Vol. 1 No. 10 — October 30th, 2019

Welcome to the tenth edition of the Rathbun Roundball Report, Subscriber First Name!

Let’s get to the basketball news!
 

Seasonal Complaints

We are two weeks into the new NBA season, and the serious travel is starting to kick in. And with it comes some predictable reaction.

Like complaining.

Last night, Denver found itself on the second of a road/home back to back. They hosted Dallas and the Mavs were able to win in Denver.

Nuggets coach Michael Malone—a personal favorite—had this to say about the travel “hardships” endured by his team.

From today’s Denver Post:

“Not falling into the trap of making excuses,” Malone said. “It’s not ideal, but it is what it is. You can waste valuable energy finding ways to come up with excuses about going into the game. We can’t do that.”

The Mavericks had the luxury of watching Monday’s game from Denver and avoided the worst of the wintery weather.

“You always want a situation where you’re rested, and if you catch a break with the other team playing, that’s always a break on paper, but you gotta make it a break in reality on the floor,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. “We’re going to have to play well. This is a top level team with great coaching and great depth and they’ve got a couple guys that haven’t even been playing that are really good players as well.

So refreshing. I’m not a big fan of back to backs, either. I got to bed in Miami Monday night/Tuesday morning at 3 am. I got home last night at 2 am. But guess what? Just like the players, I must perform. In my business, you are only as good as your last broadcast. And I don’t have the luxury of a guaranteed, multi-million-dollar contract.

Suck it up, guys. You know what you signed up for.
 

Dreaming of Streaming

Speaking of Denver, a little TV news from the Post’s Mike Singer:

Altitude Sports is extending its streaming agreement with Front Range bars that will allow those establishments to legally stream Nuggets and Avalanche games through Saturday, the regional sports network announced Tuesday.

The extension will allow Nuggets fans to watch Tuesday night’s matchup against the Mavericks as well as Saturday’s game at the Magic. The Nuggets have a national TV game Thursday in New Orleans. The Avalanche face Florida, Dallas and Arizona this week, and all three will be available at local bars and restaurants.

Television viewers throughout the Front Range have been unable to access Altitude Sports since its contracts with DirecTV, Dish Network and Comcast lapsed in late August. Negotiations to enter into a new contract with the “big three” providers have yet to produce an agreement.

Scary stuff in my business. Carriage deals are way above my pay grade, but fans pay big money to their cable and satellite provider to see your favorite teams.

Stories like this are becoming more and more commonplace as existing deals expire, and the pay model keeps changing.

It’s been a tough go for the Denver sports fans.

Meanwhile, is the pay TV model as we know it sustainable? The next generations have much different viewing habits.

To get at the heart of it, the nonprofit advocacy for kids and families Common Sense Media surveyed more than 1,600 kids in the U.S. between 8 and 18, a follow-up to a similar survey in 2015. 

Among the top-level results – again, probably not a revelation to parents who practically need a crowbar to get their kids off YouTube – is that online video usage is going through the roof and has more than doubled in four years. The percentage of young people who say they watch online videos “every day” has gone from 24% to 56% among 8- to 12-year-olds, and from 34% to 69% among 13- to 18-year-olds. 

And the amount of time each age group spends watching online videos has gone from about a half-hour a day to about an hour a day on average.

Read the complete USA Today story here:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/10/29/youtube-screen-time-overload-among-teens-and-tweens/2490553001/

Many in the sports and TV industries are trying to figure out what it all means going forward.
 

In Memoriam, Al Bianchi

The basketball world lost a good man this week, when Al Bianchi passed away.

When I was a kid growing up in North Carolina, I was allowed to cover the Carolina Cougars of the old ABA whenever and wherever I wanted for my radio station. The Cougs rotated their home games between Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, and sometimes Asheville.

I covered as many games as I could.

The coach of one of the visiting teams was Al Bianchi (Virginia Squires), and he took the time to go out of his way to be nice to a kid reporter back in the day. Al and I remained friends for years.

Here’s his New York Times obit if you would like to read more.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/sports/basketball/al-bianchi-dead.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbasketball&action=click&contentCollection=basketball&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
 

Thanks for subscribing! See you next week!
 

If you missed last week’s report! Don’t fret! All of our publications are archived at bobrathbun.com!

Just load the site on your favorite browser and click the link at the top of the homepage labeled “ROUNDBALL ARCHIVE” enter the password: roundballer2019

Every week’s edition will be archived for your convenience. If you have any trouble accessing the database, please contact bob@bobrathbun.com for support.