The mtn. has made massive progress in increasing its distribution. But that doesn't mean that it's anywhere near where Mountain West Conference coaches, players, presidents and fans want it to be.
When the channel launched in 2006, it was seen in maybe a million-ish homes.
The mtn. (and CBS C) have announced a deal with Cox cable in the Phoenix/Tucson area and Orange County, Calif., that will add about 250,000 homes — which will bring The mtn.'s total to almost 7 million.
Again, that's great progress. That's 7 million down, 107.5 million left to go. (According to Nielsen Media Research, there are 114.5 million American homes equipped with one or more TVs.)
The mtn. also has a ways to go to catch up with ESPN (98 million), ESPN2 (97 million), ESPN Classic (63 million) and ESPNU (46 million).
The good news is that the MWC's other two TV outlets are also making progress. Versus has passed 75 million; CBS C can be seen in 84 million homes on cable, satellite or video providers.
But it's sort of depressing to think that The mtn. is in 7 million homes and the Big Ten Network is in 73 million.
INTELLECTUAL STUPIDITY: The other day, I heard a bit of Colin Cowherd's radio show. He was mocking Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and the hearings into the Bowl Championship Series. Cowherd's point was that Florida played a better schedule than Utah and that anyone who didn't believe the Gators were better was "ridiculous" and guilty of "intellectual dishonesty."
We could debate the BCS, obviously, but Cowherd was ridiculous on several counts:
The debate is over access, not which is the better team. It's intellectually dishonest to reframe the debate and then ridicule the other side.
Cowherd repeatedly referenced Utah's unbeaten 2004 and 2008 teams and Hawaii's unbeaten-in-the-regular-season 2007 squad. And he referred to the "three" Mountain West Conference teams that went to BCS Bowls. Except that Hawaii isn't in the MWC, it's in the WAC.
Cowherd derided Utah's schedule, failing to mention that the Utes stomped Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. A rather selective use of facts.
Cowherd insisted that those MWC teams (including, ahem, Hawaii) had played all their tough games at home when they went undefeated. And, he added, keep an eye on BYU this season, because the Cougars have two tough games, Florida State and Oklahoma — both at home.
Oklahoma is not coming to Provo. The game is at a neutral site. Although if you argue that Dallas will be a neutral site, you're being ridiculous.
Again, there's obviously room to debate the BCS. But when you can't get your facts straight — when you don't even know what league schools are in — well, that's just intellectual stupidity.
And you lose the debate.
e-mail: pierce@desnews.com