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ESPN plans to do cut-ins to all of their national broadcasts tonight whenever New York Yankees star Aaron Judge has an at-bat while he pursues the American League home run record, and Houston football fans are fuming about it.
Houston hosts AAC rival Tulane tonight in their first and potentially only prime-time home game on ESPN’s flagship TV channel. For fans of the Cougars – or either team really – having their game interrupted by a game that’s basically meaningless to them is proving frustrating.
Fans are pointing out that Judge’s record-chasing home run is of no relevance to anyone outside of the New York metro area. Others are saying that it’s not even that big of a deal as Barry Bonds’ mark of 73 is the “real record.”
There is plenty of vitriol being hurdled at ESPN now. And those two reasons listed as just a few of the more popular ones:
bonds has the record at 73 and we dont keep nl/al records anymore. get over yourselves
— Tom Broke-ah (@kenPOPtweets) September 30, 2022
I dont have a problem with this . i dont care either way but people watching a cougars-tulane game dont care about judges home runs and lets be real. its a yankees record etc.. people outside new york dont really care https://t.co/dLK5g20qi1
— Gabriel Morency (@sportsrage) September 30, 2022
Not cool, #ESPN. https://t.co/7sMk1ifRDr
— Steve Drumwright 🏳️🌈 #BLM (@DrummerWrites) September 30, 2022
If people want to watch someone try and get a 7th place record, they can pull it up on their phone. Don’t invade their main game like this https://t.co/dVNbwnkEwb
— Willie (@WillieStrokerWI) September 30, 2022
This is real dumb. The dude is still 12 short of the record. Why are we breaking in for a random homerun chance? https://t.co/jImF47Wtkf
— Chad (@ItsChaad) September 30, 2022
If only ESPN had multiple channels or a streaming platform to avoid this situation… https://t.co/uJPlLZkx9W
— Joe Buettner (@JoeBuettner) September 30, 2022
The fans all make a pretty good point. Outside of very specific media markets, Aaron Judge being on the brink of breaking Roger Maris’ AL home runs record is a rather niche accomplishment – and it isn’t even in a sport that fans in most media markets love the most.
Maybe if it were someone on the Houston Astros or even the Texas Rangers breaking a similar record it would make more sense since those baseball teams might have comparable fan bases where the Houston Cougars play. But not for this game.
If it’s any consolation to Cougars fans, they’re probably not the only ones who will be affected by this ESPN decision. Several college football games will be interrupted in a similar fashion until Judge finally gets that 62nd home run of the season.
Do Houston football fans have a right to be so outraged?