Lehigh Football Nation

The decision was made.  We were going up to my parent's house over Labor Day weekend. I knew it was the right decision, the correct decision.  My dad, who had suffered a back injury, was rehabbing, requiring for the first time in his incredibly active life to require the use of a walker to get around.  He and my mother wouldn't be driving down to Lehigh for any football games in the next couple of months, which effectively meant if I was going to spend any significant time with them, it was going to be this weekend - opening weekend.  The weekend that I wait for with fevered anticipation for more than nine months. But sometimes bubbles need to be burst.   For the last nine months, I've lived in bubbles: a bubble of Lehigh football, FCS expertise, and a focus on the football season.  I had lived in a bubble where I thought my father was still invincible, even in retirement unable to stay in one place, always able to come down with mom to vis...

It was hard to know what to think when the following announcement came up on the Patriot League Twitter account: Major announcement coming from the @PatriotLeague this afternoon....very exciting development for 2013-14 and beyond! — Patriot League (@PatriotLeague) July 29, 2013 Out of the blue, there it was.  What could it be?  More (gasp) expansion news?  The pro-bono hiring of Jon Gruden as Frank Tavani 's assistant defenisive coach at Lafayette?  Free sno-cones at football's Patriot League Media Day, scheduled for this Wednesday? It wasn't any of these three possibilities, but it was something even better. Now, any Patriot League fans with a decently-fast laptop, tablet or phone will now be able to stream a large number of games over the internet. For free.

Today, CBS Sports Network and the Patriot League announced their two-game national broadcast schedule for Patriot League football, and it had a major surprise. One of the games listed on their schedule was none other than the Lehigh/Colgate game on November 10th. What's surprising not was that a Lehigh game appeared for national broadcast - after all, last year's Lehigh/Colgate game up in Hamilton was broadcast on the CBS Sports Network as well.  It also wasn't surprising that Jim Rome , CBS Network's star power, gave the OK for the game as well.  (Well, we don't know that Mr. Rome has say over everything broadcast on CBSSN, but we can speculate, of course, right?) No, what was surprising was that this broadcast will be the first nationally-produced broadcast of a football game in Murray Goodman stadium.  Really.

(Graphic Credit: Bogus Megapardus, not-so-proud member of the Any Given Saturday Community) The definition of the word "kerfuffle" is a one-liner: a "commotion" or "fuss". This week, a kerfuffle broke out in the world of the Patriot League: a fuss over broadcast rights in regards to televising a Patriot League football game. Inadvertently, the commotion about the airing of a Patriot League football game highlights a lot more than the situation of the game itself: it also highlights the strange, twisted world of Patriot League football coverage nationally and the differences they have, say, with the television concerns of the big boys.   (more)

One day after announcing their mega-deal with the CBS Sports Network, the folks at the Patriot League had another surprise in the offing: that the October 29th clash between Colgate and Lehigh would be one of the two Patriot League games televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network. Two of the most intriguing games of the Patriot League football season have been selected for national television coverage in 2011, as both the Massachusetts at Holy Cross matchup on Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. and the Lehigh at Colgate game on Oct. 29 at Noon will be televised on CBS Sports Network. In other words, "Hate the 'Gate" goes national. (more)

If you can't be at the game (or you're only going to the tailgate), there are lots of places around the country to watch the game at telecast parties . Nationally and internationally, "The Rivalry" is broadcast everywhere for Lehigh alums to get together, share a cold one and also sing the old Lehigh alma mater with friends. There's also, of course, your TV (FCS Central, and Channel 69) and computer as well though Yahoo! Broadcast if you want to host your own viewing party. (If you're technically savvy - and I've done this before - you can route your laptop through your TV and watch the Yahoo! Broadcastt on your regular TV.) And that's only half the story, too. One of the more underreported parts of "The Rivalry" involve the media surrounding both schools. It could be the only game in America where there are two full staffs of commentators, play-by-play and cameras covering the game at the same time. Lehigh and Lafayette both sponsor TV b...

I figured I'd make my life really easy this afternoon - aside from the "Phillies Fever" that has overtaken my workplace (and the fact I was up late last night watching the Phillies lose to the Dev* I mean Rays 4-2) means that I think I'll tackle only one subject that I've written about elsewhere. On second thought... make that two subjects. But before I do that let me quickly mention that Lehigh's game will be on local and national TV this weekend: on WFMZ Channel 69 at 1:00 p.m. and nationally at 1:00 p.m. on FCS Atlantic, as well as on radio on AM 1230 and 1320 in the Lehigh Valley. If you can't get any of these media outlets, surf on over to lehighsports.com - you can get streaming video of the game online. First, Lehigh beat writer Keith Groller had the opportunity to travel down to Tampa to cover games 1 and two for the Morning Call (lucky dog), and he's been blogging about it . It's real good stuff: witness: One of the funniest Saturday ...

Today's water cooler topic is appropriate enough to me, for sure. Whether you're a Philadelphia Phillies fan (like my wife, 10-4!) or (like me) a Boston Red Sox fan (who stayed up late last night to witness another miracle comeback last night ), chances are you've been spending a lot of time in front of the TV. Now, I am not made of money. I don't have a TV like the one to my left, nor do I have the budget to take a trip up to Harvard this weekend. That means I'm going to be spending a lot of time on Saturday - my first one, as a matter fact - watching Patriot League games on TV and over the internet instead of watching it live. For Lehigh fans and fans of "that school in Easton" that live in the Philadelphia area, we're in luck this weekend. Locally, Channel 69 carries the Lehigh game at Harvard with a 12:30 p.m. start time, and RCN-4 and WPBH-60 carries the Lafayette game at Liberty starting at 3:30 p.m. - ensuring that my home-grown DVR will be...

The Rust family has guaranteed that football alumni will always have a dry place to tailgate for Lehigh games - the Rust Family Football Pavillion, to be dedicated on September 6th before the Drake game , is a new, dedicated area on Goodman Drive for football alumni to gather before and after Lehigh games. (Hopefully they'll let this non-football alumnus get some shelter under the pavilion every once in a while - and maybe offer me some fried turkey, too.) Tailgating at the pavilion will start at 10:30AM, while at 11:30 AM an official dedication ceremony will also take place. I hope to be there to witness the dedication myself. The final piece of the broadcast puzzle fell into place for Lehigh's broadcast TV schedule, which was announced today by Lehigh Athletics : Game TV Broadcasts Sept. 6, Drake, SE2 Sept. 13, at Villanova, (none) Sept. 27, at Princeton. WFMZ-TV, FSN Pittsburgh, FCS Oct. 4, Cornell, SE2 Oct. 11, Fordham, SE2, FCS Oct. 18, at Harvard, WFMZ-TV, NESN Oct....