Saturday Night Basketball

The only thing better than watching Arizona beat Oregon's #2 ranked football team on a Friday morning last month was watching Arizona beat the Illini basketball team late last night. I'll gladly stay up past my bedtime or roll out of bed at 3 in the morning if the 'Cats continue to make primetime Doha TV. Winning big games is even more important for those watching in Doha because Orbit ESPN only gets to pick one game to televise - last night they chose very wisely. Arizona has two comebacks in one week (A&M who?) - only this time in Chicago the game provided some much needed redemption after the tragic 2005 Elite Eight matchup against Illinois. With Jerryd Bayless as PTP the ‘Cats are playing better basketball than I’ve seen in 4 years… and the Pac-10 has risen to an elite level within college basketball. Free march madness tip – 2008 is the year that Arizona returns to the Final Four.

Stat of the game: Freethrow percentage (AZ 78% -- Illinois 46%)

Play of the game: Jerryd Bayless drives straight down the lane for a powerful dunk as two Illinois defenders stared in amazement (dig the new uni's - http://www.systemofdress.com/)

Tuesday Morning Football

The programming amongst Doha's 50 or so cable channels rivals the shows you can pick up with a $5 pair of rabbit ears on top of an RV in the woods of Payson, Arizona - beautiful place by the way.

I'm worried that our television standards are deteriorating, especially when half the channels are in Arabic, and a good portion of the others show local soccer matches 20 hours a day. It's not all bad, we have had a chance to catch up on popular movies like "Mindhunters", "Fat Albert", and "Bubble Boy"... all terrible by our old standards, but manageable when you consider the alternatives.

The highlight of my television week actually happens early on Monday and Tuesday mornings, when I can also enjoy some live Sunday and Monday Night Football coverage before work - assuming ESPN doesn't cut out as it has mid-game before. My boss usually watches the live morning games too, limiting the comments when I stroll in a few minutes late.

A one-time Qatar television high occurred a few weeks back. I happened to wake up early on a Friday and when Orbit ESPN came up I nearly fell out of my chair! Not only was the Arizona / Oregon football game on (8:30am here) but WE were winning (WE refers to Arizona, the double digit underdog). I woke up Sheri and we nervously watched the final 12 minutes until we took the field in spirit with the Wildcat fans who were eager to celebrate another November upset (Bear Down 'Cats!)... if only we could figure out how to win in September and October. At least we can turn our attention to basketball now (A&M who?).

The biggest reason for my newfound television depression is that we finished all 5 seasons of Alias, which we started on DVD when we arrived 6 months ago. We're looking for the next suspenseful show to keep us from putting the cable on. 'Heroes' and 'The Nine' have drawn our attention lately - do you guys have any recommended shows we should be on the look out for - we're desperate for some decent TV?