Presumably Stewart Mandel doesn’t get the Big Ten Network either. As a hockey fan, I can’t help but enjoy the utter novelty of his complaint about tonight’s Missouri-Oklahoma contest:

I get a little nervous whenever Fox Sports Net carries an important game, because there’s always the chance my local Fox Sports network will preempt it for a hockey game… Wait, what’s that? Fox Sports New York is showing a hockey game (Devils-Thrashers)? Nice going there, Big 12.

I’d like to argue local sports attract more viewers, but I know that’s patently untrue about the Devils (even the “local” part’s a stretch).

However, it appears, the game is still available on one of the Fox College Sports channels. I don’t personally pay for that particular cable tier, but suspect I would if writing about college football was my full-time job. The $5 per month would be tax deductible!

Update: Indeed, my fellow NU alumnus had to hit the local sports bar for a whiff of Wildcats football. Meanwhile, I’m in an Austin motel room with no Fox Sports at all (and yet, have ESPNU). Not that I’m about to change the channel on the LSU-Kentucky game, tied at 27 in the fourth.