I watched the Vikings-Broncos game today on Fox, as it was broadcast locally here in New York. It turned into a great game between two young QBs who know each other well: Christian Ponder of Florida versus Tim Tebow of Florida State.
Ponder has harrassed all day by the Denver defense, and injured his hip early on. But the kid showed a lot of guts, and set the Vikings rookie record for most yards thrown in a game: 381 yards. He went 29-for-47, with three TDs, two to Percy Harvin. But he threw two costly interceptions.
One was brought back for a TD in the first quarter, and the other happened inside two minutes to play with the game tied at 29. Denver brought the ball down to the five yard line and ran the clock down to two seconds, before kicking the game-winning field goal for a 35-32 win.
A heartbreaking loss for the Vikings, and it was their 10th loss of 2011.
But the title of this post refers to the Fox network, who broadcast the game. I knew the network would have to leave the contest if it was still going on by 4:15 PM, as the Giants-Packers game was to follow. TV has those rules about the home market, and that is fine, and I have no problem with that.
The problem I have if that Fox always pulls this crap of not leaving when the late game is kicking off, but BEFORE the game starts, and today they left at 4:11 PM, a full four minutes before the Giants game started. They left the Vikings game just when the Broncos tied it at 32, just inside of two minutes to play. They left to show FOUR BLOODY MINUTES OF COMMERCIALS!! That really pisses me off, as you can read.
I've ranted on this blog about this crap before. Today I was fortunate to have NFL RedZone (which I highly recommend), and I saw most of the plays that ended the game, including the game-winning field goal.
Absolutely no excuse for screwing over fans like this. Only one way to sum it up:
Money talks, bullshit walks.
