Saturday, June 28, 2008

Early and Agitated

It's a little past 6:30 AM in Seattle and for some reason I'm already awake. I wasn't happy to hear construction going on outside my window this morning so early, but I didn't mind that much because today was the day I was splurging a little and watching LIVE Wimbledon coverage on the tournament's web site!

I was as giddy and anxious as a young child on Christmas morning, so I pawed at my computer at my bedside and logged on as quickly as I could, wiping the sleep out of my eyes and blocking out the sounds of hammering and power drills as I do.

I went through all the steps to sign up, and just couldn't help but check the scoreboard to see which action I should check out first. "Oh!" I thought. "Janky is already in a tough battle with Caroline Wozniacki ... but, look! My favorite Marina Erakovic is serving to stay in her match against Tamarine Tanasugarn."

So I pointed and clicked my mouse as fast as I used to tear open presents and excitedly selected Court 11 to watch my Koala girl go at it. But wait! What's this?!? A message pops up and tells me that LIVE Wimbledon coverage doesn't work with MACs. I feel as crushed and disappointed as that kid who get coal in his stalking. (But really, who is that kid?!?)

I open Firefox in hope that maybe I can work around the system, but, alas, it wasn't meant to be. It's early and now I'm agitated, sent back to the world of YouTube highlight clips and online scoreboard gazing.

My live blogging from Wimbledon just wasn't meant to be, but I'll be near a TV in the near future ... so Christmas will come again soon, and I'll be as ready and excited as ever.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nick, sorry to hear about your problems this morning with the live streaming! I'm a mac user, so I can totally relate.

Although, I must confess, I broke down and bought a second pc (Windows) a few weeks ago, just because I was tired of missing out on media content because of Windows DRM issues.

Does your ISP offer ESPN360? If so, you might be able to watch live streaming online through them. This is what I've been using and I've been really happy with its quality. The website is www.espn360.com and it'll do an automatic check to see if you are eligible for their free service. Best of all, it is compatible with a mac.

nmccarvel said...

Hey Aaress-
Thanks for the note! My provider doesn't support ESPN360 :( Too bad!

Luckily, I'm moving out of the house I'm in now (which left me TV-less for TWO years!) and heading to a new location that I can actually catch some TV tennis once in a while.

Love what you're doing at OTB! Take care.

R.C. French said...

Hey Nick, I'm Rowan. I like your blogging. Neat to see somebody likes Marina Erakovic. Of course she gets a lot of support here in New Zealand, but I've been wondering if she is getting noticed in the rest of the world.

Online scoreboard gazing can be complimented by online radio commentary listening, ever tried it? There's a Radio Wimbledon right? I'm fortunate enough to be able to watch Wimbledon on TV this year, but I had a great time listening to Radio Roland Garros during the French Open when TV wasn't an option. Nothing is more stressful than listening to tennis on the radio. "Forehand Federer, backhand Nadal, forehand Federer, backhand Nadal, forehand Federer, backhand Nadal, ooh Federer hits a ball - into the net/just long/on the line for a clean winner!!!" It really gets the heart pumping.