My DVR Absolutely Frickin' Hates Me

Wow! A 60-foot prayer banked in to force overtime! What an amazing shot by 'Sheed!

Yeah, I didn't see it. I didn't #@$%ing see it.

My digital video recorder, which up until this point had shown me what true love is with the wonderful technology that it offers, really, really let me down when I may have needed it most. And I'll have to take the rest of the day to re-evaluate what I thought was an unconditionally solid relationship. But let me briefly relive the fresh hell that I've endured over the past eight hours.

I knew I was going to get home late last night, so I set my DVR to record the Pistons-Nuggets game. For most regular season games, I might not have bothered. But I was curious to see how the Nuggets would approach a rematch after being embarrassed in Denver two weeks ago by our local hardcourt heroes. I also figured we'd be assured of a tight game, due to the flu bug that's found its way into the Pistons' locker room. Plus, I just wanted to see Iverson and 'Melo.

So that was the plan. I'd get home late and then watch the game on tape delay. I was a little wound up after walking in the door, so I banged out a post for the new gig before settling in to breeze through the game before falling asleep. I knew nothing about the game beforehand. If it was a blowout, I would've fast-forwarded through most of it, deleted the recording, and tried to rejoin Angelina Jolie in dreamland. (Brad Pitt ain't got $#!+ on me there.)

As you might imagine, I stuck with the game because after the first quarter, it was close the whole time - but especially up until the very end. And right after Iverson hit his second free throw to make it a 98-95 game, everything on the screen stopped moving. Then that box that says "Delete Recording" and "Don't Delete Recording" popped up.

If you live in my neighborhood, I apologize. I know 2 a.m. is late, much too late for the kind of "Oh my God, you just ran over my foot with your lawn mower!!!" scream that emanated from my house. Are?! You?! #@$%ing?! Serious?! There were only 12 seconds left!!

Quickly, I flipped to ESPN. SportsCenter was talking about the Kansas City Chiefs and their upcoming draft. The crawl at the bottom of the screen showed the Memphis-Phoenix and Portland-Chicago scores before cycling to the NFL news and MLB scores. And then it went to a commercial break. Noooooooo! I flipped over to Fox Sports Detroit. They were on a commercial, too. And the re-broadcast of the Pistons game wasn't until 3 a.m. I turned back to ESPN, only to see Women's NCAA Tournament highlights. The crawl told me that John Calipari signed an extension with Memphis. NBA scores were at least fourth in line.

Any energy I had was gone. I turned off the TV, dropped the remote, and went to sleep. Wait! Let me turn on the radio! Okay, Fox Sports Radio is doing its half-hour scoreboard update. I hear the Spurs-Warriors score, and then they move on to other news. C'mon, man. That was it. 12 seconds left. I'd find out what happened in the morning.

I made sure to turn on SportsCenter as soon as I woke up, right at the top of the hour. And then I saw it. Are. You. Kidding me? 'Sheed tied the frickin' game and the Pistons won in over time. I get to my computer and check out the newspapers (even the Denver ones). The game stories say it really happened. I click over to Detroit Bad Boys and Need4Sheed. Not only do they confirm the result, but they also have video for me to watch over and over this morning. Tayshaun knocked the ball away from 'Melo. 'Sheed picked up the loose ball, heaved up a prayer from way beyond half-court, and tied the frickin' game.

Un-freakin-believable. 12 seconds left. You better make it up to me when I get home tonight, DVR.