Satellite Locked In

The world cup got underway yesterday. This is the 3rd world cup, Cartman and I are watching in State College. Never in my wild imagination had I considered it while preparing to watch the 1999 world cup at C720 Parkway Plaza. And I celebrate the trifecta (the only 1 to host the 3 world cups in State College, PA on dish). Fatass had been a guest on the first occassion. In fact if the world cup was played more often, I could have made a lot of money as a dish installer. I have become quite an expert at it. A change of location did not deter us and we got the dish up and running in a little over an hr. It took professional installers about 4+ hrs at my aunt's place in NJ (ok...ok.. they ran the wires in the walls and all). But still for once in 4 yrs not bad huh!

On the first occasion in '99, Dish and cricket broadcasting was new in US of A. It was called the Kelly Broadcasting System. There was only 1 place that sold a Dish in State College and we bought the only piece they had. We had it installed on a plank of wood clamped to a dining table thanks to Bhatta and Janak putting to good use their workshop skills in the Mech Engg. workshop. We had 25 people who contributed towards the $300 plus on that occassion at C720 but with India not doing too good, it was rarely all of them showed up. Some of the memories from that occasion were Bhatta's commitment of showing up every night around 11 PM with a sleeping bag, a spring loaded alarm clock and 4 video cassettes to record the game to watch replay in case it got interesting.

Four years later and the world cup had moved for the first time to the African continent. The Penn State Cricket Club was all set to return in State College and there were more Indian grad students at Penn State. India was expected to do well, cricket was more watchable in USA but still needed a dish to watch the game. In some places like NJ and DC, Indian movie theaters were telecasting the Indian games. Still in State College one needed the dish to watch it. And we were one of the places to set it up for a total cost of $400 ($100 dish + $300 package). This time lot more people were interested in watching at least the India games. So we covered the money. India made a good run but ran into those damn Aussies once again. Previous to the Ind-Pak game, a couple of undergrad students called us up asking if they could watch it. When the game started around 20-30 showed up instead of 3-4. We still had lot of fun watching it in 2 rooms with mixed emotions on the two sides. Other highlights was Murali breaking Ram's dining table chair and Kapadia, Janak and Garg visiting for one game.

2007. Technology has made it possible for streaming webcasts. No need for dish. One can watch the matches online. Peer-to-peer television and SOPcasts offer free links to watch the games. But there is nothing like watching cricket on TV with no buffering or connection problems. And so after many deliberations, Fatass and I decided to set up dish again. The cost this time was lower as the dish was already there and stream casts meant that Echostar Network as now it is called had to offer the package at competitive costs. With friends from the club interested, we had no issues with covering costs. So we have it all set up. I am still to start the free broadband access through willow TV as it is offered with the package but I hope to have it running by Monday for India's match against Bermuda. Still will try and watch cricket on TV as much as I can.