I was in New Orleans over the weekend, but I could feel the wrath of Utah fans all the way down on Bourbon Street.
And you could hardly blame them. Their team is having its best season ever; they've been promised the Utes-Cowboys game will be on TV— and then it doesn't happen.
Bad things happened, mistakes were made, misunderstandings abounded . . . and a lot of those fans are still mad at KTVX-Ch. 4 today.
Not to make excuses for the local ABC affiliate, but it was a victim in this itself. The station was thrilled to have the game on its schedule. Are you kidding? It looked like a ratings-bonanza during the November sweeps.
And it certainly wasn't Ch. 4's fault that there was a power outage that delayed the game and then knocked ABC off the air again right after the late kickoff.
That said, KTVX didn't necessarily handle it well. It should never have promised on-air that it would have the game and then cut to the "Harry Potter" movie. It should have done more to make viewers aware of what was happening when it felt it was constrained by its contract with ABC to carry the movie and not the game.
Did Ch. 4 really risk the wrath of ABC if it cut into the middle of the movie with the second half of the game? A source inside ABC (who didn't want to speak on the record) found that highly doubtful . . . but that's easy to say after the fact.
It is somewhat questionable, however. C'mon, Ch. 4's parent company, Clear Channel, owns or operates 41 TV stations, including six ABC affiliates. It boggles the mind to think that ABC would pull KTVX's affiliation, not only because it would risk its relationship with Clear Channel but because there are no viable alternatives in Utah.
But you can't exactly blame KTVX executives for upholding a contract, can you?
This was a bad situation exacerbated by poor communication on the part of the station. Lots of viewers were left in the dark; many couldn't get through to the station; those who did (even after the weekend) have complained they were treated rudely.
(Of course, judging by the calls I've taken over the years, I'm sure a lot of those callers weren't exactly using Emily Post manners themselves.)
A little more explaining and a lot more apologizing would have helped.
NOT ON THE SCHEDULE: Some Aggie fans were a bit peeved when KJZZ didn't telecast the USU-Arkansas State game last week — believing that Ch. 14 had decided not to carry the game at the last minute.
Actually, KJZZ execs told the Sun Belt Conference TV syndicators they weren't interested in the game way back in August. Apparently, there was some miscommunication with the university, which listed the Thursday-night game as a KJZZ telecast. (It's still listed that way on USU's Web site.)
IT'S A BIG DEAL: Not to get too giddy about this or anything, but in case you aren't already aware of the fact that ESPN's "College GameDay" telecast is coming to Utah this weekend, it is a Really Big Deal.
It's also pretty cool. For a day, at least, it sort of makes Salt Lake City the capital of college football on TV.
What with all the extra time they'll be devoting to the Utah-BYU game, I'm betting that Lee Corso won't be able to resist mentioning (again) that the Indiana team he coached beat BYU in the 1979 Holiday Bowl.
He probably won't mention that was one of only two winning seasons (out of 10) he had at Indiana, where he compiled a record of 41-68-2.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com