Thursday, March 29, 2007
It’s really a shame that the Jayhawks’ run in the NCAA tournament always seems to coincide with spring break.
As students, we head to all corners of the country (maybe the world?) in order to pursue sunshine and relaxation. But as KU students, we still want to see the Jayhawks play into March Madness.
And therein lies the rub. Trying to find a KU game on an out-of-Kansas television can be an exercise as difficult as it was for the Jayhawks to hit lay ups and dunks against UCLA. I tried to watch the Jayhawks’ first game at home in St. Louis. I got home just minutes before the game, only to find out that Charter, the local cable provider, was offering the Illinois-Virginia Tech game on the local cable station.
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By this point it was halftime of the KU game, which I had on my laptop. I elected to watch it that way, rather than try and get any information from the folks at Charter.
No problem, I assumed. Sunflower here in Lawrence has an extra game available for its sports tier subscribers. My parents get the sports channels in St. Louis, so I assumed we’d be getting an extra game.
I tried to call Charter and ask them about it, but was entirely frustrated by the cable company’s horrendous customer service. I spent 45 minutes on hold, being passed between operators who had no idea what channels even the most basic stations were on.
They tried to tell me the KMOV channel 4, the CBS affiliate, was on channel 6. I politely told them I was staring at my cable box, which showed it on channel 4.
When I got irritated and asked the foolish customer service representative for a supervisor, I was put on indefinite hold until I was hung up on. My anger at not being able to watch the KU game had been exacerbated by a company that so foolishly believes it can mistreat its customer.
I tried to call Charter back, but was, again, left on hold. What passes for customer service at that company is shameful.
By this point it was halftime of the KU game, which I had on my laptop. I elected to watch it that way, rather than try and get any information from the folks at Charter.
For games three and four, I was in New York City. As a soon-to-be KU alum, I visited the Web site of the KU Alumni Association to get information on where all of the local Jayhawks would be watching games three and four.
For some reason, I assumed that the local alumni chapter would have made sure to update its Web site on where it would be watching Kansas’ run in the NCAA tournament. Imagine my dismay when I found out that a private party had booked the local watch party site.
I suppose it’s possible that the Alumni Association e-mailed its active New York members about the change, but several recent alumni I know were as surprised as I was.
I ended up watching the first half of the game at a local restaurant before moving to a better locale at halftime.
The past two years I’ve made plans to follow the Jayhawks wherever they went in the tournament during spring break. This year, I decided I wasn’t going to pin my spring break hopes to a Jayhawk basketball team. It turned out well in that for the first time since 2004 the Jayhawks advanced out of the first weekend, but it made it incredibly difficult to catch games.
Next year, it’s back to following the Jayhawks. I hope my employer understands.
Kealing is a Chesterfield, Mo., senior in journalism and political science.
— Edited by Jyl Unruh
Kealing: All basketball, all the time
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Kealing: It’s hard to see KU games out of town
When we were in NYC in January, we went to the Back Page (bar) with all other KU alumni to watch the Texas-Tech Raiders beat the Jayhawks. The place is bad luck. Not surprised they weren't watching there.
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