Holy Shit! (Literally)

So I'm sitting here on a lovely afternoon in Manhattan, watching the Caps battle the Flyers for their playoff lives, in an entertaining tilt on NBC, broadcast in beautiful high definition.

As much as I like watching hockey in HD, I was curious about this afternoon's game and what would happen if it were to go to overtime, a possibility given these two teams recent double OT thriller.

It was on my mind particularly based on NBC's horrible decision last season to cut away from the Sabres/Senators playoff game to show the pregame show of a goddamn horserace.

When that happened last year, I was pissed.

So this year, I checked ahead and saw that the programming NBC has planned directly after NHL hockey is the following:

"The Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am Golf Tournament."

While Golf gets good rating and all, that sounded to me like programming that is, well- pre-emptable.

Sweet.

So this afternoon, I settled in behind my TV, assured in my knowledge that playoff OT, should it happen, is in my future.

Then, just now, to my horror, a "weather alert" type blue bar starts scrolling across the bottom of my TV, announcing that the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am Golf Tournament will be seen on the following channels to make room for coverage of the Papal visit."

What?!

Now- it's not time to panic yet, but rest assured- if I can't watch playoff overtime in the Stanley Cup finals in high definition, I'd really appreciate a better reason than a parade for an Ex-Nazi who flew in to apologize for decades of unpunished, institutionalized child rape.

Oh, I'm sorry, I mean "spreading a message of peace."

I mean, OK- whatever, some people want to watch the Pope, I get it.

But c'mon, do you really need the HD feed for that? I've seen what old people look like in HD and trust me, hockey looks better.

I'm just saying, if the Flyers scrape out a goal in the third here and force some OT, I'm gonna be missing the HD broadcast of Alexander Ovechkin playing for his post-season life.

And in the Catholic Church, isn't "life" the most important thing?