In Our Opinion
This Saturday an estimated 120 million households could be getting eyestrain from their first glimpse of the red turf of the Inferno at Roos Field.
Thank goodness it’s a little less bright than when it was first installed back in 2010.
The gaze and curiosity of a significant number of football fans will be focused on Cheney as ESPN televises the Football Championship Subdivision rivalry game between The Sports Network’s top-ranked Eastern Washington University and Sam Houston State University. That’s the only place you’ll be able to see the game because Roos Field is sold out.
So this opportunity to shine in the summer sun — before cameras usually only designated for the likes of football royalty like Alabama, Auburn, Southern Cal and Oregon — has a lot riding on it.
This is a time for Eastern, and the city of Cheney to showcase itself as never before.
For Eastern, the stakes are big, as they usually are these days, because a return to the national championship game they won in 2010 is no longer just a hope and dream, but an expectation.
The Eagles have everything to gain in validating that No. 1 preseason ranking.
Eastern is also trying to carve out their first win in four tries against the visiting Bearkats from Huntsville, Texas, a team that has kicked the sand of bitter defeat their way in two previous football playoff games.
And they still seek a level of respect and interest from a large legion of area football fans who, for some reason, still seem to think FCS football just doesn’t measure up. Just ask Oregon State about that, after the stunning loss they suffered in Corvallis a year ago to Eastern.
The other element on the stage Saturday is the home of Eastern, Cheney.
As is the case with any national television broadcasts, crews will be in town early doing their setup. That, among other things, like the usual stringing of seemingly miles of cables, will include spending time off campus getting those cutaway shots used going into and out of commercial breaks.
So how will they portray Cheney?
When Spokane has hosted the NCAA basketball playoffs in the spring, the natural shots are the spectacular falls that roar through downtown, or any of the many other places that show off the region’s natural beauty.
No offense Cheney, but the channeled scabland and farm fields do not set us that far apart from the Midwest’s flyover country.
Therein is an impetus for the city to galvanize itself on an image, aside from being another college town.
Will the ESPN crews choose to represent the area with more shots of the Spokane Falls, Riverfront Park or downtown Spokane?
Heads up ESPN, take a crew out to Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge and see the beauty of the wildlife and wetlands, present still after a long, hot summer.
Or in the interest of self-promotion, how about stopping by the community newspaper that has been an institution in town for nearly 120 years?
Wouldn’t it been wonderful to highlight the old train depot already in place downtown at the foot of College Avenue and a community showcase, rather than seeing its fans scramble to keep it from the wrecking ball?
What about a piece on the great EWU freshmen tradition of “Passing Through the Pillars” as a great, classic ESPN feature segment?
We applaud the Cheney Merchant’s Association for thinking outside the box with their “Tailgating Starts Here” event.
Be sure to stop by Saturday morning and visit the three blocks of First Street that are closed off so everyone can have a little fun on the newly named — albeit temporary — Eagle Avenue. We hope it’s the start of a community tradition.
Spokane will undoubtedly crash parts of our party, but hopefully ESPN producers remind viewers that the city is 15 miles away, and it’s Cheney that is the home of Eastern.
Don’t let Spokane steal what belongs to Cheney, like they once did with the county seat.
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