Anklo blog

It’s been about six months with our current home entertainment setup and things are going pretty well. I’ve made a few minor enhancements, but nothing major. The most significant is the addition of an external hard drive to each of the ViP 211k receivers in the bedroom and living room. Plug in the hard drive, quick call to Dish, a one-time $40 charge, and bada-bang, bada-bing, instant DVR. Found a great deal on refurbished WD 1TB drives for $40 each, so for $120 I have a DVR for every TV.

The other addition is in the bedroom. I added an Apple Component AV Cable which allows us to plug in one of the iPhones or the iPod Touch and stream Netflix. That gives us Netflix on every TV.

Unfortunately, it’s not all bunnies and rainbows. From the beginning of this whole exercise I knew that the big sacrifice was going to be live sports, specifically racing. I’m not talking about NASCAR. I’m interested in ALMS, Indycar, and F1. Those viewing options have actually gotten even worse than when I started.

F1 is broadcast in the US on Speed and I’m not willing to pay for the next Dish programming tier to get it. There’s no legal F1 streaming source. No real change since last year for F1.

Indycar used to stream all practices, qualifying, and races live, but the network overlords pulled the plug on that this year. I’d have to bump up two Dish programming tiers to get Versus. Not gonna happen.

The only improvement, and it is a mixed blessing, is that ALMS is streamed live on espn3.com with no live TV broadcast. I currently have access to espn3.com, but the video quality varies from okay to poor. Thanks for nothing.

If I am desperate for Indycar or F1, I can connect to a friend’s Slingbox and leech off of his cable subscription. That is assuming he isn’t watching his own TV and that I can tolerate the really poor picture quality. Really poor.

So, if you take live sports out of the equation then we’re really happy with the current setup. It’s significantly cheaper than our old full cable setup and we have more programming options. Except for my racing.

Tilting at windmills, sent this to NBC:

This time last year I wrote that the Cubs should hire Joe Girardi. They didn’t, but made the playoffs anyway. BTW, whenever I saw Lou Pinella in the dugout he looked like he’d just come off a three day bender. Anyway, Joe now has responsibility for the Yankees (sans A-Rod). Good luck to him.

The Redskins got pounded by the Patriots on Sunday. The score was 52-7 and it wasn’t even that close. Ugly, but I couldn’t stop watching. Joe Gibbs should have stayed away and kept his Hall of Fame image intact.

Kimi Raikkonen is the F1 champion, at least until McLaren’s appeal. It seems out of character for me, but I can’t help but like Ferrari.

The Hurricanes are off to a great start. It’s a long season (too long) but they’ve already been challenged by injuries and have still managed to win.

This upcoming Saturday holds an ironic pair of NCAA football games. The SEC East leading UT Vols play the Ragin’ Cajuns of LA-Lafayette, while the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles visit No. 22 Auburn. This is so wrong.

A friend asked my thoughts about Lou Pinella and if we should even care. Well, I don’t care much anymore. To me, hiring Lou Pinella is the sports equivalent of “stay the course”. In my opinion the man for the job was Joe Girardi. A hometown guy and former Cub who rightly told his former boss to sit down and shut up. That’s who should manage the Cubs.

I used to be interested in sports. It used to entertaining. Now, with few exceptions, it’s just boring. The outcome is inconsequential because there will be another game tomorrow. And the day after, and again after that. For me the worst offender is NASCAR. The 2006 Nextel Cup schedule has 36 races, plus special events, starting in February and ending in November. Hockey is almost as bad, and the NBA and MLB are close. Only the NFL schedule is close to reasonable and even it is too long.

The reason for the long schedules isn’t a mystery. Just follow the money. As long as there are butts in the seats, then they’ll play the games. I still enjoy a game here and there. I try to watch the F1 races (there are only 16) and catch the Hurricanes when I have a chance. If not, wait a day or two and tune in then.

I’m happy to say that I have other things to do with my money and my life.