And then-CSTV executive Chris Bevilacqua said, "I'm confident ... when this begins, we will have the distribution, through a variety of platforms, to reach more people with more sports than anybody else."

Giggle.

RIGHT FOR ONCE: I also ran across this in a column written by, well, me that ran in September 2004:

Frankly, some of the big ideas expressed by league and network officials sound pretty pie-in-the-sky. I wouldn't be surprised if they manage to gain a spot (for The mtn.) on local cable systems in cities and states where MWC members are located by the time they launch in 2006; I'd be stunned if there's much interest in the rest of the country, let alone on the two satellite giants, DirecTV and Dish.

As it turned out, I was actually overestimating the ability to get The mtn. on local cable systems.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com