TBS Strikes Out in Game 6
I don’t know what technical, broadcasting, unfortunate hiccup happened tonight during the first inning of the ALCS. The reason I don’t know is because TBS never told me, until it didn’t matter any more. Dutifully turning on my TV at the appointed time I am greeted with a rerun of some obscure sitcom disaster from the 90s instead of my much anticipated Red Sox vs. Rays match-up.
Was this my fault? Did I have the wrong time? The wrong day? Could I have erred? Going back to the cable menu I am assured this is where the game is being nationally televised. I’ve got the right station and the right time. Yet I am not watching Dustin Pedroia slap a grounder to left. I am not reveling in the slippery mastery of Josh Beckett on the mound. Instead I am watching a show I never bothered to watch in prime time.
I scramble through the trash for the sports section. Print media concurs. Rays vs. RedSox on TBS at 7pm cst. ESPN.com agrees.
Since the laptop is open and awaiting my next command, I move to the ever immediate, ever responsive realm of Twitter. Surprisingly, after 3 minutes, no one has answered my query. Where is ALCS game 6?
Returning to the TV, I click back on TBS. The same banal sitcom continues to harsh my squee. Now I’m peeved. I grab the laptop and go to TBS. com as well as their sports specific web page. Nothing. According to the TBS websites, I should be enjoying their stellar coverage of the game.
I return to ESPN.com, knowing they will at least have updates of the game. Not only is ESPN giving me a much desired play-by-play, they have moved my side screen to their “chat” section. I never “chat” during a ball game and I wonder why ESPN isn’t remembering that. They’ve put up a screen that I never participate in. But then I begin to read the chat. It is all about TBS’s broken feed. Someone from TBS is texting, explaining their frenzy and frustration, begging for our patience, letting me know they are aware and working on it.
So here are my questions to TBS:
- Why didn’t you tell me this in a TV crawl at the bottom of your insipid Sitcom?
- Why didn’t you tell me this on your website?
- Why didn’t you tell me this on your other, sports specific, website?
- Why wasn’t somebody monitoring Twitter to give me an explanation?
- Why did I have to learn about your problem on ESPN.com?
For all of your promise, TBS, that you are a sportscasting powerhouse, I had to get my sports information, and my information about your problems, from somewhere else. Thanks ESPN.com.