College Football: Hooray for Mr. Touchdown Slingbox?

We wish we were outside right now. The weather as changed (although it will likely change back again) and so have the leaves (although only just a few). This has us in the mood ... in the mood for college football. Unfortunately, in China, college football is usually a craving that goes unsatisfied. Last year, when our satellite would work, we were overjoyed to find some games (albeit the Mountain West conference) on Sports Plus ... but then upon further review realized the games were around a month old. This year, with the introduction of prime-time televised games, we thought surely ESPN Asia would show these games on Sunday mornings (instead of the usual snooker or cheerleading), but that doesn't seem to be the case.

But could Slingbox be coming to our rescue? Some Shanghai bars are planning on using the gadget that lets people watch TV on their computer to air college football games. We should get to see how it works this weekend at Bubba's:

Join the fun at Bubba's Bar-B-Que this Fall with NCAA Football Tailgate Parties! Games are practically live with Bubba's Sling Box/TiVo set up. Tailgate specials include 50 rmb USDA pulled pork sandwiches and 25 rmb USDA pork riblets….all day! Plus our generous 20 rmb happy hour from 2 to 8 p.m. , which includes draft beer (Bud, San Miguel, or Tiger) and house pours. Kick-off is noon, followed by games at 3 and 6 p.m. Don't miss this Sunday, September 10…..its Ohio State @ Texas at 6 p.m.

"Practically live" means 10 hours late. Kickoff for this huge No. 1 vs. No. 2 affair is at 8 am (we would have woken up for that one). Lance, of Freelance fame, told us he plans on using Slingbox to show games legitimately live, into the wee hours of the morning ... but he said it will be a couple of weeks -- the bar's internet connection currently won't handle it. We also talked to Big Bamboo. They said they would be happy to show college football if it was playing on any of their four satellite hookups, but that they wouldn't be opening up early or staying open later than usual for games other than playoffs. They also use Slingbox, but their connection is out of Canada ... so they are unsure of how much American college football that would lead to. They also mentioned that they would be hosting some college football parties for various alumni clubs, but the games they would show at those would be a couple days old at least.

That's all we know right now. Anyone have anything to add? (Like, where we can watch Penn State vs. Notre Dame.)