ESPN's Live Wimbledon Coverage Starts On Monday (And NBC Can Suck It)

I respect NBC's coverage of professional tennis exactly as much as NBC respects tennis fans - which is to say, very little.

Consequently, it was with great joy that I read how ESPN will take over complete Wimbledon coverage this year, and how the network is fully committed to broadcasting live matches.

The most recent trouble between tennis fans and NBC Sports started last summer when the network opted to show a couple of important tennis matches from major tournaments on a several hour tape delay. Avid tennis watchers raised a big stink about the shoddy network coverage (inasmuch as fans of a relatively minor sport can raise a big stink), and moved on, hoping that NBC and tournament executives had learned their lessons.

Sadly, NBC's coverage of last month's French Open served only to prove that the clamor of angry fans mattered little. During the Open, which is one of the four "major" events in tennis, NBC once again dropped the ball repeatedly, disappointing tennis fans by either cutting coverage short or broadcasting critical matches on tape delay.

First, NBC interrupted the very end of a significant ladies match upset-in-the-making (Kanepi vs Wozniacki at 5-2 in the third set) because the broadcast reached the end of its allotted coverage time. Imagine - a network cutting away from a playoff baseball game in the top of the 9th because it was time for Judge Joe Brown (who I'm sure is a competent jurist, but come on, it can wait).

Later in the week, NBC broadcast the French Open semi-finals on tape delay by several hours on the West Coast (eh, it was only Nole vs Fed), because the network simply couldn't sacrifice the revenue they would lose by preempting The Today Show. 

If my only choice was to watch TV like grandpa did on a mammoth wood-grain console set with rabbit ears and knobs, that would suffice. These days I have options. 

Instead, I watched a live European feed of the match online, while listening to Radio Roland Garros through my laptop. On the upside, had I wanted to, I could have DVR'd Kathie Lee and Hoda's review of the best new summer cocktails.

Lastly, the French Open final, which was played on a Sunday, was unfortunately rain-delayed, forcing the conclusion of the match to be postponed until the following day. The network elected to air Monday morning's exciting end of the match on the new (and nearly impossible to find) NBC Sports network. Thanks to station guide links that tennis broadcasters sent out via Twitter, I found the right channel - but many other tennis fans didn't.

Okay, so I'm bitter. But this is the internet, and I'm supposed to be snarky, right? I recognize that TV is a big money business, and I understand that The Today Show is a revenue juggernaut for NBC. But if you can't do something right, it's probably best not to do it all, especially if doing it half-assed screws over the viewing public who are counting on you.

(Oh yeah, one more thing, thanks ESPN. Tennis fans are grateful for your commitment to our sport. But remember, if you cut away from a Wimbledon quarterfinal match so Skip Bayless has two more hours to yell at us about how much LeBron sucks, we're coming after you.)