Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Please Don't Tell Me Who Won the National Championship!

Trying to go through my usual blogging routine without going to regular news pages is a tough order. But I've successfully accomplished it by bookmarking last night a bunch of things I could safely go through this morning.

What's the deal?

I'm trying to avoid seeing who won the national championship last night between LSU and Alabama.

You see, Americans who are unconnected to either cable or satellite (like myself) are not allowed to watch the BCS championship. Indeed, many of the NCAA's major sporting events are now available only to subscribers of cable TV. And I fear it's a trend that will only continue until ESPN controls the Super Bowl, the Masters, and the World Series as well.

Where's the Occupy ESPN movement expressing its outrage at this unjust discrimination? Where are the Democrats insisting on the rights of unplugged Americans? Why didn't George Stephanopolous bring this burning question up at the Republican debate last Sunday? (Oh, wait. He works for ABC/ESPN. Never mind.)

No, I guess I'll just have to walk this lonely path myself, choosing either to 1) break down and subscribe; 2) go buy a fancy smart phone with the appropriately high-priced app which brings in the BCS bowl games; 3) start frequenting the local sports bars ("See that poor sod over there trying to nurse that Diet Coke all night? You won't believe this, hon, but the word is that he doesn't have cable at his house!"); or 4) do what I did last year -- ask Claire to download the game's replay from iTunes.

But since that isn't available yet, I'm desperately trying to avoid seeing who won.  So, if you see me out today, remember...silence is golden.