Texas Tech refuses to let the kids from Jersey Shore have all the fun in the reality TV realm, no matter how good Thursday night's episode was.
As a response (OK, maybe not a direct response, but still), the school has started shooting for a 38-episode series called "The Ride."
The show began shooting at Big 12 media days last month with the Red Raiders, progressed through the start of fall camp last week and will continue shooting through May, encompassing other sports on campus in Lubbock like basketball, baseball, track, volleyball, softball, soccer and tennis. The show debuts on Sept. 4, a day before Texas Tech's season opener against SMU. The first episode will feature the Red Raiders adventures at media days in Dallas and include a meeting between coach Tommy Tuberville and the Oakland A's Dallas Braden, a Texas Tech alum who recently threw a perfect game.
"With the popularity of reality shows on television, we thought this would be perfect way to showcase not only our football program but other sports at Texas Tech as well," coach Tommy Tuberville said in a release. "The photographers and staff of this show have complete and total access to all of our sports and they will be giving viewers a unique inside look into college athletics. "Texas Tech is going to be on the forefront of this and I know our fans are really going to love it."
This is a pretty cool and unique idea, a step in front of other athletic departments who already produce some in-house content. Similar to the Big Ten Network, if this succeeds, expect others to do something similar. I'll be watching, but the staying power of the show is going to rest in its production quality and candidness. Give us a high-quality, inside look at the team a la HBO's "Hard Knocks" and show us something those outside these programs never get to see, and Texas Tech is going to have a compelling product. Find enough moments -- in any sport, really -- like the one everyone on earth saw inside the Iowa State locker room last season and everybody will tune in. But most importantly, give us stories. Nobody really cares about the fourth-string linebacker on the New York Jets on the cusp of being cut. Hard Knocks changes that. That's the task in front of the show's producers.
"We have cameras everywhere, so it'll be a true behind-the-scenes reality show," said team spokesman Blayne Beal.
Please, please, please give us the meeting between Tuberville and his two quarterbacks -- whether he calls them in one at a time or both at once -- and let us see him break the news. That's the most compelling position race in the entire Big 12, with a lot at stake between two seniors.
Give us canned quotes with stock practice footage as B-roll and 25 people will see your second episode. I'm excited to see the finished product.