Oregon State on NBC’s coverage of Barack Obama’s inauguration: orange and black and red all over

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No college basketball program in the nation needs free publicity more than Oregon State, which last year completed the first winless season (0-18) in the history of the Pac-10 Conference.

So no wonder the Beaver Nation was up in arms with NBC’s coverage of Tuesday’s presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Craig Robinson, Oregon State’s first-year coach, and the brother of Michelle Obama, received plenty of face time on television, but NBC ended up with the red face.

First, network newsman Brian Williams identified Robinson as Reggie Love, Obama’s personal assistant.

Later, after NBC corrected the error, Tom Brokaw made note of Robinson wearing a scarf with his ‘Princeton’ colors. And while it’s true Robinson attended Princeton and its colors (orange and black) are the same as Oregon State’s, well, Robinson isn’t recruiting these days for Princeton.

Oregon State fans saw it as clear snub of their school, and it didn’t take long for Portland Oregonian columnist John Canzano to take NBC to the Peacock shed with a blistering commentary.

NBC in Corvallis now stands for Not Beavers’ Channel.

-- Chris Dufresne