Sportscenter Withdrawal

This column is dedicated to all my friends who have asked me, “Yo, are you still writing your column this year? Because I haven’t seen it.” It’s you guys that make me continue to do this thing, even though its 12:25 a.m. and I got too much to do in too little time.
Ahh, but it has been too long.
I don’t even know how I’ve been able to do it. It’s been killing me. I don’t think I can actually go any longer.
I swear Time Warner and I are going to have duke it out, seriously.
We’ve been here, since when now? At the latest Aug. 28th. But despite the fact that I actually have classes going on, the NFL season has begun and my mom is already giving me those Friday night, right-before-the-party, “I miss you,” calls but I still do not have cable or internet installed in my house.
The fact that I can’t even get on Blackboard from my room doesn’t even bother me. The fact that I can’t get up to date with the newest episodes of Weeds isn’t killing me that much. It’s the simple fact that I have no access to ESPN. It’s ridiculous, unacceptable. I mean there have been times when I’ve stayed in Uris just so I can stay in the loop. I’ve been caught at Dino’s just staring at the TV screen, ignoring work. Granted, I could look at my phone and get the basics. But any real sports fan knows what I am talking about. To go weeks upon weeks without Sportscenter, Around the Horn, ESPNews, is a travesty.
While I could always stop by a friend’s house and watch some games, it’s not and can’t be the same. You know what I’m talking about, the feeling of waking up semi-hungover from Friday night, get some good breakfast in your system, get some football food plopping down in front off the couch with your boys and watching the game. That’s almost routine for me by this point. And yet, the fact that I haven’t been able to watch a Giants game in my house is really bothering me.
And maybe it would be cool if I had a DVD collection for days like that but I don’t. I watch too many sports to stack up the DVDs, but I’m trying to do better. As much as I love The Departed, it doesn’t get any better after the 10th time you’ve played it in a week. Plus, how are you going to entertain the ladies with six DVDs and no cable; that’s not cool.
For these, and many more reasons, I want to get DirecTV out of spite. And yeah, I know that the reception will probably be bad because of an Ithaca winter could be — brace yourselves, freshman — but I just want to get Time Warner back for the all the stress and semi-heartache they have put me through. I usually wake up with Sportscenter, and now I’m waking up to that annoying DVD title menu music from The Departed.
But every dog shall have his day.
And today my friends, today is a good day, or at least its supposed to be. It’s a Thursday, I only have one class at 2:15 — for the record, I’m taking offers on partying on Wednesday nights — the week is over, Thursday nights are fun here and Time Warner should be rolling through at some point today to install the service. I am crossing my fingers, however, because we all know how Time Warner monopolizes the market and moves at its own pace. But soon, and very soon, I will finally feel settled into campus and my new place. Just wait until my ESPN gets over here.