Hyderablog

A Complete Absence of Yankees-Red Sox Fever

It's ten or so in the morning here, and I've just watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees 10-3 in ALCS Game 7 to win the American League pennant. I say "watched" but what I really mean is I've been sitting in my office in front of a computer monitor filled with information and statistics, plus a plethora of static graphics representing the baseball diamond, players, runs, balls and strikes, all intended to convey the feel of actually watching the game live, pitch-by-pitch. Baseball via the Internet .... gee, you can almost smell the hot dogs and beer, huh?

Since the playoff games happen when it's early AM here, starting at around 6AM, I would have preferred just to get up early and watch the games on TV at home. Not surprisingly, though, no channel here was carrying the game. Last year at the same time, I recall that some of the playoffs were shown live on ESPN in the morning. However, that channel is no longer provided by our cable operator. This is not uncommon, as stations come and go with some regularity here, depending on the financial and legal squabbles of the networks and operators and their efforts to squeeze more money out of the subscribers. Unlike when the channels are "shuffled" in the U.S. (i.e. cable companies mail out the new channel "lineup", complete with handy self-sticking guide for the remote), here the channel assignments change frequently and without warning, and one must simply hunt around to find what you're looking for. Well, I shouldn't really complain, given that for 100 rupees a month (just a hair over $2), we're getting CNN, BBC, CNBC, HBO, Discovery, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, Nick, etc, plus of course a full selection of regional music and entertainment offerings in Hindi, Telegu, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam...

Still, it was quite maddening to turn on the TV this AM, hoping someone on this side had come to his senses and recognized the sheer historical signficance of this game! No such luck. Instead, I found (among other things): The Hollywood Squares, Gilligan's Island (in Hindi!), championship wrestling, Sesame Street, and something with Steven Seagal (viewers here are fed a steady diet of Bollywood heriones and action stars, and along with Stallone and the now-governor of California, at least one of these guys is always on here). The non-wrestling sports coverage consisted of football (soccer), tennis, some bit about the Ryder Cup golf and, of course, cricket. I wonder if they'll wise up in time for the World Series. There's one die-hard Red Sox fan I know over here .... I'm sure he's figured out some way to see the games.

posted by David @ 10:54 PM