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Daylight Wastings Time

Twelve-thirty p.m. on a warm, beautiful Saturday afternoon in May is an unnatural starting time for a hockey playoff game. For all but the hardest-core Bruins fans, it sets up a scenario where you can feel equally guilty whether you decide to watch the game on TV or not. Either way, you're missing something you'd like to do.

Of course, five-thirty p.m. on a weekday is an even stupider and more unnatural starting time, but that was the local time when the Sharks and Red Wings dropped the puck in San Jose Thursday night.

The NHL's national TV contract doesn't pay enough to keep the skates sharpened for an entire season. But the league, like all leagues, is willing to jerk itself around for its broadcasters anyway. It's an involuntary reflex where the owners' wallets twitch.

My personal compromise: I'll watch until I really feel like my life must be empty of meaning, then go outdoors. The amount of meaning in my life, of course, will be determined by the score.

posted by Michael Gee @ 10:37 AM