For Your Viewing Pleasure... Or Not!

I knew moving here I'd face not getting to see live, professional/college sporting events and I was honestly okay with that. I was pleasantly surprised to find out St. Thomas hosts a pretty decent NCAA preseason basketball tourney- Paradise Jams. What I wasn't prepared for was not having the OPTION to watch my teams on TV!

Living the last 8 years in Chicago I got used to having to go to bars to watch the Cardinals during baseball season or Mizzou and the Rams during football season. Heck, I even looked forward to being forced out in a bar if it a) had a fantastic bloody mary bar or b) was The Spread for a Mizzou game. (Sidenote: if Mizzou HAD joined the Big 10 I may have gone ballistic to know that, after 8 years of suffering through crappy Big 10 games, Chicago would be getting Mizzou games delivered live to their family rooms!) However, there's a difference when you go out and STILL can't see your games!!

So what brought this about, you ask? Picture a couple- Tiger fans- wanting to go enjoy the Mizzou/Colorado football game with another couple- dirty Buffalo fans-after learning that Fox Sports Net is carrying the game! Due dilligence is done to determine that Direct TV in the VI's affiliate station is Channel 654- Fox Sports Net Florida. Yea!! Decision is made to go to Saloon to check out the game because we know they have Direct TV. Being the smart people we are we call first to just double check and make sure they'll carry it. To our surprise, they weren't going to be able to show the game. Okay, no problem, there's still a handful of places we could go! So we call Shipwreck. Um, nope- they weren't able to get it either. So now I'm confused- the channel listing for Direct TV IN ST. THOMAS has Fox Sports Net Florida on Channel 654 which has the MU/Colorado game on at 7 PM yet no one that has Direct TV can get it? Huh? Last resort we call Hooters- they get EVERYTHING- they can't get channel 654. Super last resort we call Woody's on St. John- I mean they fly the Mizzou flag, surely they'll show the game. Guess what? If Caribbean Saloon can't get the game then neither can they :( What the hell? PS- the Tigers absolutely embarrassed Colorado right out of the Big XII that game winning 26-0 and saying sianara to them and their silly Buffalo. Enjoy the PAC 10 suckers! (Can you tell I'm still bitter about that 5th down game in 1990? It didn't help that it was repeated on ESPN like ninety times this week.)

The very next day Tim and I go out to watch some football at Carribbean Saloon. Guess whose game is blacked out? That's right - the Rams/Lions game. (To be fair I really didn't need to watch that 44-6 buttkicking) Apparently, the NFL Network blocks one game a week and, for some reason, it's usually Detroit. Now I know normally your home game is blacked out due to local market television but our local market is New York. Bizarre!

Well, I guess it could always be worse. I could be a Cubs fan...