30 Day Countdown - Day 6: National Make Fun of Pac-12 Network Day

I watch a ton of Pac-12 Network. I can actually differentiate between Roxy Bernstein and Ted Robinson. I have also learned to detect the subtle nuances that make Jill Savage a completely different person than Ashley Adamson.

But really, it’s just the content that has us addicted; we follow Pac-12 sports and they have it. The pregame shows are meh. The post game analysis is fine —I mean, there’s football highlights at least. But there is just something unintentionally comical about the chuckleheads of the Pac-12 Sports desk.

Mike Yam is your host, and he does an adequate job of getting the questions out to his (often giggling) analysts. Yam also plays the self deprecating role as he sets up ex-players to make fun of him for being a weak little man who never played football. That part is probably in Yogi Roth’s contract.

Speaking of Roth, this dude is polished and rehearsed, but he also has that “biggest douche in the fraternity” quality. You know, the guy who bullied all the pledges way beyond what everyone else was comfortable with. Roth is also the network’s rah-rah boy. Every good player in the Pac-12 is “one of the best in the conference, MAYBE the ENTIRE COUNTRY.”

I should mention that Roth is also part of “The Drive” production crew. This documentary series is fantastic, far too good to go into detail about on National Make Fun of Pac-12 Network Day. Watch this clip tomorrow:

Part of the formula for college football studio shows is to always include a semi-senile former coach. Nick Aliotti is the Pac-12 Networks’ Lee Corso. Aliotti most recently retired from his position as Oregon’s defensive coordinator following the 2013-14 season, completing a 38-year coaching career in college and professional football.

Aliotti knows more about football (especially defense) than just about anyone. That’s why he’s there. It’s certainly not because he’s likely to convey much of that info to the viewers. I sometimes take a quick nap while he goes in circles trying to make his point, voice cutting out thanks to 38 years of yelling. Meanwhile Curtis Conway or Nigel Burton politely nod while they try to figure out if he’s done.

How stiff is Toby Gerhart? The answer is very stiff.

Last year was his first go at broadcasting (at least I hope that’s his excuse), and he was a perfectly awkward addition to the P12N ensemble. He always seems like he’s got a really interesting story to tell you about his playing days... but before he gets much of it out, it becomes a game of “man versus words,” and he has to be cut off mid-tale. I always imagine the floor director making that circular motion with their index finder as if to say “Wrap it up, Gerhart.”

There’s plenty more to malign when it comes to this Network, including but not limited to:

• I only get my local Pac-12 channel in standard definition.
• The whole DirecTV thing.
• The way they schedule the games right on top of each other, sending me to either the app or my standard definition channel until the other game ends (In fairness, all the networks kind of do this).
• The fact that they use every resource to hunt down and pull all their games off of youtube and make us watch it on their site.

So, let’s spend today making fun of this channel, particularly their football coverage. We all love most of it, kind of cringe at some of it, and will always bitch about plenty of it. Feel free to call out college football announcers and personalities in general. Especially those who seem like they should be on Pac-12 Network, like Petros Papadakis.