making tivo better

by tony pierce

part one of a continuing series

“Cheif Button Pusher”

tivoed the cubs yesterday.

huge pennant race.

cubs are playing games with my heart and yesterday they gave up a 5 run lead and then it started to rain at wrigley. and the game was past the 6th inning meaning it was official, so if the umps wanted to, if the rain didnt look like it was going to go away, the game could have been canceled and the cubs could have lost. because it rained.

its one of the more curious rules in baseball, that nature can be the ultimate decider of the end (and winner) of a game.

well, nature decided the outcome of my tivo recording, the rain stretched on for 49 minutes and my 3 hour recording ended with the cubs behind and the rain increasing.

tivo needs to know that the game isnt over.

and since i cant tell it that the game is over because im being tied up by two bubble gum popping motorcycle girls some one else needs to tell tivo that the game isnt over.

tivo needs to be, omg, watching the games. a live person. oh no. needs to be employed.

and that live person needs to be able to extend the period of time that my tivo records live games whose most interesting and valueable moments are usually right at the end.

when i record a sporting event, there should be a pop up that asks, “would you like for us to keep recording if the game runs longer than the estimated time?”

and if you press yes, then it would be one guy who sends a signal to tivos that will keep the boxes going until the game is over.

and if it wipes out everything that i have, fine.

very few games are 40 hours.

start this test with the directv tivo owners.

i bet directv would be someone who would want exclusive rights to something like this since it would be a reason to have a dish rather than cable.

and you know what,

i bet i would accept the job as the guy who watches the games and presses the button when they go to long, and then presses the button when theyre over.

and i bet i only ask for two or three interns to help me.

cubs came back to win 7-6.

you’d think my tivo would have known by now that i might have been interested in seeing that, since i tivo anything cubs.

instead it recorded a cartoon on the cartoon network.

and i bet you could get a fifty cents extra a person a month for this feature, as an add-on, and i bet a million people would sign up for it.

and i bet i wouldnt even charge you close to a half million dollars a month to be cheif button pusher.

cubs are a game out of first place.

happy birthday aaron + mc brown at seybold + listen missy

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