Patriot League officials keep trying to convince the public that having games on College Sports TV amounts to legitimate "national television broadcasts."

We keep insisting that until they are included in the over 200 channels offered by Comcast in our neighborhood, they are hardly what you would call "national."

Technically, we suppose they can make that claim. Just like we can claim we have a worldwide audience because our stats show occasional hits from Singapore and Korea (as well as a very loyal visitor from France, though that could just be a Conehead living down the street).

The snowstorm that is hitting the northeast has exposed the Patriot League TV package for exactly what it is. The league has announced Sunday's TV coverage of the Army-Navy Game has been scrapped. According to the press release:

. . . league officials cited safety and travel concerns for television production personnel in pulling the plug on what would have been Army's first-ever men's basketball appearance on College Sports Television.

It snowed like mad in Philly today, but ESPN still showed Villanova's shocker over Kansas. The storm is expected to hit Connecticut worse than it will hit the West Point area, but Gameday will still be on tonight from Storrs, followed by the Pitt at UConn game. Flipping around the tube this afternoon there were other games from venues that saw heavy snow.

Granted, getting to West Point in snow is a nervewracking ordeal. But the Navy team made it. The Navy radio crew made it. We assume there will be officials on hand to work the game, and they no doubt worked somewhere else today and are driving in after those games.

It is snowing heavily in the D.C. area, but we found no sign of FOX Sports Net bailing on the NC State-Maryland game.

That's because real national television is like Broadway. The show must go on.

If this were a real national broadcast being cancelled, it would really be too bad. Granted Army and Navy are not exactly the teams you would pick this season to showcase your product. But with the 1 p.m. slot wide open before football takes the stage at 3, this would be a great chance for the league to gain some exposure.

Of course this is the same league that tries to convince you that 4:30 on a Friday afternoon is a great slot on ESPN2 for the league's championship game because it is shown between games of an ACC Tournament doubleheader and people can catch it in the bars during happy hour.

That might all be true. But last we looked, the only way a halftime show gets any attention is if someone flashes their boob.