Those of us who follow our beloved hoops over here know what I am talking about. If you’re a new follower of the club over here or an ex-pat, it was easy to catch matches on TV, probably even easier than in the UK, when they were in the Premiership last season. However, since moving back down to the Championship or prior to that, finding live action was no easy task. It’s not easy being a Royal Yank!
First, I must point out that not all Americans like being called Yank-ees. As a born and bred Southerner, the worst thing you can call someone is a Yankee. Think American Civil War, General Sherman, Georgia and the March to the Sea (reference Gone with the Wind for more drama) and you’ll understand (especially if you Scottish). It’s like not knowing the difference from being English and British. You’ll possibly tolerate it for the sake of the unknowing, but not for long. However, for this small piece of writing, I’ll use Yank in the context of the Revolution and not of those evil invaders from the 19th century.
Enough history. Back to football. To find a game live you first have to look for the listing on bein, the Al-Jazeera owned sports network shown over here. Politics aside, if they will show Championship games, they are my go-to source. However, last week they only ran Sunday’s Leeds United game and the week before that…I don’t recall because it wasn’t Reading. Fingers crossed for this week, but it’s not posted as of today. So you’re S.O.L. if you want to watch the game live and bein is not carrying it.
Next is radio streaming. This, I have found, is not as bad as some may think. At least you have a live report on the game’s action, but you can’t SEE what is going on, which is just a bit better than trying to follow golf on the radio. So what do you do? I have discovered that my best source for game action is…Twitter. I have my trusted sources that provide more vivid and less constrained opinions of the game as it happens than commentary. Believe it or not, I have found that my Twitter commentary usually matches better with the game I eventually watch via Player than not. Therefore, if you're going to follow a game live, you had better start collecting trusted Royal Twitter friends who will steer you straight!
Those of you that can, appreciate your being able to attend games! You not only have a responsibility to the club, but to those of us straining to get just a bit better insight into what the hell is going on during the game. Those up to it, look me up on Twitter @ChipHarp and keep me posted.
Meanwhile, that’s the view from the West End (of the Atlantic).
Cheers. And Come On URZZZZZZ!