IslandBillsFan Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Hello All, I could've put this on TSW because it pertains to the Bills but it's more of a general topic so I'll post it here. Normally I try to watch all games live but occasionally it's just not possible. I also understand if your just sitting around at home you can record the game, avoid your phone and watch it in a little bit. However, tomorrow I am in a tough situation. I am on a JetBlue flight from Puerto Rico to Fort Lauderale pretty much the whole game. (8:30EST-11:30 EST). Then I have to get picked up and ride an hour to where I am staying for the night. My GF who is picking me up can record the game and swears she won't tell me the score. With all the factors involved below, do you think I should try to avoid all outside world and watch on delay OR just bite the bullet and catch what I can on my phone and airport TV? To avoid the game completely, I will have to stay away from the game as we enter US airspace as JetBlue has TVs and the NFL network. This will be at about 11:00pm when the game could be close to over. THEN, I will need to walk through the airport without glancing up any any TVs or over hearing anyone discussing it. NEXT, I have to call to get picked up. No way I can open a text and risk seeing others pertaining to the game. Lastly, I can't listen to the radio in the car and hope no outside factors get to me. Thoughts? Also, curious if others have tried to do this before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBillsFan Posted November 12, 2015 Author Share Posted November 12, 2015 Thanks JR. I'm just gonna be pissed if I fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WotAGuy Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 (edited) I had this situation for last week's game. We met my son-in-law and his wife for lunch down in Cortland, about 40 minutes away, right during game time. Ended up going to a sports bar. Which was fine because I wanted to know the score anyway. The prospect of going through a bunch of avoidance only to go home and watch them lose was too great. I'd rather know my investment of 3 hours in watching the game would be worthwhile. In fact, I'm getting closer and closer to just recording the games and checking the standings afterward to see if they won or lost and then watching if they won. Too many lost Sundays watching them come up small when it counts - I'm an abused fan, no doubt. Edited November 12, 2015 by WotAGuy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 My phone goes on airplane mode until I can watch the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Thanks JR. I'm just gonna be pissed if I fail. One other thing, though it may not pertain to you. If you have any friends who like to text you during the game, tell them not to. While Bills prime time games are few and far between, when they are on, I delay the game (since it starts at 5:30 p.m. out here and I like to have work completely closed out before I start watching). The problem is that many of my friends are somewhere while the game is on and they'll text me crap like "Oh, that fumble was too bad!" or "Wow, you guys look really good!" It's all well and good until you're playing Dallas on Monday night and blow a 20+ point lead. Then the texts start coming in while I still think we're winning. You know what? Now I've pissed myself off just thinking about it. Phuck it. Turn your phone off until the game is over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 My phone goes on airplane mode until I can watch the game. This is only way to not find out from social media and texts or email. Plus, you have the plane to worry about. If NFL Network not available, ESPN is and someone will turn it on as soon as TV is available. So I would explain to them situation and ask them to please stay off ESPN/NFL network if they don't care about the game. If they do, the. Just say we will enjoy the end together, nothing you can do. Earphones in all the way from PR to car...as only game on someone on plane, in airport, somewhere will say something. Make sure you do not have any Bill a gear on for sure, and avoid any sports related gear at all. Trust me on this one. plan how you will call GF in advance. I have done this several time before, but never a national prime time game. Hopefully the game will be over or all the TVS in the terminal will on game. Only saving grace is the Ft Luarderdale airport is a pit, so should not be to many TVs around. Worst airport in the country I believe. And no radio on the drive...all sweet nothing's with GF to safely parked in front of TV. As a precaution, have her leave TV on another station when she leaves. I have come home middle of 3rd sometimes and whn I turn on TV THERE IS THE GAME. Just have it recording while tuner is on other station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cugalabanza Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 One other piece of advice: Make sure your GF adds extra time to the recording. Games almost always go over the allotted three hour time slot. And if there's overtime... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFanNC Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Don't worry. I wont text you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdog1960 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 it's difficult but can be done. I agree with the recommendations above. it's actually a good excuse to go unplugged for a day. also, make sure that when you turn on the tv to watch the recording and it's tuned to NFL network, that you pause the live show and look down while you cue up the recording. I've seen the score more than once on a scrolling banner on a live broadcast on the station the bills game was recorded on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 it's difficult but can be done. I agree with the recommendations above. it's actually a good excuse to go unplugged for a day. also, make sure that when you turn on the tv to watch the recording and it's tuned to NFL network, that you pause the live show and look down while you cue up the recording. I've seen the score more than once on a scrolling banner on a live broadcast on the station the bills game was recorded on. i have Directv, so you can record one show while you watch another. Thats why i always turn the receiver to like the Food Network ...DTV will always start on last station being watched live...not what is recorded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Thats why i always turn the receiver to like the Food Network ...DTV will always start on last station being watched live...not what is recorded. Plus...y'know...Giada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flomoe Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Hello All, I could've put this on TSW because it pertains to the Bills but it's more of a general topic so I'll post it here. Normally I try to watch all games live but occasionally it's just not possible. I also understand if your just sitting around at home you can record the game, avoid your phone and watch it in a little bit. However, tomorrow I am in a tough situation. I am on a JetBlue flight from Puerto Rico to Fort Lauderale pretty much the whole game. (8:30EST-11:30 EST). Then I have to get picked up and ride an hour to where I am staying for the night. My GF who is picking me up can record the game and swears she won't tell me the score. With all the factors involved below, do you think I should try to avoid all outside world and watch on delay OR just bite the bullet and catch what I can on my phone and airport TV? To avoid the game completely, I will have to stay away from the game as we enter US airspace as JetBlue has TVs and the NFL network. This will be at about 11:00pm when the game could be close to over. THEN, I will need to walk through the airport without glancing up any any TVs or over hearing anyone discussing it. NEXT, I have to call to get picked up. No way I can open a text and risk seeing others pertaining to the game. Lastly, I can't listen to the radio in the car and hope no outside factors get to me. Thoughts? Also, curious if others have tried to do this before. I have been able to do this several times and it's not that hard. I live in Florida and have been involved in large social gatherings on Sunday afternoons with a lot of various types of people and can get away with not finding out anything about the game. Basically you have to go "dark", no phone, no radio and no television. The one major thing you need to do though is not wear anything "Bills" related. Since you will be out of the Buffalo area, this task should be easy to accomplish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I lived/worked in Seattle for many years. Back when Monday Night Football was on ABC, KOMO used to show the game on TV with a 1 hour tape delay. The tree huggers decided to give people time to get home from work. Instead of starting at 1800, they would delay the start to1900. So i worked nights, watched pieces of the tape delayed game while at work, but when I got off at 2300, the game would be over on the radio broadcast, which was live. . Finally the NFL put their foot down and make them carry the game live, but I missed many 4th quarters because of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 i have Directv, so you can record one show while you watch another. Thats why i always turn the receiver to like the Food Network ...DTV will always start on last station being watched live...not what is recorded. Same here. I also always mute the TV and look away when I turn it on, just in case. By the way, when I had TIVO (and not DVR), this was never a problem. TIVO's home screen is just a page with the menu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Island bills fan: did you successfully pull it off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IslandBillsFan Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 To JR and those others who are curious how it went: So as mentioned I tried to go off the grid to watch the game Thursday night. My flight was on time and I missed most of the game while on the plane. I was on Jetblue so all the seats have TV's and once were over Florida I could see people flipping through channels. This was about 11pm so the game was somewhere in the 3rd or 4th quarter. I just looked down in my seat until we landed and successfully avoided it. When I turned my phone on off of airplane mode (I needed to to get my ride) the thing was vibrating like crazy so I knew I got a ton of text messages (later determined to be 47). I got picked up by my GF and we drove home without the radio. When we got there at around 1:30 in the morning I had her cue up the game so there was no chance I clicked something wrong or the TV was left on a sports channel. As a side note I was going to wear a Bills hat on the plane but thought better of this as it might cause someone to come over and say something about the game. I started watching the game around 1:30 am and was moving pretty quickly through it because I could fast forward through commercials. However, towards the end of the 1st quarter (around 2:00am for me) all of a sudden the Xfinity cable box popped up an error message saying "under maintenance until 6am." Besides having to wait, what really scared me were all of the recorded programs had disappeared and I wasn't sure if they were lost forever. So I slept from 2am til 6am and got up to try to watch the end of the game. My GF was still sleeping so I had to start it on my own. When I went to recordings they were all there and I clicked on "Thursday Night Footb..." When the program popped up it was the postgame show! Two field announcers interviewing a Buffalo player! I quickly exited and realized I clicked on "Thursday Night Football Postgame Show" rather than the actual game! I had told my GF to record that as well in case the game went long. I clicked the correct program and it started where I left off the previous evening. However, even though I didn't see the score or hear what the announcers were saying I had a hunch if they were interviewing a Bill postgame I had a good feeling the Bills won. I watched the end of the game confident but when the Jet's rallied back I had my doubts. Thankfully they pulled it off. Overall it worked fine and I am glad I did it. The only downside was it was a long trip with little sleep trying to catch the game. Thanks for all the thoughts and advice. This week will be the exact opposite as I will be in New England at the game. Hopefully we can pull off a miracle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flomoe Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Glad to hear it worked out for the most part. Going off the grid isn't that hard depending on the circumstances but not wearing any Bills paraphernalia is key because you never know when some schlepp comes up to you and says something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 And my wife thinks I'm nuts when it comes to the Bills...I will have to show her this post... BTW, i think it's perfectly normal behavior... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Buffalo Joe Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I worked at a store on a Sunday once. recorded the game, and made it through almost my whole shift without hearing about it. Even my dad who I watch the game with, stayed home and avoided the game so we could watch together. With like 10 minutes left in my shift a guy comes in, asks if I saw the game. I told him no, but I'm going home to watch it, so don't tell me anything. His response? "Well I won't tell you who wins, but if you're a Bills fan, you won't be happy." !@#$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I was on Jetblue so all the seats have TV's and once were over Florida I could see people flipping through channels. This was about 11pm so the game was somewhere in the 3rd or 4th quarter. I just looked down in my seat until we landed and successfully avoided it. That's where I would have said 'fug it' and watched the rest live. Live football on a plane is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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