CSTV vs Ultivillage

First off I wanted to start off this entry by telling Rob that he is doing an amazing job with his ultimate filming and I would be hard pressed to find another person in the ultimate community that has done so much to bring ultimate to people throughout the world in the last 4 years.

Ok so ultimate is the most enteratining sport (in my opinion) to watch and since I have been palying disc, other sports like baseball, are wayyy to boring to watch consistently. Now with this new revolution movement that the UPA is pitching I think ultimate filming and broadcasting should be a topic of discussion. I know, a little late, but well this is when I came up with the ideas I have. So the UPA signed with CSTV back in 2005. Great, they show up to college nationals and they film the finals, maybe semis and what not and do an alright job of putting ultimate center stage. I don't know who the guy is that does the commentating, but he has a decent voice and it makes our sport look alright. I think Kyle or Ben does side commentary as well and they are doing alright, very informed, not unlike Joe Morgan with John Miller. Ok great, right? Wrong. I personally think CSTV sucks ass. It is wayyy obvious on their website and on their network that ultimate is not exactly a priority as far as sports go. I mean trying to find games that I know CSTV shot (ie Brown/Colorado finals, Florida/Wisconsin, etc...) is a pain in the ass and the actual downloads are pretty crappy at best. Maybe some folks are having a great time with it but I have struggled to even get through the Wisconsin/Florida game without the damn thing freezing on me and there is no freedom to pause or slow down the footage. Basically its crap. Its kinda like contracting a big company who has no real interest in my sport to package it and market it to me and my constituents in a manner that I know is sub par. No wait, thats exactly what it is. I don't know about the rest of the ultimate community out there but whenever I watch CSTV footage it just irritates me because I know that the dude doesn't know much about the sport and all of his comments and commentary is soo forced. I know wiggins or kyle contribute but it appears so fake to those that are actually watching it. I suppose the goal of CSTV is to market the sport to new poeple, which isn't working because ultimate's biggest advertising is on college campuses and high schools, or the goal could be to bring good footage to people that love the sport, which is isn't doing either. I mean the schedule sucks, games take 2 months to finally get on TV, they are on a speciality network that no one has, or the games are on at like 2-4am on a wednesday night. And whats worse is the footage is not for sale. You can watch a shotty version on your computer or TV and unless you TiVo it, thats it, hope you enjoyed the show. There is no pause or slow mo, or instant replay. Anyway, I suppose you could say I am not a fan of CSTV and I hate that the UPA is in bed with them.

Ok, so the alternative is....Rob's ultivillage. Whats awesome is that I don't even have to write about him. Everyone reading this now knows about his COTD, disc 1-4, his UvTv coverage, his fantasty ultimate, etc... He has been doing such a good job and at such a cost to himself. I mean he is everywhere. College nationals, junior worlds, worlds in perth, Potlatch, club nationals, ECC, Solstice, etc... And the best part is that he cranks the stuff out. I mean his footage of ECC (which hasn't even happened yet) will be on line (at least in COTD format) by wednesday after the tourney (my guess). I drove to college nationals watched all the games first hand and by the time i got back to New Haven I could already DL all of pool play and by the end of the week I had the semi finals footage (where I can be heard heckling Beau, thank you very much). I mean how bad ass is that. And not only is his footage available to watch, you can buy the stuff. I have like 10 gigs of his footage on my hard drive. I can go back and watch the club series from 2005 or 2006 and in 10 years, hopefully, I will be able to watch any series I want that he has shot at the click of a mouse. And I can also pop in one of a dozen DVDs that he has released and watch his footage (which by the way is only getting better). I can also watch Rob interview the likes of not only college stars like Robbie Cahill, Dan Hejman, or Adam Simon, but also club stars like Kevin Cissna, Andrew Lugsdin, Chase SB, Sammy CK, I mean the list goes on and he asks the same questions (more or less) that I would ask. Not some trite/cliche bullshit that CSTV does. And I suppose the best thing about Rob's footage is that it is soooo obvious that he loves the game. He knows the game, he knows his audience, he loves his company and he conveys that in his material. CSTV is just humoring us, giving us the standard half assed job that they give lacrosse or swimming or volley ball. I don't know about you but I hate being patronized and I want a guy who knows as much if not more about ultimate, broadcasting and doing interviews.

So where am I going with this? I want the UPA to saddle up with Rob. I mean the UPA should cater to their collective and I would say 75% if not more of "in the know" people in disc are ultivillage fans. No one likes CSTV (at least I don't) and I feel like few avid ultimate enthusiasts would endorse CSTV over Ultivillage. Plus ultivillage shoots more than just college. It is all over co-ed, women's, mixed, club, masters, juniors, etc... Aside from from open and college, all the other divisions could use more exposure and CSTV isn't gonna help out at all. Rob, however is giving all these side divisions the exposure they deserve and are giving people in their respective divisions the oppurtunity to watch and buy footage. This is the best way to expand the sport because it allows outsiders to see the game at its best. Although CSTV would be nice, its on some random ass network and few people will be able to see it on TV in the context for it to mean anything. If the bulk of ultimate footage were sold/viewed through ultivillage with the full power of the UPA showing new players disc 1 or club series 2006 or whatever would really boost the expose of the game. I mean it would be nice to have ultimate crack into "sports centers top 10" again but thats not gonna happen. And the next best thing is ultivillage. What I think would work (and this is totally from an uninformed and outside perspective) would be if Rob had full rights to college nationals and whatever else. He could then package it and market it through CSTV or YouTube or whatever other networks. This would then allow ultime to be packaged in the way it deserves, by people that love it, so that it can be viewed/purchased by people that love it. CSTV is not needed and it might be a good step at establishing ultiamte's legitamcy now, there are better avenues to do this. Plus if the UPA helps out Rob then he will have the ability to expand and hire more camera-persons and package an even better product.

I guess my main beef is that Rob is far superior to CSTV and the UPA should back Rob. He loves the game as much if not more than the people he markets to and that devotion should be appreciated and utilized. The UPA is not acting selfishly or poorly, I mean Rob has only been around since 2004. But now that he has gotten as big as he has and has the fan base, I think the UPA should consider bringing him under their umbrella and give him the support to really bring the sport to people in the best way possible. I don't know what sort of time line I am talking but I think I am in the majority and would like to hear Rob's voice on the College finals footage. Only then will we have the sport packaged in a way that will really cater to ultimate players thus making the advertising and progression of the sport that much better.

my thoughts

match diesel