Thursday, November 17, 2005

Michigan geography refresher course???

Last night I was watching the local sports channels to find out how the district action is going in girls basketball so I can fill out my brackets. As I excitedly read the bottom ticker sponsored by Kessel's, I noticed a preculiar score: Sandusky 60, Dexter 33. I really can't remember if that is correct score, but that is neither here nor there. I know it can be hard to pronounce some school names or there can be a bad cell phone connection and the TV station thought you said one thing but you actually said something different, but come on. How does a person working at a TV station confuse DEXTER with DECKERVILLE. But that still isn't the point here. I know not everyone may have heard of Dexter before, but I do because I've lived a little in the Ann Arbor area to know Dexter, not only a class A school (Class C schools would never play a Class A school), is located 15 miles west of Ann Arbor off of I-94. So, I can see this happening once in awhile because not everyone knows every city in Michigan, nor does the person answering the phone at a local TV station getting paid minimum wage probably care about girls basketball and all that jazz. It must be said, however, that 30 seconds after reading the wrong team on the bottom ticker, it was changed to Deckerville.

But I still haven't given you the real kicker in the story...the bottom ticker not only said Dexter on TV 25, but TV 12 also had the same mistake! How does it happen to two TV stations? How are the scores reported so badly by the same person that both stations had it as Dexter? How can two TV station phone operators not wonder for 3 seconds what the person on the other line said..."Dexter vs Sandusky?...boy, that sure doesn't sound right, but I'll take their word for it. Man, I don't know if I should ask the person for sure on that score, because in the mid-Michigan area, I've heard of Reese, Lakers, Midland, Bay City, Caro, but Dexter? When did they join the mid-Michigan playing area? Well, it must be Dexter." From now on, I'm going to call in the Owen-Gage basketball scores and say, "Owen-Gage 54, Kalamazoo 32." I want to know what they will think first. Will they think it's improbable that O-G will play against a team so far away, or will they think it's improbable that a class D school could beat a class A school. What will they wonder first?

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