Sportscaster’s Clever Way Around ‘Broadcast Restrictions’ on Michigan-Washington Game Recap Wins the Day

By Sister Toldjah | 3:54 PM on January 10, 2024

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

Though it doesn't rank on my top ten list of the most frustrating things one is destined to encounter at some point in their life, turning on the TV to watch that game/sporting event/movie you've been looking forward to all week long only to find out that it's been blacked out due to broadcast restrictions certainly ranks right on up there.

For those unfamiliar with it, here's in part why such restrictions exist, as explained by the Fubo TV streaming service:

Some channels may occasionally restrict viewing or black out certain events, shows and movies. Blackout rules are set by the leagues, content owners and networks that purchase the rights to a particular broadcast. Our agreements require us to black out content for various reasons:
Sports blackouts based on viewing area: If a national network and regional or local channel are airing the same game, there may be blackouts based on where you're located

Presumably, that was the situation at hand during the College Football Playoff National Championship game, which was played Monday night in Houston and which featured the Michigan Wolverines and the Washington Huskies battling it out for the prize.

READ: The Complete College Bowl Results and Remaining Matchups - and Yes…a Mascot Was Eaten on the Field!

The Jim Harbaugh-coached Wolverines won the game 34-13, but because the broadcast was still ongoing even after the game itself was over, some news stations who didn't have broadcast rights to the game couldn't even air highlight videos from it until the live airing concluded and the field clean-up was well underway.

That, however, didn't stop Mid-Michigan NOW sports reporter Sam Ali, who proceeded to put his own unique touch on the highlight reel by resorting to a little bit of artistic creativity and flair, using little more than stick figures of the players, coaches, and refs to illustrate what went down during the game.

Watch:

So the Michigan game just went final when we went on-air tonight and we're not allowed to show highlights until the broadcast is completely over. But I promised the viewers "highlights" and I tried to deliver the best I could: pic.twitter.com/us2e1Y6YeD
— Sam Ali (@SamAliSports) January 9, 2024

The hilarious clip soon went viral on the Twitter/X machine, racking up 1.5 million views as of this writing and earning Ali a lot of kudos from sports fans, so much so that he joked about what the next "corporate meeting" would look like when they discussed his ideas for future programming:

Corporate asking me to be in on the next meeting to discuss my ideas for the future pic.twitter.com/kU3nQYxNQ0
— Sam Ali (@SamAliSports) January 9, 2024