Quality of life for sports fans is determined by how many games they can catch of their favorite teams, but when it comes to the 10 major professional sports teams in the New York area — the Bills, Giants, Islanders, Jets, Knicks, Mets, Nets, Rangers, Sabres and Yankees (no, the Red Sox do not count) — Binghamton University Telecommunications, which controls the on-campus television programming, is not an equal opportunity carrier.

The Nets, broadcasted on the YES network, are the only one of the 10 teams that cannot be watched at any time (unless their opponent is the Knicks). Telecom does carry the YES network during baseball season for Yankees games, but drops the network during basketball season, leaving Nets fans (like our sports editor) in the dark.

“It’s very frustrating because they tease us at the end of the baseball season and give us a week of it, and then they take it away,” said Andrew Lipson, a sophomore Nets fan who lives on campus and thus cannot follow his team. “They assume because we’re all from New York that we’re not Nets fans, but even if we’re not we should get a chance to watch them, especially since we have such obscure channels on campus already.”

Between FSNY and MSG, games of the Devils, Knicks, Islanders, Rangers and Sabres can all be caught, but because FSNY 2 and MSG 2 are not carried, fans of any team broadcasted on a Cablevision network will miss at least some of their team’s games.

“It’s frustrating,” said Jason Geisenheimer, a sophomore economics major and diehard Rangers fan.

Buffalo fans lose out, but there is nothing Telecom can do — whether Bills or Sabres games are carried is a matter of regional television contracts, not the University’s programming. Typically the local CBS affiliate will air Bills games if the Jets are scheduled to air at the same time. In a situation like that, the only option for fans is to go off campus.

Mets fans are able to catch the majority of Mets games on SNY and FOX, but weekend games carried on the CW (formerly the WB) are missed because the CW local affiliate does not broadcast the games. That, however, is a problem similar to the one Buffalo fans encounter and cannot be fixed.

Yankees and Giants fans are the only ones who cannot complain. All Yankees games are available between YES, UPN and FOX. FOX is where Big Blue fans get their fill as well, along with some games on CBS when the Giants play at home against an AFC team (unless the Bills are playing on the road at the same time); NFL broadcast regulations state that the road team determines the network that shows the game.

A representative from Telecom declined to be quoted on the matter, but sports fans unhappy that they cannot watch all of their teams’ games can go to their community president and request a new network, be it YES during the winter for Nets games or FSNY 2 and MSG 2 for the various hockey and Knicks games. The request is then passed on to Telecom and the Dormitory Income Fund Reimbursable committee, where programming changes are ultimately decided.

Not being able to watch the Nets and various other teams is not the most oppressive condition at Binghamton, but if it matters to enough people, YES, FSNY 2 and MSG 2 could be added to the campus cable lineup.