Is it too late to get Direct TV?
The trouble with living in a state that has five NCAA Tournament teams is that you're locked into watching a lot of first-round games involving those teams, whether or not they're the most exciting game in progress. I mentioned this before with relation to Duke-Belmont pre-empting USC-Kansas State tomorrow night, but it's an even bigger issue on Friday, when all four time slots will occupied by games involving Tennessee teams, only one of which (Vanderbilt-Siena at 7:20, a 4-13 game) figures to be potentially competitive. The other games are: #2 Tennessee vs. #15 American at 12:15, #2 Texas vs. #15 Austin Peay at 2:50, and #1 Memphis vs. #16 Texas-Arlington at 9:40.
According to the local CBS affiliate, "At the network's discretion, all
games BUT the Kentucky vs Marquette game [Thursday at 2:30] and the Tennessee vs American
Game can be switched from/to during play to a better game of the
network's choosing." (The Kentucky game gets higher "regional" priority than any of the non-UT teams from Tennessee? Weird.) So, once Texas and Memphis open up big leads, they'll take us out to other games at some point (like maybe Butler-South Alabama in the 2:50 slot). That's a relief. But I'm doomed -- unless I go to a sports bar, which is a chancy proposition when you've got a baby -- to have virtually zero chance of watching any of Gonzaga-Davidson, Miami-St. Mary's or Drake-Western Kentucky, all of which I really want to see, but all of which are scheduled opposite Tennessee-American. Arrrgh.
(I tried MMOD at home the other day. It works okay -- better than it did with our ridiculously slow connection in South Bend -- but I still don't think it'll be acceptably smooth for live, fast-moving basketball action. It's a wee bit jerky, to an extent that might not be bothersome in some contexts, but will, I think, be problematic for watching live sports.)
USA Today has an interesting article about scheduling, focusing on the headaches in the Los Angeles area.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/sports/20080319/c3mike19.art.htm
Posted by: JD | Mar 19, 2008 6:17:58 PM
Does your local cable/sattelite co have an extended package available for march madness? Usually they do.
Posted by: David K. | Mar 19, 2008 6:52:23 PM
I personally will vouch for MMOD. Don't know what that's worth, but...
Posted by: LaRev | Mar 19, 2008 8:13:53 PM
I bet you Loyette gets you and Becky at least one free drink each if you go watch the games at a sports bar.
Posted by: Andrew | Mar 19, 2008 9:59:18 PM
http://myp2p.eu
http://www.joost.com
Watch online.
Posted by: PenguinSix | Mar 20, 2008 6:59:13 AM
The reason Knoxville is getting the UK/Marquette game at 2:30 is:
a) Knoxville-ites would dearly love to see a rival get their a** handed to them. (Despite UK being my employer, I am not picking the team to win.)
b) There is a large UK fan base that lives in Tennessee. How do I know this? Tennesee had personalized UK license plates *before Kentucky offered them!*
Posted by: PatGLex | Mar 20, 2008 10:15:36 AM
Theres nothing wrong with a helping hand......
Posted by: Emergency Cash | Mar 25, 2008 5:13:33 PM