Page 12-The Michigan Daily --Tuesday, September 18, 1990 I- Turn in Griddes' picks Make your picks for the week, and drop them off at the Student Publications Building at 420 Maynard by Friday at 5 p.m. Winner gets a $12 gift certificate to O'Sullivans on South University. 1.U CLA at Michigan 2. Notre Dame at MSU 3. Tennessee at Auburn 4. USC at Washington 5. San Diego St. at BYU 6. Colorado at Texas 7. Virginia at Duke 8. Pittsburgh at Syracuse 9. Mississippi at Arkansas 10. Minnesota at Nebraska 11. Oregon at Arizona 12 Missouri at Indiana 13. Iowa State at Iowa 14.Northwestern at Rice 15. Rutgers at Penn State 16. Indiana State at Purdue 17. Temple at Wisconsin 18. N. Texas St. at Texas A&M 19. Tulsa at Oklahoma 20. Florida St. at Tulane Tiebreaker: Pick the score of Michigan-UCLA: Name:_ Phone:_ X 1 U T Cl /'1" L1 1 tubeI talk sends bad by Jeff Lieberman Daily Sport Contributor Scrambling in the NFL is some- thing usually associated with the likes of John Elway, Randall Cun- ningham, and Rodney Peete. Now scrambling has a whole new mean- ing, with far greater consequences than whether or not a quarterback reaches the first-down marker. Several weeks ago, NFL com- missioner Paul Tagliabue was faced with a minor problem. Bars and clubs across the nation were broad- casting NFL games off satellite dishes to their patrons. Tagliabue was left with the decision of whether to allow these establishments to rake in big dough on NFL Sundays while the league missed out on the action. Tagliabue didn't back down and he ordered the networks to scramble the signals of these games, under the notion that if the league is not mak- ing money from it, then no one else should. This is, of course, a valid point. After all, the NFL does not play its games just for the fun of it - it is a big business. It sells its television rights to the networks, who bid mil- lions of dollars to broadcast the games. However, what many people, including Tagliabue, seem to over- look are the other benefits satellite broadcasts bring to the league. Despite being an enormously profitable venture, the NFL is still in existence for the fans - I would hope. Without the 60,000 to 80,000 gridiron junkies in each stadium week after week, the league would have no chance to exist. It would make sense, then, that the league should want to accommo- date the fans and allow them to watch the largest variety of games possible. After all, the league cannot dictate that people root for the teams in their city. The networks gear their broad- casts around local games. If a local team is playing, and the game is not blacked-out, it will be the only game shown in that time slot. So, if CBS carries the Lions at Tampa Bay at 1 p.m., chances are you won't be see- ing a game on NBC until 4 p.m. This policy is terribly unfair to those fans who for some reason or another have no interest in seeing the Lions play, but would rather see the Giants or the Browns. That is the case in Ann Arbor, where many students are from out of state and want desperately to see their team play, but cannot find a place show- ing the game. Scrambling signals just worsens this problem by preventing fans from catching their teams' games on the air. I'm not saying that by scram- bling their television signals; the NFL is going to drive away hordes of fans. But it certainly won't please fans who want to see their out-of- town teams. With the league generating so much money from its current televi- sion contracts, it seems extremely signals greedy for Tagliabue to push foo more money while blocking out fans: across the nation. By showing these games across the country, the NFL is attracting huge audiences and giv- ing nationwide promotion to the league and its superstars. This is one advantage which thJ NFL cannot find anywhere else. It is not difficult to argue that the NFL: now has its largest following ever irn history. Allowing these games to shown is promulgating football's popularity. A more reasonable solution which would please both sides - the business interests of the NFL and the fans - would be to work out some sort of an arrangement with either the bar owners or the satellite dish marketers. Maybe charging a fee to bar own. ers for the right to broadcast the games. Or perhaps work out a deal where a percentage of profits at a bar on football Sundays would be given to the league. Whatever the answer is, the pow- ers that be must be able to come up with some sort of compromise which would please all sides involved. CONFUSED?? Need help with your FUND RAISER? yWOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL VOLLEYBALL VS. '~.4CUBA Thursday, Sept. 20 x E U.of M.'s Crisler Arena -7:30PM S aiTickets on sale now at U. of M.'s athletic ticket office 764-0244. - General Admission $9 -U. of M. students $5 STUDY FOR ONE YEAR OR FOR ONE OR TWO TERMS IN - 0% F Rl Meet with an Oxford Tuesday, Sept. 18th, International Center 603 E. Madison St. WHSC Representative 3:30 p.m. The Washington International Studies Council 214 Massachsetts Ave., NE, Suite 450 Washington, DC 20002 (202) 547-3275 Classifieds' GREEK GAB can help you make the MO$T of it 764-0557 i 764-0557 I (202) 547-3275 ,0" 2 9 p I I 01 Mii,,