TV Blackout

Carnell Williams was named the Offensive Player of the Week for an SEC-record eighth time
 

Well I gave it a shot this weekend. Most sports fans have tried it at one point or another, with very limited success. It’s called the TV blackout, where you record a game and avoid at all costs finding anything out about the game until you can watch it.

For me it was an easy prospect. I had a children’s birthday party to go to where I watched the first half of the Auburn/Miss State game, then I had a 30 min. drive home where I was recording the second half. No problem, listen to FM radio and turn it off if they show any hint of commenting about sports, don’t answer your phone and don’t look other divers in the eye incase you have to wonder why the guy with the AU license plate is cheering or crying. This will be a piece of cake…and if anything fails, I’m really only missing 10 or 15 minuets.

I have had friends who have attempted a much more ambitious TV Blackout. In an attempt to convince his wife that he understood there was more to life than Auburn Football, one friend agreed to go to a concert on the night of a game. He carefully thought out his plan taking pains not to wear any Auburn gear for fear that someone might say, “Hey, that was a great game today,” or something of the sort. Then he spent the next day running from any newspaper, radio, internet sites and coworkers (I believe he had to resort to fingers in the ear “I’m nooooot listening,” more than a few times. He was successful, but with his obsession, he failed to convince his wife of anything. Now she knows that, at least to him, nothing is more important than Auburn Football.

Thankfully my wife is of a like mindset as me. She was fully onboard with the plan; however, she wasn’t quite as worried about missing 10 minuets or so of the game as I was. After we saw that Auburn was up 21 to 0, she really couldn’t understand my obsession, but she played alone. We drove home in TV Blackout mode, drove through the neighborhood without acknowledging anyone (our neighborhood is populated with many College Football fanatics), and rushed inside settling down to watch the second half that was being recorded on Maggie. We were surprised at how easily we avoided any mention of the game as we turned on the TV to find….I had messed up in scheduling the recording somehow and the game didn’t record. Oh well, the game was a blow away and we only missed 10 minutes of game time. Calk this one up to lesson learned. Hopefully I won’t have to do that again (I’m usually at the game), but if I do, the most important element of the TV Blackout plan…is make sure it will record.