CTC has Ohio sports and

For the first time that I have ever noticed, SportsTime Ohio, the Cleveland Indians Network that I have often criticized, aired a MAC-focused program. Bobcat Blitz, a WOUB production, aired this evening at 7:30 pm.

Now many of you may say “big deal,” but I have been calling for SportTime Ohio, the channel providing the self-proclaimed most complete coverage of Ohio sports to bring us coverage of more than just Cleveland teams and Ohio State football since the channel kicked off in April of 2006. The big deal here is that the network is finally beginning to listen, and the potential this has for expanded coverage for 6 of the MAC’s 13 teams is enormous. So whether you are an Ohio Bobcats fan or a fan of any other MAC football program, I encourage you to go to SportsTimeOhio.com and send them a quick positive note for airing some MAC football programming.

It’s been over a month since I last mentioned the tasteless Labatt Blue talking deer commercial. You know the one; “we get the fawns up at 5″ says the talking deer in the store. He then goes on to have one of the most obvious f-bombs in the history of TV bleeped out poorly.

I have received a few comments for my speaking out against SportsTime Ohio and the Labatt deer commercial, and there’s one thing I don’t intend to do, and that is back down on my stance. For someone who has kids and loves sports, but wants to raise their kids in an environment where curse words are not used, how do you explain to them this commercial? The f-bomb is the one word that is not allowed on TV, minus certain channels and movies. I truly feel that the continued airing of this commercial by SportsTime Ohio is not only tasteless but also irresponsible. Anything other than correcting this matter immediately is unacceptable.

I was listening to Munch on Sports on ESPN 850 WKNR this evening and heard a ad for SportsTime Ohio claiming that STO provides “The Most Complete Coverage of Ohio Sports.” The Most Complete Coverage of Ohio Sports? Seriously? Does SportsTime Ohio seriously claim to have “the most complete coverage of Ohio sports?” Now I have not hesitated to be critical of SportsTime Ohio in the past, but I am extremely disappointed in the false claims by this station. STO has stated in their TV commercials that they cover Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo and Columbus, but this claim of “the most complete coverage of Ohio sports” is just plain ridiculous. With no coverage of Cincinnati’s 2 pro teams (Bengals, Reds), the Columbus pro teams (Blue Jackets, Crew, Destroyers) the 6 MAC colleges (Ohio, Miami, BG, Kent, Akron & Toledo) and the UC Bearcats, this claim to have “the most complete coverage of Ohio sports” is a blatant lie.

After watching almost every inning of the Indians vs. Reds series on SportsTime Ohio, I saw the Labatt Blue Deer Commercial several times. Enough times to really tick me off at both SportsTime Ohio and Labatt Blue for their lack of class. While watching the Indians postgame tonight that same “we get the fawns up at 5″ commercial with the poorly bleeped-out “you got that f&%#in’ right” comment aired yet again. I’m not even 30 years ld yet, but that is just plain uncalled for and classless. There is no need to imply that language and it’s a shame that many of you seem to find this acceptable. It says a lot about our country (or maybe about Canada since Labatts is a Canadian beer…).

A little message for SportsTime Ohio and Labatt Blue. The more I see your commercial, the more I am gonna bash you both. Until you pull this commercial from the SportsTime Ohio airwaves I will gladly bring you negative attention. It’s that simple. Clean up your airwaves by removing the Labatt Blue deer commercial, and get a little class SportsTime Ohio!

While watching all three games in the weekend series between the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds on Sports Time Ohio this weekend, I watched the same commercials over and over again. Normally commercials don’t give me reason to blog, but one in particular really ticked my wife and I off. A specific Labatt Blue commercial features a guy at the store where a deer comes up to him and engages him in conversation. The deer is obviously giving the guy a hard time for not being out in the woods or something like that, and makes comments about “frolicking in the woods since 6 am” and “getting the fawns up at 5.” The guy makes a comment back to the deer before the scene ends with the deer saying “you got that f*&%ing right!”

Now I don’t know if this bothers you or not, but it does bother me and it bothered my wife as well. Yes, the f-word has lost a lot of power over the years due to the over-use by millions of English-speaking people. But this obvious beeping-out of the f-word, and you can’t tell me that he was saying anything other than the f-word, is just plain tasteless. My wife even made mention of the fact that if we had kids they could not even watch a baseball game anymore thanks to this commercial.

I feel this is a bit of poor judgement on the part of SportsTime Ohio. The station exists to help the Cleveland Indians compete and bring in revenue, but commercials like this one from LaBatt Blue have no place on STO or any other network in my opinion. I hereby ask SportsTime Ohio to use better judgement in the future and remove this commercial from their programming immediately.

Ok, I get it. SportsTime Ohio is a station started by the Cleveland Indians primarily for their baseball team to generate revenue and compete with bigger markets. That makes perfect sense. But there’s a problem with the name of the network. “SportsTime Ohio” just is not accurate. SportsTime Ohio does not cover anything outside of Northeast Ohio with the exception of The Overrated State, oops I mean the Ohio State Buckeyes. Other than OSU, there’s no coverage of other Ohio teams. Heck, you’d think that a Northeast-Ohio driven network would air some Kent State or Akron games, but not on SportsTime Ohio. I guess that would make too much sense… 

It’s not like SportsTime Ohio (STO) is a part-time venture like our Ohio Sports Time blog; these guys are a full-time affair with multiple employees. The last time I checked, Ohio had the Cincinnati Reds and Cinncinati Bengals, and the Columbus Blue Jackets in the pro world. Heck, even the Columbus Crew could be mentioned if you want to truly cover Ohio. Then you have Kent and Akron as I mentioned before, Bowling Green, Miami, Ohio, UC and Toledo. Then you have Wright State, Xavier, Youngstown State, Cleveland State & Dayton in the D-I college basketball world of Ohio teams. I believe YSU & CSU received a little coverage this past winter from STO, but again, this is a full-time Ohio sports network.

All things considered, I know SportsTime Ohio is still rather young after just launching 15 months ago for the start of the 2006 Cleveland Indians baseball season, but again, this is a full-time network and I just do not beliebe they are getting it done. Until they really cover all of Ohio, SportsTime Ohio should be referred to as “SportsTime Northeast Ohio.”

 Past SportsTime Ohio topics on the Ohio Sports Time blog:

• 04.06 - MAC sports on SportsTime Ohio
• 04.06 - SportsTime Ohio update: DirecTV added in Northeast Ohio
• 04.06 - SportsTime Ohio: Coming to a TV near you?
• 03.06 - Welcome to Ohio Sports Time