BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- I faced a bit of a dilemma for the crucial Seton Hall road contest on Wednesday night: the Elder Swampette was due to arrive at Detroit Metro from Chicago at 8:35PM, smack dab in the middle of the game. I had ESPN3 booted up on my laptop at home and quietly watched the Flyers fall behind by 14 at the half, while the rest of the family took in the Christmas flick “The Polar Express” on the big screen. You gotta love “The Trey” or whatever ESPN has nicknamed it -- digital quality games available online with real announcers!
Then as the second half opened the Flyers proceeded to rip off what frequent MB poster San Diego Flyer aptly termed “81 seconds of pure Flyer adrenaline”:
At the 16:08 mark we are down 35-46.
16:08 Kav makes two FT for 2 (37-46)
15:51 Parker steals the ball
15:40 CJ makes a layup on the break and 1 (40-46)
15:40 Paul Steals the inbounds pass
15:32 Paul hits jump shot for 2 (42-46)
15:00 Flyers rebound missed shot
14:47 Josh P drains a 3 (45-46)
In 81 seconds the Flyers score 10 points and are down by 1 point.
I made a silent scream and a demonstrative Jeter-like fist pump and the Younger Swampette, Mrs. Swampy and her mom looked at me like I was crazy.
“Down one with 11 minutes left to go!” I said as I put on my coat and headed out the door for the airport.
Now what will I do?
Fortunately, the old school media had my back.
Back in the day, before there was an internet or web-streaming, there was (and still is) 1290 on your AM radio dial. And, if the atmospheric gods were smiling, you could pick up the dulcet tones of Larry and Bucky 225 miles north of from whence their signal was transmitted.
As I head south on Southfield Road, I felt the normal anticipation that we all experience when following a Flyer game, with the added agita that only a fading 5,000 watt AM signal provides. Having worked at a 5,000 watt “daytimer” (WAVI) in Dayton, I knew that as the daytimers signed off, the other stations boosted their power and would make it harder to hear ‘HIO. By the time I got to Southfield and I-94 and the interference produced by the tower array of WNIC-AM (1310) Larry and Bucky had disappeared from the dial.
Fortunately, the digital media had my back.
But first I would have to deal with the long line of cars backed up to retrieve incoming passengers at Metro. This had also happened last month when the Elder Swampette came home for Turkey Day and I had to go to Plan B and pick her up at the “Departures” area upstairs. I called her on her cell and she was there at “Departures” when I pulled up. The ES is as big a Flyer fan as I am and she already had GameTracker fired up on her Blackberry and knew that UD had not only taken the lead, but extended it to 8 points. We winced as Flyer FTs were missed and a Pirate 3 pointer was made, but she calmly reported the final score in a 4 point Flyer road win.
Too bad we weren’t able to watch all of this, right?
That’s where the digital media had both of our backs.
As we all know, one of the endearing features of ESPN3 is that they archive the games, which are available almost immediately after the final whistle to watch online. By the time we got home the game was waiting for us to enjoy.
Linky goodness:
http://espn.go.com/espn3/player?id=1...size=condensed
Unbeknownst to me, RushtheCourt.com had decided to live blog the Pirates/Flyers game:
http://rushthecourt.net/2010/12/22/r...ll/#more-29684
From the looks of things, the live blog was unbeknownst to just about everyone who follows either team, except for the occasional Seton Hall fan.
Who says the ‘old school media’ can’t co-exist with the digital media?
Merry Christmas everybody!
That’s it “From the Swamp”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com
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