Irony …. Get used to it folks. We’re on the verge of coming back to you on a more regular basis with both pro and college football camps opening in the next four weeks.

Back to the story…

I read this early today and loved every word. Some of you may frequent Saturdays Down South, a thoughtful website devoted to college football in the American South. As you probably expect, the lion’s share of attention is paid to the SEC. But these guys also comment on college football and sports media, generally. It’s is the latter part that really piqued my interest today.

To answer the question in the headline, most people would say something like, “Do you mean the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act?” or “Are you talking about Maukavelli’s ever-receding hairline?” (inside joke for regular BlogHawg readers). Sports media, though, would have you believe the “big news” is that Erin Andrews left ESPN for Fox Sports.

While this is mildly interesting (and disappointing for fans of College Gameday) it’s hardly big news. And that’s where Saturday’s Down South (@SDS on Twitter) enters the picture. S.M. “Skip” Oliva broke down how this “news” permeates television networks but barely registers with most sports viewers. Why? It’s simple: we care about the games.

This is why ESPN can let an established on-air talent like Andrews leave without thinking twice. Talent is an interchangeable commodity. ESPN can generate new stars and new controversies to service the professional market—so long as it retains the strong support of the consumer market. And the consumer market only cares about the actual sports product, the games themselves.

Consider Andrews’s new home at Fox Sports. Hiring her to host the network’s college pregame show is a typical move aimed at the professional market. Other outlets will write about her presence as if it were the principal story. But Fox Sports’s success or failure still depends on the quality of its football product, in this case the Pac-12. Having “name” talent will only take you so far.

This is especially relevant given evolving viewing habits, especially among people under 40 years of age. My family has certainly changed, and many of yours may have, too. For starters, we no longer have cable or satellite service. We ditched it a few months ago, and I doubt we ever return to either. Instead we have high-speed Internet, and link a computer (Mac Mini) to our television. From there we can watch basically whatever we really want via Netflix, Hulu, or iTunes. Thanks to ESPN3.com, I have access to several live games every day. MLB.tv allows streaming of all out-of-market games for a very reasonable fee ($119/year), which lets me watch the vast majority of games each evening.

I say all this to emphasize the point that “professional market” driven programming does nothing for me. I don’t watch it. So Erin Andrews can work for whomever she wants, and I really won’t care. As long as I can get access to the games, that’s the only thing that moves me at all.

I encourage you to check out SDS when you have time. They put out good stuff for SEC fans.