Lynne Kiesling
Long-time KP readers know that I am from Pittsburgh and I am a hockey fan. Newer readers may not realize that, because I don’t write as much about hockey here as I used to. In part that’s the disillusion and ennui that set in during and after the lockout. In part it’s been the light TV coverage, even though Versus has a contract with the NHL; they don’t show that many games. Once the late season kicks in and NBC starts showing some Sunday afternoon games, then I’m more likely to catch one. But I’m not likely to go out of my way to watch a game any more.
But the economics of technological change is reviving my love of hockey. When we moved back into our renovated house at the end of March, we also bought … a 40″ LCD 1080p high-definition TV. We hooked it up on a Sunday, and what was the first thing we saw when we turned it on? A Penguins-Rangers game. In Pittsburgh. And the Pens won.
All I can say is this: woof. Hockey is fabulous in HD. Of course I’m watching my Penguins (and I got home from my woolly weekend in enough time yesterday to see them win the series against the Rangers in overtime, yay!), but I’m also watching the other series. Because it just looks so freaking awesome in HD.
The increasing image quality of television, and the Moore’s Law-like continuous increase in value-for-money as the technology gets cheaper, has reinvigorated my lifelong love of hockey. If this is the perennial gale of creative destruction, bring it on, baby!
Watch whomever you want on whatever TV you own, it doesn’t matter. My Wings are still gonna win it all. 🙂
I dearly, deeply, truly hope that you are WRONG!
But then again, I still owe you a beer from our Miami-Michigan bet … but if it comes to Detroit-Pittsburgh in the finals, I’m happy to risk going two beers in the hole with you.
DirecTV greatly increased the number of baseball games on the Extra Innings package they broadcast in HD. Watching most of the games in high def, and then switching to one only broadcast in standard def is jarring. The old version of the games look blurry. It’s gotten to the point I no longer want to watch games in SD.
(The best thing about hockey in HD is that you can see the drops of water from melting ice on the glass.)