Introducing the Chamberlain Chronicles

It's been a few days now since the .3 rating for the VERSUS debut at St Pete was dropped on us all. I still haven't figured out what exactly that means (I think we;re at 233 thousand households which, if they all happen to be like The Bradfords, is probably an acceptable number for now.

And even if the households aren't as populous, it seems this whole getting over leaving ESPN is now expected to take some time, and that's why there's a 10-year deal with the still-growing network. So maybe this isn't such a big deal after all.

Then again, DOWN 79%!!! *reaching again for paper bag*

However, shocked as your humble host continues to be at this ratings result, all the belly-aching in the world won't help make that number go any higher. VERSUS certainly put together a fabulous broadcast, and they had the most visible advertising plan we've ever seen, so they really did their part. They're trying.

Well, I've decided that instead of complaining about this ad nauseum I will do the same thing as VERSUS, which is to put a little personal effort into increasing this number. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, right? WRONG! The tough call their friends!

And that's exactly what I have in the last few days set out to do. The first person I called was my old neighbor Jennifer. She's an F1 fan, so I figured she might be willing to take a stab at watching some IndyCar on VERSUS. After hearing my request she said she "What's VERSUS?" Problem number one there. I told her what it was and she got back to me and said she could get it, but she had to pay extra, and with times being what they are she wasn't going to pay the extra $10 per month.

Next up was my current neighbor Jimmy, who's a fan of N-Word racing. He's admitted to watching the Indy 500, so I thought I'd ask him if he would kindly consider watching the next few VERSUS broadcasts and letting me know what he thought. "What's VERSUS?" he asked in a bit of deja vu. I let him know and he said he doesn't get that and with times being what they are...well, you get the idea. It's officially a trend now.

Lastly, in my desperation I went to my old friend Chamberlain, who's as big of a sports fan as you will find. He watches some auto racing, but not much, so I asked if he'd consider helping a friend out by watching some IndyCar on VERSUS. Now I know Chamberlain knows what VERSUS is because he's a huge hockey fan, so I asked if he wouldn't mind watching a few races and giving me some feedback.

"Sorry, I gotta work weekends" he tells me. But you can record them, right? "Oh, sure," he says. All I can think about is the clammy palms I get just thinking about ".3", so I told him "Do that and get back to me after each race." Tada! It's a deal, and I've snagged my first recruit.

So not only have I locked Chamberlain into watching, but he's promised to give a little feedback as well. It might be related to horse racing, but I don't care so long as he watches. In fact, feel free to try to proactively recruit some friends yourself to see if they can just devote a few hours on the weekend to watching, what with "times being what they are".

And if we can somehow get them all somehow factored into the Nielsen ratings, all the better.