No more BallySports OK

[WichitaSooner]

This sucks. As bad as Bally was, I could record games and watch them later, weeks or however long I needed to wait. ESPN Plus leaves them up for like one day, maybe two if you're lucky. Plus, it's yet ANOTHER expense I now have to pay. I hate it.

That's assuming Bally actually aired them at the time, and on the channel, listed in the guide. I found that about 50 percent of games aired on a different channel than listed. And here is how incompetent they are: two KC Royals games in the past week simply didn't air because they didn't send the correct programming to the cable company. Instead, they sent old MMA shows to Cox cable, and the games were not aired at all.

Bally has awful production value on college sports. They rarely show things like the shot clock, team fouls, etc. I was hesitant to subscribe to ESPN+, but have been happier than expected since I took the plunge over a year ago. As a massive sports fan, it is worth $5/month. It not only gives you access to lots of OU games, but other sports, plus columns/articles on their website.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

So because you don’t care about all of this content then that makes it not a big deal? What about all the other folks who do like to watch this content and have been pulling their hair out trying to watch via bally? The fact is the school will be making more money while providing a much better product for the fans. It’s a pretty big deal.

Bally's sucks. So we agree there. A big deal for baseball and softball watchers. I'll find my streams for basketball though.

 

[BoulderSooner]

https://soonersports.com/news/2022/...ulti-year-soonervision-on-espn-agreement.aspx

 

[WTSooner]

I watch on my smart TV. you can get a cheap fire stick if you have an older tv and shot it up to the big screen.

I watch on my tv as well, but it's still thru the ESPN+ app. It's just not very convenient.

I've also been very underwhelmed with the folks ESPN let's broadcast these games on ESPN+. I mean, some of those people should be embarrassed. It's that bad (IMO). Not saying Bally's has the best of the best, but some of those ESPN+ broadcasts are unbearable.

 

[Stikboy]

I watch on my tv as well, but it's still thru the ESPN+ app. It's just not very convenient.

I've also been very underwhelmed with the folks ESPN let's broadcast these games on ESPN+. I mean, some of those people should be embarrassed. It's that bad (IMO). Not saying Bally's has the best of the best, but some of those ESPN+ broadcasts are unbearable.

100%

I don't mind McKee and Manzer, I actually like them. I don't know where ESPN digs up some of these yahoos.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

I watch on my tv as well, but it's still thru the ESPN+ app. It's just not very convenient.

I've also been very underwhelmed with the folks ESPN let's broadcast these games on ESPN+. I mean, some of those people should be embarrassed. It's that bad (IMO). Not saying Bally's has the best of the best, but some of those ESPN+ broadcasts are unbearable.

It's funny because there are people that think you don't watch sports if you don't have ESPN+. It's meh to me.

 

[BoulderSooner]

https://soonersports.com/watch/?Archive=8467&type=Archive

 

[CoachTalk]

I watch on my tv as well, but it's still thru the ESPN+ app. It's just not very convenient.

I've also been very underwhelmed with the folks ESPN let's broadcast these games on ESPN+. I mean, some of those people should be embarrassed. It's that bad (IMO). Not saying Bally's has the best of the best, but some of those ESPN+ broadcasts are unbearable.

I concur. sometimes its mute for me. Feel like I could announce better!

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

I concur. sometimes its mute for me. Feel like I could announce better!

You're both right in this instance.

 

[skyvue]

i never listen to national announcers when watching OU sports; I always sync to OU's radio broadcast. All I need is the picture, which I can get with ESPN+ and could never get with Bally. This is great for OU fans who don't live in Oklahoma or texas.

As for any OU fan not feeling proud of OU's amazing softball program, I can only shake my head. Gasso is softball's Saban.

 

[WTSooner]

As for any OU fan not feeling proud of OU's amazing softball program, I can only shake my head. Gasso is softball's Saban.

Proud is one thing. But OU fans that NEVER watched a single softball game coming out of the wood work to watch and talk about OU softball now that they are elite, is just weird to me. I don't "fan" that way.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Proud is one thing. But OU fans that NEVER watched a single softball game coming out of the wood work to watch and talk about OU softball now that they are elite, is just weird to me. I don't "fan" that way.

We have a lot of fans who fan that way, unfortunately.

 

[MsProudSooner]

That's assuming Bally actually aired them at the time, and on the channel, listed in the guide. I found that about 50 percent of games aired on a different channel than listed. And here is how incompetent they are: two KC Royals games in the past week simply didn't air because they didn't send the correct programming to the cable company. Instead, they sent old MMA shows to Cox cable, and the games were not aired at all.

Bally has awful production value on college sports. They rarely show things like the shot clock, team fouls, etc. I was hesitant to subscribe to ESPN+, but have been happier than expected since I took the plunge over a year ago. As a massive sports fan, it is worth $5/month. It not only gives you access to lots of OU games, but other sports, plus columns/articles on their website.

I can't count the times I've sat down to watch one of the coach's shows or something else on Bally that I recorded and found they had aired something else. I had several conflicts with women's basketball games this year and could watch them later in the evening on ESPN+.

 

[skyvue]

Proud is one thing. But OU fans that NEVER watched a single softball game coming out of the wood work to watch and talk about OU softball now that they are elite, is just weird to me. I don't "fan" that way.

You "fan" in a very unusual manner yourself. I'll just leave it at that.

"Bandwagon" fans happen in every sport, in every city, in every state. Success always breeds interest. I'm not old enough to state it as fact, but I'm confident that OU football since Bud Wilkinson arrived in Norman has garnered much wider interest than it did before Bud. And if our down period of the '90s had extended into the 2000s and beyond, we'd have seen much less interest in Sooner football. It's human nature.

With softball (and other women's sports), it's been a different, bigger challenge. OU hasn't played the sport for even a half-century yet, and for many of those years, VERY few people cared or even knew much about women's sports. TV coverage was almost nil and people were still getting used to the idea of women's sports being an viable option for their viewership and support.

It's delightful to see young girls at OU softball games and basketball games be as thrilled to watch the Sooner women as I was at their age to watch the men. It's not that these fans are fairweather fans; they're brand new fans. That's a very different thing. We're watching a collegiate sport explode before our very eyes, with OU leading the way. And many of those young fans who are falling in love with the sport now will continue to support it for years to come.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

Proud is one thing. But OU fans that NEVER watched a single softball game coming out of the wood work to watch and talk about OU softball now that they are elite, is just weird to me. I don't "fan" that way.

BINGO. Plus, Softball as a sport is not fun to watch to me.

I don't like when others try to parade a sport on me because a team is good at it when the sport otherwise sucks.

 

[TarheelstateSooner]

Softball is a sport you support when OU is good and then try to make out like it's more popular, and more fun to watch than other sports. But when OU isn't good, you don't talk about it, nor care about it.

 

[skyvue]

The increase in the popularity of collegiate softball is not a matter of opinion; it's a documented fact. To name just one example: Last year's Women's College World Seri9es drew 59% more viewers than the Men's College World Series did.

 

[steverocks35]

Softball is a sport you support when OU is good and then try to make out like it's more popular, and more fun to watch than other sports. But when OU isn't good, you don't talk about it, nor care about it.

I am biased because my daughter played college softball but, in my opinion, women's fastpitch softball is a far superior sport to baseball or women's basketball. It's fast-moving and the players are exceptionally skilled.

After about the fifth time a guy throws over to first base to "hold a runner on" I'm grabbing the remote to see if someone has filmed grass growing so I can watch something more exciting.

 

[BCSooners]

I am biased because my daughter played college softball but, in my opinion, women's fastpitch softball is a far superior sport to baseball or women's basketball. It's fast-moving and the players are exceptionally skilled.

After about the fifth time a guy throws over to first base to "hold a runner on" I'm grabbing the remote to see if someone has filmed grass growing so I can watch something more exciting.

Not to mention the 8 pitching changes from the 6-9th innings.

 

[BoulderSooner]

Not to mention the 8 pitching changes from the 6-9th innings.

with the 3 batter min this no longer happens