the shrewdness of apes

the NFL's television policy is a joke. in local markets you can usually only get the games of the home team(s) on Sunday afternoons, and they often refuse to switch to more competitive games when the games they are showing become blowouts. on top of that, they've sold the exclusive rights for the NFL Sunday Ticket package (in which every game is available) to DirecTV, meaning that the vast majority of Americans can't sign up for it. why they do this i'm not sure. it seems to defy all logic because they're intentionally limiting their customer base. personally, i hate DirecTV due to a terrible interface and the lack on On Demand programming and would never order it. but if i lived in Canada and i had digital cable, i could get Direct Ticket for $25 a month. ditto in Mexico, though i can't find the price. so why do the citizens of the U.S. get the shaft?

unfair as that may be, i can always go to a bar or to a friend's house to watch the games each week. but in the US Virgin Islands, there is no place where every game can be seen and they're usually stuck with whatever the local affiliates are showing. so Clay Travis finally decided to do something about it, going on strike to protest and developing nflpuddingstrike.com . here's the pertinent passage of his letter to the commissioner

Recently Edward Browne of the islands pursued a hunger strike in an effort to get the Virgin Islands the right to vote. He took his stand on an empty stomach and I will take mine on pudding. Until the images of every NFL game shine forth on this island, I will eat nothing but pudding.

today is day 33 of this brave struggle, and Mr. Travis has eaten over 230 puddings in that time. make sure you check out the pudding section where you can read his reviews of various pudding flavors which contain great insights like "The primary difference I have discovered between Scooby Doo Chocolate Boo and Chocolate is that the former has more o's." godspeed, pudding man.

big thanks to t.s.o.a. special correspondant Matt for the tip. he's working on a short piece about Mr. Travis for Sunday's Washington Post.