ABC-HD went out just before a penalty!
Im currently watching the Ghana - Czech Republic game and there is some bad weather outside. I see the Ghana striker go down in the box and have a penalty called and then the image stutters... then nothing. The signal is dead. I hope it comes back for a few seconds and then decide - change to analog. It's 3 or so minutes later and ABC-HD is still out. Time warner must be lying when they say that the weather doesnt affect cable. It certainly seems to be doing it today. I had just written a complaint letter to ESPN / ABC about the poor coverage of the world cup and should have included this latest problem:
Overall, I am very disappointed with the world cup 2006 coverage. The big issues are: No espn2HD on Time Warner Cable. Large on-screen graphics that obstruct the play (see how BBC-HD in the UK has done it), and unknowledgable commentators - Most of what comes out of the mouths of the commentators is incorrect or utter nonsense. This is a really weak effort for such a big event.
The signal going out just before a penalty is something that every football fan fears. Luckily I had the analog signal to switch over to.
p.s. 10 minutes later the HD signal is still out.
ESPN2-HD on Time Warner Cable – Watch the World Cup in HD!
Most of the games are being played on ESPN2-HD. Why do I have time warner cable when they dont have ESPN2-HD? I have an HDTV, but I am unable to use it for 32 world cup games. This is bullshit. I just called up Time Warner Cable to yell at the person on the other end. I am even thinking about switching to dish, but I wont. We have ESPN2 and ESPN2 at work - it just doesnt seem worth it since I am thinking of getting rid of subscription tv COMPLETELY.
The best World Cup 2006 spreadsheet
I was sent this as a mass forward and this sheet is fantastic. I tried to search for it because my version had a bunch of bugs and got a junky, poorly done sheets back so I thought I would post the best damn world cup excel sheet up here. Probably the best thing about it is the TV schedule so it shows all the local times.
Features (from the website)
There are 4 sheets in the workbook. The Match Schedule sheet lists every match in match day order and is where you enter the scores. The Groups sheet is the list of group tables. The Wallchart sheet is a chart display of match results for the knockout stages. The TV schedule sheet lists each match in date/time order displaying both the German kick off time and your local time.
Each country has their flag displayed for the matches and the group tables.
Clicking on a country flag will play the national anthem and display the lyrics if possible. Note that this requires Internet Explorer to be your default web browser.
You can select your favourite team by clicking in cell to the right of the text 'My Favourite Team'. All matches involving your favourite team will be highlighted in all 4 sheets.
A map of Germany is displayed in the Match Schedule sheet. When you select the row for the match the row will be highlighted and the city where the match is being played will be coloured in the map.
Clicking on on a city in the map will display a picture of the stadium for 2 seconds.
The Match Schedule sheet will automatically scroll up or down based on your currently selected cell so that the map is in view.
After the scores for a match have been entered the group tables will be updated and sorted in accordance with the official FIFA rules for the tournament. If a group is tied after the first 6 criteria, a userform will appear asking you to rank the teams for the result of drawing lots by the FIFA World Cup committee. If you make a mistake click the Draw Lots button at the bottom of the Groups sheet.
After each group is complete (i.e. the 6 matches for the group have been played) the round of 16 team names will begin to appear in the match day list.
If there is a tie after extra time in the knockout stages (match day 49 onwards) a userform will appear asking you to enter the results of the penalty shootout.
The page setup has been set for you to print each sheet on a single page. You can freely adjust these settings as you please.
