When Will TV Learn Which Games Matter?

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any weirder, it has. Imagine my surprise several weeks ago when ABC pulled an 11th-hour reversal and gave us the Oklahoma-Nebraska game. That blessed decision replaced the ire I felt that L.A.’s TV stations favored children’s cartoons over NCAA rivalries.

But now the powers that be have sunk back into the depths of their madness. CBS 2--Shame on you! The decision to show Notre Dame vs. Rutgers today (a meaningless game) rather than the granddaddy of all rivalries, Alabama vs. Auburn, is proof positive that your programming department has probably contracted Mad Cow disease! To deny a true fan of college football the ‘Bama-Auburn game is the equivalent of denying them the USC-UCLA game. Err, um, wait a minute. Now you tell me that the local networks can’t decide whether or not they’re going to show USC-UCLA?

STUART CHURCHWELL

Los Angeles