LOW DEFINITION MADNESS?

WCBS actually replied to my request and sent me the primary games that they will be showing in New York on Thursday and Friday. Here it is:

THURSDAY, MARCH 15
12:00 p.m. -- Boston College (7) vs. Texas Tech (10)
2:45 p.m. -- Georgetown (2) vs. Belmont (12)

7:00 p.m. -- Duke (6) vs. Virginia Commonwealth University (11)
9:45 p.m. -- Indiana (7) vs. Gonzaga (10)

FRIDAY, MARCH 16
12:00 p.m. -- UNLV (7) vs. Georgia Tech (10)
2:35 p.m. -- Notre Dame (6) vs. Winthrop (11)

7:00 p.m. -- Kansas (1) vs. Niagra (16)
9:30 p.m. -- Kentucky (8) vs. Villanova (9)

At least Villanova will be on, but they dissed Albany as the first game on Friday. But the worst choice: they chose Duke! Why? Who gives a crap about Duke? As long as you're already ignoring local interest (C-Conn getting crushedf), why not show Michigan State vs. Marquette? I still haven't decided if I'm going to the Sports Page on Friday for the Mega March Madness, but I think I might have to.

Of course, the bigger story (to me) is that although CBS is broadcasting every game in HD, most of the local affiliates are NOT showing the local games in their entirety in HD! That's right! Instead, they are showing the national HD "flex feed", which interrupts games midstream according to the action. This sucks for several reasons. One: I will no longer get multiple games like I did last year (one in SD on Channel 2, and another in HD on 702). Two: some of the local stations, in order to get a constant feed of a game of local interest, will be upconverting to SD for their HD channels. Even the Mega March Madness package on DirecTV only allocated 4 HD channels for the tournament. CBS claims that "every game" will be in HD. Yeah, only if you're in the CBS control room! What a joke.

(Oh, and can everyone stop calling last night's 'play-in' game the first game of the tournament? That's bullshit. And why is it in Dayton every year? Someone please explain this.)