A Nice Cup of Tea & a Sit Down

I spent some of my afternoon today watching the Nadal -v- Kiefer match on NBC (I was rooting for Nadal – what a good looking guy!). Both players displayed impeccable sportsmanship; the game itself was fast-paced and exciting – everything a world class tennis match at Wimbledon should be. Nadal won the first game, but really, only just. The second game started at about 8:30pm London time, and of course, the anticipation was that bad light would stop play if the match became too drawn out. Halfway through the 1^st set of the second game, the NBC commentator announced for the benefit of all those that had just tuned in to watch the women’s golf, that it would be delayed. He said we were staying with this tennis match until the end of day’s play. I settled down to enjoy the remainder of the match, despite commercial breaks every 4 minutes.

Imagine my horror when some five minutes later, the commentator announced before the end of the 1^st set that this was the point that they would be leaving Wimbledon and going straight over to the women’s golf tournament. He added in an almost afterthought sort of way, that those of us who wished to continue to watch Wimbledon tennis, should switch to ESPN2 where play continues. “It’s a good job we have satellite”, I thought to myself whilst hunting the channels for ESPN2. Finally, I found it, but I couldn’t believe my eyes! Yes, there was a tennis match being shown, but not the one that I had been watching!

I cannot tell you how pissed off I am, especially when I learn from the BBC website that Nadal beat Kiefer 7-6 6-2 6-3 some 35 minutes or so after NBC decided that women’s golf was the most critical thing on earth.