Sports Aren't The Same When You Can Fast Forward

Living in Europe is not always easy if you are a US sports fan. Sure we have ESPN America on the Belgacom Sports Package but that is no cure for the temporal displacement issue. 6-9 hours of time difference can make following your favorite team in real time a challenge. Most days the game starts at some ridiculous hour that we simply can't stay up for. So then you wake up and either try to avoid the internet all day so that you can watch it from the DVR the next evening or you just chuck the whole thing and check the box score in the morning.The real issue for me though, is that watching games in tape delay ruins the intensity and drama. If you can hit fast forward to see how it turns out, the life is sucked out of it. So we are stuck with a much lighter diet of sports than we had in the US. I do think we appreciate it more however when we have something on that we want to watch. Weekends are a little easier as there are usually a few games that start at a reasonable hour. Last night was one of those times when the time change benefitted us. Red Sox had a matinee game which hit us right at 7PM so we were able to watch the drubbing of the Tigers in real time. Almost felt like home.

As I mentioned, we have ESPN America on the Sports Package, which also gets us about a half dozen channels with cricket, snooker and soccer options. Haven't yet developed a taste for those, but if I live here long enough, who knows. Before we left the US, SWMBO and I bought the MLB.TV package, which is really great. We stream the games in high definition to our computer and string that through an HDMI cable to the flat screen. It is a little choppy sometimes, but the image is excellent. I think I will probably need to do the same thing with the NFL this fall, although it is less urgent with footbal. In Europe, ESPN America plays almost every US football game over the course of the week. So while you know the score, you can watch football almost every evening.

Our rigged internet viewing extends to other selections as well. We get our Daily Show and Stephen Colbert Quota this way, as well as South Park. When we first moved here we were able to purchase shows from itunes as well. Unfortunately, when we changed our billing address, that option went away. Belgian itunes does not have TV or Movies. Only music. Bad French Pop music at that.

Tonight is game 7 of the Bruins, Tampa Bay saga. I am rooting for the B's but I don't think I can stay up for the 2AM start. Hopefully they win and I won't mind watching the replay in the morning. Go Bruins!!