Big Sky conference games. None. Nada. Nothing. A few mid-December games. The only available Montana men's game -- vs. North Dakota. SO, I navigated to the PlutoTV site for Big Sky games. Here's what I found: A re-broadcast of the 2019 Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff Show!!! From August of 2019.
THIS is what Big Sky fans are being offered after what was arguably one of the wildest conference opening weeks of hoops action over the past several seasons... for both men's and women's games. What a story! "Wait, we need to start advertising the post-season tourney! It's only 3 months away!"

For comparison: I decided to check out offerings at several other Mid Major conferences:
• Big West: Immediate on demand availability of ALL first-week games at three sites (Big West Digital TV, Espn3, and BigWest Youtube.
• WAC: Immediate on-demand access to every WAC men's and women's basketball games from Dec. 28-29.
• WCC: Front page access to ALL men's and women's hoops games with viewing links. The WCC has a page with links to a minimum of nine (9) different ways fans can watch WCC games on TV, by live stream, and by on-demand stream.

I could go on. But I think you get the picture. Wait! There's NO picture. Of any game. At www.bigskyconf.com. Ugh.
Ok EverettGriz. I'm turning this rant over to you.
Click to expand...

Call your "friends at Big Sky headquarters" and tell them to get their heads out of their asses.
 
Don't forget, that when you do find games to watch at Watch Big Sky when they get uploaded by the schools - if you're using Google Chrome (easily a top 3 go to browser) as a browser, the video won't go full screen. If you use the Firefox browser, poof. No trouble - though you still need to turn of the ad blocker, allow audio and video, yada-yada.
 
Hey! Don't forget about me!

We're not in the MWC right now for one reason: Football.

Back in the days of the intense "move up" debates on the football board, the majority there was content to stay at 1-aa, and compete for national championships at a lower level. The arguments were diverse and ranged from substantive to frivolous: There were no major corporate sponsors in Montana. Our Montana kids simply couldn't compete at a higher level (before Bierman, Carpenter, Mariani were all competing at a high level in the NFL). Who wanted to play in the Weed Eater Bowl when you could be vying for a "national championship?" It was better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a minnow in an ocean. Montana was just a "flyover" state.

However much the Big Sky Conference benefited football, it was a disaster for basketball. It meant we were consigned to a second-tier, one-bid conference, which pretty much assured a one and done in monster mismatches at the Big Dance. It hurt recruiting. It eliminated programs like Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, New Mexico, Nevada and Boise State that would have been big draws at Dahlberg. At a time Robin Selvig had built a solid women's program, it meant that program would be consigned to obscurity in the Big Sky. (In fact, at the time Selvig retired, with one of the best records among coaches at major college programs, he received scant attention from the national media.)

But that ship has sailed. We're stuck with the Big Sky. Football? Maybe you can make the case. But basketball? No way. The next Gonzaga? Hah! Not from this conference.
 
Please ask your friends at Big Sky headquarters - they will probably know more than eGriz.

grizzlyjournal said:
I have friends at Big Sky headquarters... but I gotta get this off my shoulders.
Click to expand...
 
Proud Griz Man said:
Please ask your friends at Big Sky headquarters - they will probably know more than eGriz.

grizzlyjournal said:
I have friends at Big Sky headquarters... but I gotta get this off my shoulders.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I have, Proud Griz Man... on several occasions. The first resulted with very detailed objections (here on eGriz) from a Big Sky official to my own criticism of the transfer of Big Sky post-season tourneys moving from the home of the regular season champions... to Reno :roll: Two years past I also communicated with a Big Sky rep (via email) regarding why the Big Sky/Pluto had such an inconsistent "on-demand" streaming schedule. The answer: "That's in Pluto's hands. They re-post games on their own schedule; sometimes within a week, sometimes not at all. There's nothing we can do about it." (This is not a direct quote of his answer, but very accurate) Most responses to my criticisms are met with some variation of "The Big Sky simply does not have the budget to implement the policies you're demanding." That has left me perplexed, because the WAC and Big West don't give the impression of being "big money" conferences, yet their conference websites are far advanced.
 
So, I went to watch big sky and switched the category to men's basketball, it showed the upcoming games, so I hit the Back arrow to go to the previous weeks games, and it took me to replays for December 29th . . . of 2018 . . . Yep, I can watch last year's Griz take on NAU in Flagstaff! Not that I want to, but I found that hilariously inept.
 
I find it strange that the live games post on watch bigsky, but you cant click them fullscreen! They also say powered by Eversport, but if you click on that and go to the Eversport site its dead as far as Bigsky content goes. So then you go over to Pluto and its the same stream, but I think worse quality than the watch bigsky eversport stream. Very strange.
 
CleanHOUSE said:
I find it strange that the live games post on watch bigsky, but you cant click them fullscreen! They also say powered by Eversport, but if you click on that and go to the Eversport site its dead as far as Bigsky content goes. So then you go over to Pluto and its the same stream, but I think worse quality than the watch bigsky eversport stream. Very strange.
Click to expand...

CleanHouse, use the Firefox browser instead of chrome when viisting watch big sky. Firefox will go full screen.
 
GJ = thanks for your reply and the added info.

grizzlyjournal said:
Two years past I also communicated with a Big Sky rep (via email) regarding why the Big Sky/Pluto had such an inconsistent "on-demand" streaming schedule. The answer: "That's in Pluto's hands. They re-post games on their own schedule; sometimes within a week, sometimes not at all. There's nothing we can do about it." (This is not a direct quote of his answer, but very accurate)
Click to expand...

If Pluto provides poor service, then the BSC and its customers should register complaints and request changes to their service. If Pluto doesn't address the BSC can seek better service elsewhere in the free-market. (There may be some people that want to watch the 2018 basketball games, but there is certain to be fans that want to watch the 2019 games just completed - Pluto management should understand those facts)
 
citay said:
Hey! Don't forget about me!

We're not in the MWC right now for one reason: Football.

Back in the days of the intense "move up" debates on the football board, the majority there was content to stay at 1-aa, and compete for national championships at a lower level. The arguments were diverse and ranged from substantive to frivolous: There were no major corporate sponsors in Montana. Our Montana kids simply couldn't compete at a higher level (before Bierman, Carpenter, Mariani were all competing at a high level in the NFL). Who wanted to play in the Weed Eater Bowl when you could be vying for a "national championship?" It was better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a minnow in an ocean. Montana was just a "flyover" state.

However much the Big Sky Conference benefited football, it was a disaster for basketball. It meant we were consigned to a second-tier, one-bid conference, which pretty much assured a one and done in monster mismatches at the Big Dance. It hurt recruiting. It eliminated programs like Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, New Mexico, Nevada and Boise State that would have been big draws at Dahlberg. At a time Robin Selvig had built a solid women's program, it meant that program would be consigned to obscurity in the Big Sky. (In fact, at the time Selvig retired, with one of the best records among coaches at major college programs, he received scant attention from the national media.)

But that ship has sailed. We're stuck with the Big Sky. Football? Maybe you can make the case. But basketball? No way. The next Gonzaga? Hah! Not from this conference.
Click to expand...

A few comments.

Football is much more important at UM than basketball.

I see some advantages to being in the Big Sky for hoops, including that the winner of the conference tourney gets to go to the NCAAs. I think it's easier to get to the tournry from the Big Sky, than from the MW.

The MW sent 2 teams last year. Which team would the Griz have beaten to get to the tourney?

"Nevada (29-4, 15-3 MW) and Utah State (28-6, 15-3 MW) will represent the Mountain West in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship."

Having the tourney is Boise is a big improvement.
 
PlayerRep said:
citay said:
Hey! Don't forget about me!

We're not in the MWC right now for one reason: Football.

Back in the days of the intense "move up" debates on the football board, the majority there was content to stay at 1-aa, and compete for national championships at a lower level. The arguments were diverse and ranged from substantive to frivolous: There were no major corporate sponsors in Montana. Our Montana kids simply couldn't compete at a higher level (before Bierman, Carpenter, Mariani were all competing at a high level in the NFL). Who wanted to play in the Weed Eater Bowl when you could be vying for a "national championship?" It was better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a minnow in an ocean. Montana was just a "flyover" state.

However much the Big Sky Conference benefited football, it was a disaster for basketball. It meant we were consigned to a second-tier, one-bid conference, which pretty much assured a one and done in monster mismatches at the Big Dance. It hurt recruiting. It eliminated programs like Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, New Mexico, Nevada and Boise State that would have been big draws at Dahlberg. At a time Robin Selvig had built a solid women's program, it meant that program would be consigned to obscurity in the Big Sky. (In fact, at the time Selvig retired, with one of the best records among coaches at major college programs, he received scant attention from the national media.)

But that ship has sailed. We're stuck with the Big Sky. Football? Maybe you can make the case. But basketball? No way. The next Gonzaga? Hah! Not from this conference.
Click to expand...

A few comments.

Football is much more important at UM than basketball.

I see some advantages to being in the Big Sky for hoops, including that the winner of the conference tourney gets to go to the NCAAs. I think it's easier to get to the tournry from the Big Sky, than from the MW.

The MW sent 2 teams last year. Which team would the Griz have beaten to get to the tourney?

"Nevada (29-4, 15-3 MW) and Utah State (28-6, 15-3 MW) will represent the Mountain West in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship."

Having the tourney is Boise is a big improvement.
Click to expand...

citay, playerrep: I'm not really making an argument for leaving the Big Sky. This has been a somewhat circurlar argument for several years and -- unless there's a major realignment among several western conferences sometime soon -- the Big Sky is our home. Like it or not, this is our conference.

What I AM asking is this: Why can't the Big Sky Conference make some relatively logical improvements that would improve the cohesiveness, visibility and access of the conference? Here's the reality: While the live streaming of most (non-football) Big Sky sporting contests is available, it's nonetheless hit and miss.(football access is even worse because of Root Sports!) It seems to me that the Big Sky should be able to require its member schools to provide a certain baseline streaming of live sporting events. Compared to live streaming events I've seen this year from the Summit, Western Athletic, Big West, Mountain West and West Coast Conferences, the Big Sky is stuck in the distant past. When on-demand streaming is taken into account, it gets significantly worse. In truth, I can locate on-demand streams of several Montana and Montana women's basketball games right now(!!!).... at the site of the other conference... but NOT at the Big Sky website.

It's my belief that a basic upgrade of live streaming and on-demand streaming of Big Sky Conference sporting events would significantly INCREASE the profile of this conference... at a very minimal overall increase in $$ cost OR, by a very basic requirement that all member schools comply with a minimum stream/on-demand stream availability of all home events. That's my basic argument.

I DO see that the Big Sky has ramped up its promotional efforts to get "everyone" out to the Big Sky post-season basketball tournament. It's everywhere on the Big Sky site. Ok, go for it. My argument is that the Big Sky could really increase the visibility of the conference and its member schools with easy and reliable access to all sporting events in a manner similar to the conferences I mentioned above.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
PlayerRep said:
citay said:
Hey! Don't forget about me!

We're not in the MWC right now for one reason: Football.

Back in the days of the intense "move up" debates on the football board, the majority there was content to stay at 1-aa, and compete for national championships at a lower level. The arguments were diverse and ranged from substantive to frivolous: There were no major corporate sponsors in Montana. Our Montana kids simply couldn't compete at a higher level (before Bierman, Carpenter, Mariani were all competing at a high level in the NFL). Who wanted to play in the Weed Eater Bowl when you could be vying for a "national championship?" It was better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a minnow in an ocean. Montana was just a "flyover" state.

However much the Big Sky Conference benefited football, it was a disaster for basketball. It meant we were consigned to a second-tier, one-bid conference, which pretty much assured a one and done in monster mismatches at the Big Dance. It hurt recruiting. It eliminated programs like Colorado State, Wyoming, San Diego State, New Mexico, Nevada and Boise State that would have been big draws at Dahlberg. At a time Robin Selvig had built a solid women's program, it meant that program would be consigned to obscurity in the Big Sky. (In fact, at the time Selvig retired, with one of the best records among coaches at major college programs, he received scant attention from the national media.)

But that ship has sailed. We're stuck with the Big Sky. Football? Maybe you can make the case. But basketball? No way. The next Gonzaga? Hah! Not from this conference.
Click to expand...

A few comments.

Football is much more important at UM than basketball.

I see some advantages to being in the Big Sky for hoops, including that the winner of the conference tourney gets to go to the NCAAs. I think it's easier to get to the tournry from the Big Sky, than from the MW.

The MW sent 2 teams last year. Which team would the Griz have beaten to get to the tourney?

"Nevada (29-4, 15-3 MW) and Utah State (28-6, 15-3 MW) will represent the Mountain West in the 2019 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship."

Having the tourney is Boise is a big improvement.
Click to expand...

citay, playerrep: I'm not really making an argument for leaving the Big Sky. This has been a somewhat circurlar argument for several years and -- unless there's a major realignment among several western conferences sometime soon -- the Big Sky is our home. Like it or not, this is our conference.

What I AM asking is this: Why can't the Big Sky Conference make some relatively logical improvements that would improve the cohesiveness, visibility and access of the conference? Here's the reality: While the live streaming of most (non-football) Big Sky sporting contests is available, it's nonetheless hit and miss.(football access is even worse because of Root Sports!) It seems to me that the Big Sky should be able to require its member schools to provide a certain baseline streaming of live sporting events. Compared to live streaming events I've seen this year from the Summit, Western Athletic, Big West, Mountain West and West Coast Conferences, the Big Sky is stuck in the distant past. When on-demand streaming is taken into account, it gets significantly worse. In truth, I can locate on-demand streams of several Montana and Montana women's basketball games right now(!!!).... at the site of the other conference... but NOT at the Big Sky website.

It's my belief that a basic upgrade of live streaming and on-demand streaming of Big Sky Conference sporting events would significantly INCREASE the profile of this conference... at a very minimal overall increase in $$ cost OR, by a very basic requirement that all member schools comply with a minimum stream/on-demand stream availability of all home events. That's my basic argument.

I DO see that the Big Sky has ramped up its promotional efforts to get "everyone" out to the Big Sky post-season basketball tournament. It's everywhere on the Big Sky site. Ok, go for it. My argument is that the Big Sky could really increase the visibility of the conference and its member schools with easy and reliable access to all sporting events in a manner similar to the conferences I mentioned above.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%.

It is inexcusable that the Big Sky doesn't have better, and really top notch, streaming and related media. Some things are doable, and many thing aren't. But this one should be easily doable. Whatever the cost, it's worth it. On the other hand, I know nothing about this technology nor what's going on with the conference in this regard.
 
Thanks for great post, GJ.

The issue with the bsc isn't that it sucks balls at anything and everything that it does. We've all known that for years.

The two issues with the bsc are:

(1) They don't ever do anything to improve, even when they themselves admit they suck balls.

(2) They don't give a shit about sucking balls and will happily tell their entire fanbase to go sit in the corner and be quiet and be happy with the ball-sucky product we constantly force-feed you, because this is the bsc and you're happy to get even this.


Look, I understand this ain't the SEC, and the assistant to the assistant commissioner isn't lighting his Cubans with $100 bills. But there are a LOT of free and/or minimal expense changes that could be made that would make the conference at least appear as though it's a legitimate DI conference. But this league won't make those changes because they don't give two flying fucks about their fans.
 
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