-Blutarski's GPA in his 7th year of college. More technically, 0.0.
-The reporters IQ according to Ditka in a heated argument. "You see that buddy, thats your IQ, zero!"
-2005 World Series Champion, Shingo Takatsu, more affectionately known as Mr. Zero.
-Amount of respect I have for LeGarette Blount and for the Oregon Ducks period - zero.
-The amount of first downs Oregon had in the first half last year.
-Realistically, the should be combined score of the N.C. State S. Carolina game. THey could have played 12 more quarters with neither team scoring.
-Money in my fulltilt poker and pokerstars account combined - zero.
-But the real reason I wrote this article. The % of space taken on my DVR after I cleaned house!!!! Thats right, I geared up for the big one tomorrow. I have the following taped:
at the 12:30 hour, Illinois vs Mizzou on ESPN and UGA vs Ok. State on ABC. I declined to tape ND Nevada, because it is the game I would least like to see out of the 3, but also because itll probably be on replay on NBC some time during the week. Then, I of course have the things after each of those games recorded for when they go long, college football overdrive or recap or some bs in both cases. The next big invention for DVR companies will be to somehow know to extend a recording just based on the fact that it isn't over. Even though they schedule a game for 3 hours, we all know that we should record the thing after it, for another hour to give us some time. BUt sometimes, this isnt even enough. THe worst experience of the last 5 years of my life was the Kentucky LSU 3 OT game in 2007. You would think that 4.5 hours of recording would have been enough, but CBS' extra long commercials, plus a 3 OT game had the DVR crap out before the game was over. This is when DVR was relatively new to me as well, so I didnt even see it coming. I can still remember the rage. Luckily, when games are on ESPN, and you are recording them consecutively, even if it goes wayyyy long into another one, youll have it recorded just because you are recording the game at the next time slot.
at 4:00 I have recorded the BYU-Oklahoma game on ESPN, and nothing else. I guess the Alabama VT game doesnt start until 5:00.
at 5:00, I have a 7 minute "college football preview" recorded, and then the Alabama game at 5:07. I cant remember if they go directly to Musburger at 5:00, or they wait until 5:07. Im pretty sure they go to James, Saunders, and Idiot of the week in the studio first, and then Musburger, but better safe than sorry. Then I recorded the things after this game and the things after the BYU Oklahoma game, which I guess is being replayed early in the AM on ESPN.
At 7:00 I have recored LSU Washington. THis is what the new college football season does. I legitimately want to watch this game. I am recording this game. Washington went 0-12 last year, and I am excited to watch them play LSU. I really cant explain it other than its opening weekend baby!
Which is also why I plan on staying in tonight, getting up around 7 tomorrow, watching the beginning of gameday (something I rarely do), going to Ralph's, buying some beer, and heading over to the Coliseum at 9. It should be a long, great day tomorrow.
I dont know how all this is going to work out. THe only thing I am legitimately concerned about is this west coast time. I have talked to a friend of mine from the Tampa area, who was of course on Eastern time, and he is also legitimately concerned. Imagine normally watchign NFL games at 1 PM, and now you have to watch them at 10 AM. Plus, I have to make a 25 minute drive out to his place in Culver City to watch the Sunday Ticket, so I am going to have to get up and leave around 830ish every Sunday morning. Thats the price you pay for 4 TVs hooked up to the Ticket.
Anyway, Im torn about whether or not I like that I get to see every game. What I mean by that is, LSU Washington comes on at 7 here. You could watch the entire game in the comfort of your own home, then go out, and not miss anything. Where as in Chicago, you would have to leave at like halftime, or before the game is over, and watch the game in a crowded bar where no one else in interested in it but you, and your chances of getting laid decrease every second that you ignore the rest of the people you are with, and squint at a tv off in the distance of a close up of Steve Sarkesian. It would seem like the West Coast has an advantage in that.
But the thing is, I kinda like when that happens. I like when games go late. I like staying up until 2 AM when a game goes late, and you say, yeah, this is an instant classic. Let me put it to you this way, "no penalties, no penalties, yes" would have been way less funny, and probably wouldn't have happened, if we were on the West Coast. It was Hawaii Washington (which was actually on a few weeks ago), and Im estimating that the game got done around 130 AM CST. If its 1130, then youre still inside, at the bar, but you are not already crashing and eating at a late night breakfast place. Not only that, but you aren't in that late night mode where everything is uproariously funny (not to say No penalties no penalties yes wouldnt have been funny otherwise). Finally, no penalties no penalties yes guy wouldn't have probably been there if it were only 1130. He probably would have been at wherever place he was beforehand that led him to be the no penalties no penalties yes guy. I guess what IM saying is, by moving every game forward 2 hours, you kinda lose a nostalgic effect.
The obvious downside is that all the games start way too early in the morning. 9 AM for college football-Big10 Football, something Im obviously interested in? Thats rough.
The other thing that is problematic when it comes to attending USC games is 1) the travel, and 2) the timing. Let me address these in reverse order. Illinois was normally on at 11 CST. The best games of the day are usually on at 230 CST, or at night. Therefore, you are only missing other Big10 games when you actually attend an Illinois game. You could record them if you want, but you aren't really missing anything. You can record the beginning of a 230 CST game, and get caught up to the live moment pretty quickly. It was never a problem. So for example, this week would be the exception, as Illinois is on at 230 CST. But say you went to Ohio State. You could go watch your dumbasses play Navy at 11 CST. You can recrod the beginning of the UGA OK St. game at 230. Get home at like 3:00. Get caught up, and not miss a beat.
Well, USC, and all other west coast teams, as a result of being on the west coast, are not going to play 11 CST games, because that is 9:00 AM over here. The normal starting time for games out here is 12:30 PST, which of course is 2:30 CST. Which means what? Which means that the games are on at the same time that all the other good games are on. Does that mean that USC game is going to be good? No, it just means that its on early for PST purposes. So USC vs San Jose State is played at the same time as marquee games, just because of geography. Its frustrating. That, or they play in the late afternoon, at 5:00 PM PST. THis is even worse, as were now kicking off at 7:00 PM CST, right about as Musburger is ready to kick off the game of the week. Games on the west coast present many conflicting schedules, conflicts of interest, whatever.
The other thing I mentioned was the travel. At U of I, you could walk to the game in 10 mins, and if it sucked (as it most often did the first three years I was there), you could just walk back in 10 mins and plop on the couch, order a calzone, and be in the zone for the next 10 hours. Well, in the case of USC, I expect it to take a hour to get home tomorrow. It takes me 30 mins to get home on a school day, and I figure double tomorrow. Nobody in their right mind lives around USC, so its impossible to walk to the Coliseum and home in 10 mins. Its back to the NFL game mentality, where you dont just go for 3 hours, you go 2 hours before, the 3 hour game, and then at least an hour to get home. It sucks. I wish I could walk over, get drunk, leave if I wanted, and walk home, but thats not the case. But the point Im trying to make is that, I will be away from a tv for longer, which just means that I need to do more prep work on my DVR.
Its a new experience, and I will let you know how it goes. If I had to guess, I would say that I dont like it. I dont like the games starting early, I dont like that USC plays at a marquee time slot, and I dont like the travel involved. All of these except the first will be remedied when USC plays on the road, and I dont have to worry about going or even committing to one game. For instance, next week, Ill just get up at 9 and watch football all day, culminating in USC OHio State at night, which I would watch anyway. BUt say in 7 weeks or whatever, when they travel to Arizona State, yeah, Ill watch the game, but I will definitely flip between other games.
The only other problem is you run the risk of hearing what is going on in other games before you get to watch them. It was hard to avoid last night, and it was just Oregon Boise and S Carolina NC State. The only game I really want to avoid hearing about tomorrow is Illinois Mizzou. BUt think, youre at a football game. The announcer could announce the scores, the scoreboard can show them, kid in front of you with an iphone can read them off, you can overhear the guy in the bathroom, you can hear them on the radio on the way home, you can accidentally turn on ESPN when you walk in, and the bottom line will be on the game you dont want to see at that exact moment. It takes a lot of effort. I dont mind if I know whos winning the UGA Ok State game, and Im going to watch that either way, but I would like to watch Illinois Mizzou fresh. Ill be just about home by the time Oklahoma BYU and the other late games start, so I just have to avoid the computer and accidentally turning on ESPN at that point. There is no longer the risk of overhearing someone talk about the games.
Then its just a matter of how disciplined I want to stay. I see a potential conflict. Say I dont hear about anything. I get home at 4:00. I sit down, and watch the Illinois Mizzou game. First off, there will be updates of the UGA Ok State game on the bottom of the screen and live look ins during the Ill Mizz broadcast. That hurts. There will also be updates of ND Nevada, which will be nice, cause then its like Im watching it unfold before my eyes, even though in reality the game will be over. Thats the conflict. But, this brings a new idea to my head.
1) I could watch UGA Ok State on tape, even though I may know what happens, and continue to record BYU OK and VT Bama.
2) I could watch BYU OK / VT Bama sorta live get caught up, still taping both of them, flipping between them, and watch UGA Ok State later. THis may be what I ultimately do. I guess it depends on how much I really know/find out about the UGA game. If I know who won by the time I finish Illinois, then it wont matter. I could watch the late games with no fear of finding out who won the UGA game - Ill already know. I think I will watch the Illinois game, find out who won UGA by watching it, then turn on probably the VT Bama game on tape delay, and probably get caught up the time its over. THis presents the same problem then, though, as by watching the Bama game, I will get live updates of whats going on in Oklahoma BYU. But, either way, that was bound to happen. I dont want to look and see the scores and then determine which game I want to start watching, so its kinda a coin flip of which game I think will be better. I think it will be Bama VT, so Ill start to watch that, and get to the end of it live. At this point it will be late, and Ill have 2 games on the DVR which I know the result, but wont have seen any of. Then maybe I can join the LSU Washington game in progress, again, which wont reveal anything I dont know, go on the computer, check other scores, etc.
Then after all that, I can watch the tapes of the games I have on DVR.
Sounds like a plan.
THis all came from clearing my DVR.
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