$121.40 a month for this?

Monday, January 12, 2009 at 10:31 am (Writing by Ear)
Tags: , , , , ,

We get 8,760 hours in a year. In good years, 3 of those (180 minutes) can be spent watching a Steelers playoff game. In a really good year, you can watch the Steelers WIN a playoff game in those 3 hours. It’s one reason, maybe the only reason, to occasionally not despise January.

Yesterday, during those precious 3 hours, all Comcast services went out in the Greensburg area (for us, no TV and Internet), along with TV-only outages in some other Westmoreland County areas, from a few minutes left in the 3rd quarter to a few minutes left in the 4th quarter. So, we basically lost a WHOLE QUARTER. 30+ minutes. Of a playoff game. While the Steelers were kicking butt.

I couldn’t even get through to Comcast to scream at them — busy for 10-15 minutes. (Good thing we don’t have Comcast phone, or I couldn’t have even done that.) When I did get through, I heard a hastily recorded message about network problems and an apology for “any inconvenience.”

Yeah, inconvenient. That does it justice.

In the 3+ years we’ve lived here, we’ve never had an outage of this sort. Nope. It had to happen during A PLAYOFF GAME.

Of course, we already had the radio on listening to Tunch and Bill. Thank God for that (I love you guys).

For a brief few seconds, I thought, “I wonder if it’s worth it to pay for cable and satellite, so if one goes out during a playoff game, you won’t miss anything?”

Yep, the thought crossed my mind. (“I bet that’s what rich people do.”)

It’s scary to love a team that much.

Radio football is football reduced to its lowest common
denominator. Shorn of the game’s aesthetic pleasures,
or the comfort of a crowd that feels the same way as you,
or the sense of security that you get when you
see that your defenders and goalkeeper are more or less
where they should be, all that is left is naked fear. 
                            ~ Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch, 1992

Leave a Comment

This just in: TV down, radio up

Friday, December 21, 2007 at 12:07 am (Writing by Ear)
Tags: ,

td2.jpg Yeah, it’s a good day — even though I’m still crunching on pre-holiday assignments (last conference call at 3:00 p.m.).

Any day after the Steelers win is a good day, and we haven’t had one in a couple weeks. You know what’s really great? Being able to turn down the TV and listen to the Steelers’ announcers, Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin with Craig Wolfley and Ellis Cannon, on DVE. (We miss you, Myron!) Forget bozo network announcers, who are usually too busy cackling about something silly to call the game, and who don’t know James Harrison from James Farrior anyway. When you go the radio route, you get the pure game from people who know it very, very well and who actually LIKE the Steelers.

Yeah it’s a drag that the TV time delay means you hear the play a second or so before you see it, but it also saves a few heart attacks — you know sooner if Hines makes the catch or if he doesn’t, or if Ben steps out of the sack or not. I don’t mind — it’s worth it to get so much more insight along with meaningful stats and analysis.

I know I heard a factoid in the past about how many Steelers fans turn down the sound and listen to the radio instead. It was a significant number! If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot.

Oh, and while I’m at it, why don’t they just give New England the damn Lombardi trophy and save everyone the pain of watching them the next 6 weeks? Unless Green Bay or some other popular NFC team is in, it’ll be one of those “I’m only interested in the commercials” Super Bowls. Although, I see Tom Petty is playing at halftime — now THAT’S worth tuning in for…Tom Brady? Not so much.

Go Steelers, and way to go Mike Tomlin — 10 and 5 your first year ain’t too shabby. 11 and 5 by beating the Ravens in Baltimore…downright sweet!

Here we go, Steelers, here we go.
~ Every Steelers fan ever

4 Comments