The Benefits of the Antenna

My house in Thornhill has never been wired for cable television. We use a simple antenna. It picks up the main Canadian networks and anything that comes out of Buffalo. Of course this means that there are certain programs that I cannot view as they are on channels that only broadcast with cable. Nevertheless, the antenna still has its benefits.

Take the World Cup for instance.

All the games (except for the final match) are broadcasted on TSN and Sportsnet. However, that's only for the English language.

Sportsnet is owned by Rogers which also owns the Onmi channels whose emphasis, is on multiculturalism. And what could be more multicultural then the World Cup? Not only do the Omni channels broadcast the games, but they also broadcast them in a number of languages. I find this to be a unique and worthwhile experience.

Don't get me wrong. I still love listening to the BBC commentators and their excellent way of building narrative. But there is something fun about watching a game in another languages. You get to hear the excitement from a completely different perspective.

Yesterday, I was watching Argentina/Mexico in Spanish. The commentator kept his voice at the same level for most of the match. But when, Argentina's Maxi Rodriguez scored the game winning goal in extra time, all one could hear was:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLL!
MAXI! MAXI! MAXI!

Gotta love the World Cup.

The Hek