Television, Sports, and Marketing...or Lack Thereof

One thing that shocked me upon getting to BAF was seeing how prevalent cable TV is. I'd heard that there would be TV's in the gyms and dining halls...but seriously, I can get cable hooked up in my room. With HBO and ESPN and CNN--for $15 at that.

So don't weep for me and all the Duke basketball games I'll miss this year. As long as I'm willing to negotiate the 9.5 hour time shift, I can watch all the games I want out here. Case in point, the Redskins/Cowboys game tomorrow. It starts at ~0145 local. I haven't decided whether I'm going to try to get up for it, but it's nice to know that if I wanted to, I could.

That said, similar to how the nice people at the Army/Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES) facilitate war profiteering w/o charging service people any pesky sales taxes, the Armed Forces Network (AFN) doesn't waste our time with commercial ads.

But don't think we get off ad free--nope, instead we get to watch a series of commercials cum public service announcement about everything from baby shaking, to how to properly marry a foreign national. Useful stuff, without a doubt--though I still think that there isn't a better way to handle an angry baby that a good shake or three.