Problems on The Mtn.

Posted by:Mark Welling

As I was going through the Deseret News sports page, which is a daily tradition I have,(along with reading the sltrib.com and espn.com) I found an article by Scott D. Pierce which was very interesting. Mr. Pierce, wrote a previous article about the poor production of Mountain West football games on the MTN. In response Mr. Peirce's first article, Steve Hurlbut, the executive producer and director of programming for The Mtn., wrote a rebuttal. In it, Mr Hurlbut, stated that the production value is equal to any other network including, ESPN, NBC, and Foxsports. He then implied that the criticism in Mr. Pierce's article was unwarranted and stated, "We work hard to match or surpass any network in the world in programming quality, so there's not just plenty of TV to watch but also plenty of great TV." Which lead to the follow up article in Friday's sports section by Scott D. Pierce. In which Mr. Pierce stated, and I think rightfully so, that besides Mr. Hurlbut he had received no e-mail or comments criticizing his first article about the production of the Mtn. In fact, he said that the best way to fill his e-mail account with article of praise is to bring up the short comings of the network.

The moral of this story? When you have a terrible product you can't will people to think it is good. To say a major network broadcast(by the way that DOESN'T include VS. or CSTV both of which I would include in the same boat as the Mtn.) and the Mtn are on the same playing field is like saying a high school team can hang with the Patriots.

I thought to write all the problems with the Mtn, but the list is to long. So instead I introduce the new running segment, "Problems on the Mtn?" Each week we at the Big Podcast will post a problem and suggest easy solutions. One thing that is clear is the Mtn needs help, and we here will try to make it better.