The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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November 12, 2008

Decision hurts Thunder fans

By Bruce Campbell, Commentary

Dart to Suddenlink for not opting to carry Fox Sports Oklahoma’s 65-game Thunder package.

Suddenlink chose not to pay the additional fee for the games, according to Ramon Alvarez, PR director for Fox Sports Southwest/Oklahoma.

The majority of cable operators chose to carry the package, Alvarez said.

The loss is for viewers in Enid and Stillwater who will not get to follow the state’s only major league franchise.

This is one reason many viewers miss having Cox Cable and its additional sports programming.

Viewers can still see 17 of the Thunder’s games on KSBI (channel 16, Suddenlink).

Enid’s Chisholm Trail Broadcasting is airing all of the Thunder games this season, primarily on KFXY (1640 AM).



KSBI will not be airing any high school football playoff games this season because FOX Sports Oklahoma has exclusive rights to all the postseason sporting events.

KSBI, on its Web site, said it rejected a plan where it would be able to do some games.

Under the plan, according to KSBI officials, the station would have been required to give air time to Youth Sports Marketing for the OSSAA.

“We would have no ability to have a title sponsor for our games to assist in the very expensive production cost, and FOX Sports would have the right to air our games at their discretion on their network with no reimbursement to KSBI-TV. Clearly this was not a proposal which made sense to our station.’’



Canton making the playoffs for the first time in 24 years has been good for the entire school, according to principal Darrell Gunsaulis.

“It gives our students some pride in themselves,’’ he said. “We are having a real good year (school wise), but it only makes it better when your teams are winning.’’

The school has had fewer discipline problems.

“When you’re getting beat, no one is in a good mood,’’ he said. “We don’t have a lot of discipline problems here to begin with, but the better the season goes, the better everything goes.’’

Canton will have one full pep bus for the game Friday at Ryan. Gunsaulis told Ryan officials the 150 seats the school has for visiting schools might not be enough.

“Canton has always followed its teams well,’’ said Gunsaulis. “We have had some games where we had more fans than the home team did.’’

Gunsaulis is in his fourth year at Canton. He came to the school the same time as head football coach Robby Davis.

“He’s instilled a positive attitude into the players,’’ Gunsaulis said. “That’s very important ... the idea that we can accomplish some things.’’



Enid softball coach Lee Linsenmeyer, who passed the 100-win mark in his fourth season (104-51), said the junior high program he helped start five years ago has made a big impact on the program.

“I’ve seen a big difference in Enid softball since we started the program,’’ he said at the team’s banquet Tuesday. “We have had a lot of freshmen get playing time and having success right away and a lot of that was due to the junior high program.’’

One freshman who could help right away next year might be Courtney Chelf, who hit .486 for the junior high team in 2008.

Coach Randy Chelf’s team had four girls hit over .400 during the past season.

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