Watching live U.S. sports events in China requires luck, ingenuity and a dependable alarm clock.
When I tried to watch the NCAA basketball tournament online, I kept losing my Internet connection every few minutes. It usually took about five minutes to reconnect, meaning I was missing more action than I was seeing. That’s where the ingenuity came in.
I called Pat on FaceTime and asked her to place her iPad in front of our TV set during the Final Four telecasts. For some reason, I didn’t lose my Internet connection with FaceTime the way I did while trying to watch the games via the CBS, TBS and NCAA websites. So I got to watch the semifinals and championship game with just a few glitches. Most of them involved the loss of sound, which was no great loss since that meant not having to listen to Jim Nance’s milquetoast play-by-play.
The first semifinal, Florida-UConn, started at 6:09 p.m. Saturday Eastern time, which was 6:09 a.m. Sunday in China. Getting up that early was a challenge since I didn’t get home from a party until 2 a.m. But basketball fandom requires sacrifice, so I set my alarm, dragged myself out of bed, called Pat and camped out in front of my MacBook Air for the next 5½ hours, breaking only to microwave popcorn and visit the bathroom.
Monday night’s Kentucky-UConn title game didn’t start until 9:10 p.m. Eastern, which meant I was better rested for the 9:10 a.m. Tuesday tipoff in China. I also got lucky because it took place on a day when I didn’t have morning classes.
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Lately I’ve been trying to watch major-league baseball, mostly to stay updated for my fantasy team. (I play in a league with my nephew David, who got me hooked a few years ago.) I have an MLB subscription that allows me to watch games online, but only if you’re in the U.S.
Fortunately, I have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) that fools the Internet into thinking I’m sitting at home in New Jersey. I use my VPN primarily to access websites that are blocked in China, but it also comes in handy for watching U.S. programs. However, I’m still at the mercy of China’s unreliable Internet service, which is stuck in the horse-and-buggy era.
My next early-morning sports event will be the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3. Post time is 6:24 p.m. Eastern, which is 6:24 Sunday morning in China. Horses are used to getting up that early, but not me. Personally, I think noon is an excellent time to wake up because I get to miss two of my least favorite things – rush hour and breakfast.
I covered the Derby as a sports writer, often with a wicked hangover from a week of bacchanalia. This time, I’m going to bed sober and waking up early to hear the University of Louisville Marching Band play “My Old Kentucky Home’’ without feeling like someone dropped an anvil on my head.
