Rockies fans are denied

By George Kay
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 2:17 PM MDT

There is an old saying that goes something like “there is nothing worse than a lover scorned.” I would like to add to that with the phrase “except perhaps a baseball fan who is denied coverage of his favorite team.”

That was the case last Sunday, May 18, when local Colorado Rockies fans were unable to watch their favorites in an inter-league game with the Minnesota Twins.

For some unknown reason, Colorado games on Sunday seem to be a problem for the Bresnan cable system in Wyoming. Earlier Sunday games this season have been available on Denver Channel 20 and in the Casper system on Channel 8.

However, we generally miss the first few minutes until contact is established, and the games suddenly appear.

During the week, Rockies games are well covered and available on Channel 25 from Fox-Rocky Mountain. No problem Monday through Saturday, but Sunday apparently presents a much bigger challenge to the Bresnan system.

When an avid baseball fan expects a game to be televised and it doesn’t happen, generally there is unhappiness, to put it mildly. To head off this unpleasantness, I stopped in at the Casper Bresnan office a few weeks ago and was assured that the Rockies Sunday games would be available on the local cable system.

In fact, the nice folks in the local office printed a schedule of the Sunday games, complete with starting time and the appropriate channel designation. That seemed to end the problem except that the subsequent Sunday games were shown on Channel 8 and not on the channel designated on the schedule I was provided.

But that was a minor problem and was easily overlooked until last Sunday when the Rockies-Twins game simply was not shown anywhere on the Casper system.

After waiting a half-hour, I called the Bresnan number to see if they had forgotten about the Rockies game. Thanks to modern technology, it is impossible to actually contact the Casper Bresnan office.

You must explain the problem to a far-off operator who has no concept of what you are talking about and has no way of correcting the omission. Without the expected TV coverage of that game, I was forced to turn to the radio coverage and listened to the broadcast on the Douglas station, KKTY AM 1470. The reception was marginal, but better than sitting at my computer all afternoon to follow the game.

So, Rockies fans unite. I am calling for all loyal Colorado fans to let the Bresnan cable company know that we truly desire to be able to watch our favorite team play on Sunday. After all, there is a reason we pay for expanded cable every month, and we should not be denied access to Rockies’ games, which are available on other cable systems in the state.

On a less contentious subject, I think the folks at Casper College got it right when they chose Dwight Gunnare as the new women’s basketball coach.

The whole selection process was unusually transparent as the four finalists were made available to answer the questions of T-Bird supporters. And it didn’t take forever for the selection committee to come up with a decision and make the recommendation that Gunnare was the coach for the job.

After a remarkable success story at the Miles City, Mont., junior college, Gunnare appears to be the perfect fit to take over for Angelo Hill, who’s moving to New Zealand.

Gunnare has the resume to appeal to Casper College fans, and he seems to be willing to stay with the program and not use this job as a springboard to move to a four-year college.

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