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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: How Ohio University helped make ESPN what it is today (OT)
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bigtillyoopsupsideurhead
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bigtillyoopsupsideurhead
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Posted: 6/2/2011 2:07 PM
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I recently started reading ESPN's new book, Those Guys Have All the Fun and came across a little piece on how our basketball team did their part to make ESPN a success.

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"In mid-Mach of '83, two months into the network's newly revised financial arrangement with cable operators, lightning struck. ESPN's innovative policy of cutting simultaneous basketball games - from game to game - paid off spectacularly at that year's NCAA tournament.

Viewers saw three perfect buzzer-beater finales within hours of one another: Maryland's Len Bias helping to strike down Tennessee-Chattanooga; Ohio University's Robert Tatum ending Illinois State's run; and Purdue's Steve Reid breaking the hearts of Robert Morris. It was a brilliantly orchestrated Hallelujah Chorus of sports - the director in the control room making just the right decisions on which game to cut to, and when to cut to it. Fans were dazzled, and ESPN's reputation burgeoned.

By October of 1983, ESPN could claim the title of America's largest cable network, its signal reaching 28.5 million homes. Ad revenue rose 60 percent to $40 million. "



I wasn't alive yet, but I'm sure there must be some older gentlemen Bobcat fans who remember that moment quite fondly.
oldkatz
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Posted: 6/2/2011 2:27 PM
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If my synapses are still firing right, I think WOUB carried it as part of a pledge night.  Danny was a great interview after the game and Bob had one of his  signature loud plaid sports coats.

  One of the male cheerleaders ran to the camera yelling "we're back!!!"  Big night and big fun.
Last Edited: 6/2/2011 2:28:00 PM by oldkatz
Jeff McKinney
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Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 6/2/2011 3:13 PM
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You're right, WOUB ran the game. 
anorris
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Posted: 6/2/2011 3:18 PM
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Nice! Got the book a week ago, trying to put off starting it until I finish off the quarter.
giacomo
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Posted: 6/6/2011 10:50 AM
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In Nov or Dec of 1979 we were playing in the Connecticut Mutual Classic. They had to move the tournament to New Haven, as the Hartford Civic Center had the roof blown off in a storm. While we were in the locker room getting ready to go out to floor, somebody stopped us and said we had to wait because the game was being shown on TV. Now, we never played on TV in those days and we were very surprised. It was ESPN and it had to be one of their very first basketball broadcasts, if not the first.
Pataskala
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Posted: 6/8/2011 10:53 PM
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And one sportscaster who popped up frequently in ESPN's early days was a classmate of mine, Ken Broo.  He did quite a few interviews, a fair amount of play-by-play as I recall and did their Monster Truck telecasts in the early '90s.
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