Off the Air: Part II

It has been a little over a month now since we turned off the television. Things are going pretty well so far. There are some things that I miss; mostly, watching live sports. At the moment that is not much of an issue. For summer is the time of golf, tennis, baseball, and Major League Soccer (MLS).

Golf is probably the sport I would casually watch the most. It was something I would tune into on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to see who was leading, who was contending, and who was fading (choking). I enjoy golf on television, despite the criticism of it being slow and boring. Sometimes I like my sports to be slow. And, as I am a golfer myself and understand the difficulty, frustrations, and nuances of the game, I don't usually find it boring. I find myself watching for hours on end. One of the exceptions to that is if Tiger is leading in the final round and no one is appearing to make a run. Unless it's really close, I know no one will catch him. In fact, they tend to fall back and not even make him work for it. I tend not to enjoy watching foregone conclusions. Even though I am a big Tiger fan. But, having said all that, I haven't been missing golf too much so far. Even if I did miss Tom Watson's great run at the British Open.

Tennis is a sport that I enjoy, but watch sporadically, usually only Grand Slam events and, even then, I seldom sit through an entire match outside in the semis or the final. Unless it is a player or players that I particularly like. Then I might watch an earlier round. I did regret missing that historic marathon final at Wimbledon between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. That is one I would have liked to see. But still, not feeling devastated over it.

Baseball, while a sport I find fascinating, is not one that I think plays well on television. Baseball is vastly better seen in person. I don't watch a lot of it on television anyway. Therefore, I haven't missed seeing it. Especially since the Rangers started to tank (but that's another story).

Soccer, like golf and baseball, is a sport that is criticized for being slow and boring. Since I was an avid player in my youth and, like golf, understand the game, I find neither criticism to be accurate. As a matter of fact, soccer is my favorite sport. Like baseball, it is better viewed in person than on television, but I like the game anyway I can get it. So, surprisingly, what I miss most about no television is not having the Fox Soccer Channel (FSC). I can stream the MLS game of the week off ESPN360.com, as well as other soccer matches and some other niche sporting events, but I have run into issues with the streaming. Occasionally, it will just lock up and go to black screen, leaving me with only a choice of starting over from the beginning - and risking the same problem again - or turning it off. I don't know if the cause is with the ESPN stream or my internet connection. Who knows? But it is nice to be able to see a little soccer anyway. And, I haven't missed it enough to regret the decision. It doesn't seem worth $90 a month to get back one channel (FSC is only available on the highest digital tier).

As for everything else on TV, I don't miss it at all. Of course, this is only summer, when most of what you have is reruns and filler series and shows. Soon the fall season will be here and we will find out which of our favorite shows can be streamed off the internet and which cannot. Then we will see how serious we are about this experiment. Not to mention, football season starts in about a month. That will be a real test for me. I need to watch my Cowboys. Especially with the new billion dollar stadium they have. Oh well, maybe I can hawk some of the wife's jewelry and actually buy a ticket to a game. I mean, they can't sell out a 90,000 seat stadium every week, right? The rest of the games I guess I will have to go to a sports bar to see. Hmm, that might be more expensive than cable. We shall see.

In the meantime, if you want to see how we do going forward, you, unlike me, will have to stay tuned.