DIRECTV is messing up my enjoyment of the NFL Season

September 11, 2008
Chase Carey
DIRECTV
P.O. Box 6550
Greenwood Village, CO 80155-6550

Dear Mr. Carey,

I've been a DIRECTV customer since 2001. In the last seven years, I’ve just gotten the NFL Sunday Ticket package by itself, without any base package. My house is wired so the satellite dish feed only goes to the living room and the rest of my house is wired for cable TV, which I get from Comcast. Every year, I’ve gotten automatically renewed with no problems. I really enjoy watching all the different games.

When I got my first NFL bill this year, which was over 2 months before the NFL season starts, I was out of work and thought I was going to lose my house and paying for the NFL package 2 months in the future just didn't seem like a good idea when I wouldn't have any satellite dish in my future. As you can imagine, I was under a lot of stress. When I cancelled, I wasn’t told that there were any consequences if I wanted to sign up again the future. When I called ADT about cancelling my alarm service, they told me there was going to be a new start up fee and they gave me an option for a lower price, which I could afford.

About a week after I canceled, I got a new job and I won't be losing my house and I'm really going to miss watching all the NFL games, but I'm not going to pay for a 200% increase over what I've been paying in the past, which is what it works out to if I have to get a base package along with the NFL Sunday Ticket.

I was told there is no way to go back to my NFL Sunday Ticket only plan. I find it hard to believe that DIRECTV would treat a long time loyal customer this way. I even found out by checking online that if you complain to the right customer service agent, you can get the SUPERFAN package added for free and that the price had gone down. I paid 5 payments of $45.80 last year and apparently it’s down to $41 something.

I would like to complain directly about Natalie D. #400866. She emailed me on 9/6 and asked for my phone number and said she would call me, but I was never called.

I’m going to cc the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell and ask him to not renew your exclusive contract when it expires. Maybe he can find a company that treats its customers better. I don’t expect anything, but maybe you’ll treat the next customer in a similar situation with a better understanding.

2008 NCAA Final Four

For the third year in a row, I will predict the outcome of the NCAA March Madness tournament by using my Mascot theory.

We've got University of North Carolina Tarheels vs. the Kansas Jayhawks and everyone knows once a Jayhawk lands in tar, they are history and also on the UNC logo, they've got a Ram, so that would butt the hell out of a bird, no matter how crazy the bird is. A Jayhawk wearing sneakers isn't going to scare anybody.

Tarheels stick all over Jayhawks.

Then we've got the UCLA Bruins vs. Memphis Tigers (who've only lost one game all year). I could use the baby bruin photo again. But I'll put in the actual logos for both teams.



That Memphis Tiger is going to bounce all over the Bruin. Remember, never let a cat of any size get behind you. You are history.

Tigers Eat Bruins

The Tiger can leap over any tar and would chew up that Ram with no problem, so I predict:

The Memphis Tigers chew up and spit out the North Carolina Tarheels.

New England Patriots - Pact with the Devil

After today's game, where the New England Patriots demolished the hapless Miami Dolphins 49-28, it's obvious that the Patriots have made a pact with the devil - a Faustian Bargain, if you will.

Tom Brady threw for 6 TD's in the game and is on an unbelievable pace. He's got 25 TD's after 7 games and he only threw for 24 all of last year.

There is only one explanation - Bill Belichick, after getting caught cheating by videotaping the opposing defensive calls, has sold his soul to Satan.

I don't like cheaters and cheating is a sin, but it is something that I would have forgiven. But hanging out with Beelzebub is over the line.

I predict that they will not lose any games this year, but will stop beating the spread, because everyone knows that the bookies also have a deal with the devil and the pointspreads will start catching up.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bears! We're #3 and Fup Ducks

Cal beat the Oregon Ducks for the first time in Eugene in 20 years. We are now ranked #3 in the nation.

FUP Ducks!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BEARS!!!

When we had season tickets, right under the KGO box, there used to be a guy with a very deep and powerful voice and we called him the GOBEARS guy. This is my tribute to him.

This says it all...

2007 NCAA Final Four

Last year, I predicted the outcome of the final 4 in the March Madness, NCAA Basketball Tournament by using the Mascot theory. This year, I have a monetary interest, so luckily for me, I can manipulate the outcome and still make logical Mascot vs. Mascot sense, such as it is...

We have the UCLA Bruins vs. the Florida Gators again, just like the championship game in 2006. Last year I said that Gators would eat a LSU Tiger, but that's only if they get them into the water and I had a Tiger eat a baby Bruin. This year, we've got a real life king size Grizzly Bear, which can put a big time chomping on any Florida Gator (I saw a demo on the Discovery Channel and a bear can bite right through the head of an alligator).

Then we have the Ohio St. Buckeyes vs. the Georgetown Hoyas. A Buckeye is a giant tree and I don't care what the Georgetown website says, according to Wikipedia, a Hoya is a small flowering plant, so obviously, a giant tree defeats all small flowers. That's an easy pick.

So in the final game, we have Bruins vs. Buckeyes and as you can see from this photo, the giant tree will fall and crush any bear... So GO BUCKEYES!!

My Golf Towel Collection

I've been collecting golf towels for a long time. I liked them because they were colorful, had cool logos, said something about the location and scenery and are usually about $10-15. Over the years, a lot of family & friends have helped me add to my collection, although I think I picked up the most remote towel myself from the Alice Springs Golf Club in the Outback of the Northern Territories in Australia.

Jesse Isotalo was in Sao Paulo Brazil and had hired a taxi all day for $50 (Sao Paulo is about 600 square miles) and drove to every sporting good store he could find (it was winter and all the golf courses were closed) and all they had was soccer & NFL stuff. He finally went to an embroidery shop and had them make up a fake Sao Paulo Golf Club towel.

My brother, Larry, was living in France, where they don't play much golf. He took a train, a bus and then walked 5 miles to a private club - Golf de Saint-Cloud. They almost didn't let him in because in their French mentallity, they didn't understand why anybody would come all that way just to get a golf towel.

Click here for the complete collection

I've got Golf Towels from: Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea & US - California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee & Utah.

Blog Alert - Looking for Courtney (#124)

When I posted my 49er Gold Rush audition video on all the different video sharing sites, I had no thought of the star of my video, #124, would find it. But last night at 10pm, she found it and put in a comment.. Now my blog story is incomplete and I need to know more, so I'm hoping that Courtney will email me.. here is her comment and my response.

At 10:08 PM, Courtney said...
Hey, I'm # 124, I was searching on the internet the other night and came across this video. When the final Gold Rush team was made I didn't make the cut. Its always disappointing when you fail at something and when I saw this it made me feel good. At least someone thought I was good,I appreciate you noticing me. You learn from failure and this is definitely a learning experience.

At 10:43 PM, Carbubble said...
Hi Courtney, I just can't believe you didn't make the squad. I picked you out of the mass rehearsals and that's why I had the camera ready in video mode when it was your turn. You had all the moves down. This is a travesty of justice! There should be a recount! I've uploaded my video to a whole bunch of video blogs and on Metacafe, it's got massive momentum, so you've been seen by over 80,000 people around the world and of course, you are my favorite. please email me tlc@thomascoates.com

So if Courtney checks back or if you know her, please tell her.. She didn't fail, they just failed to see her athleticism, grace & beauty.

As they say in the voice acting world - "It's selection, not rejection."

2006 NCAA Final Four

There's no real way to tell which team is going to win, so just use the Mascot test.

We've got the Florida Gators vs. the George Mason Patriots and the LSU Tigers vs. the UCLA Bruins.


Gators eat Mel Gibson












Tigers eat Bruins
Those were easy

Now, a tiger vs. a gator is tricky. If the gator can snap down on the tiger's nose, the tiger is history, but the tiger is really fast. I know a grizzly bear can beat a gator because I saw it on the Discovery Channel, but a cat has to catch it's prey from behind - that's why you never turn your back on a cat of any size.

Therefore, Gators eat Tigers and Florida wins it all.

*********
Well, I had the Gators correct. Being a UC Berkeley alumni, I'm just anti-UCLA, so I guess the Bruins aren't really baby bears.

49er Gold Rush - the 2nd strangest thing that's ever happened to me

I love the NCAA Basketball tournament – March Madness. I don’t know anything about any of the teams, but I like to pick them anyway and compete and I like running a pool. I had made my picks last week and decided to enter a couple of free contests online. I got an email from KNBR (for those not in the Bay Area, KNBR is the main sport radio station) and I went to their website to enter my picks.

I saw this:

WHAT ARE YOUR CREDENTIALS TO JUDGE THE GOLD RUSH (The Gold Rush is the SF 49ers cheerleader squad) We're looking for one discerning individual to help judge the 49er Gold Rush Auditions Saturday, March 25 at Stanford. What are your credentials? Send your resume to murphandmac@knbr.com by Noon this Friday, March 17. This could be the best assignment you've ever had!

Of course, I have no credentials to judge much of anything, but just to amuse myself, I decided to send something in and I sent the following:

My Gold Rush Judging Resume (top 10 reasons I should be chosen to be the discerning individual)

1. I love admiring beautiful women
2. I haven't had a date in over a year
3. I enjoy the beauty of the female form shaking their money maker
4. I can judge without being judgemental (the mental part comes in because I have a Mensa level IQ)
5. I like to have fun
6. I watch American Idol and I'm a trained improvisor, so I could play either the Randy Jackson or Simon Cowell role - I wouldn't try to do Paula after Barry Bonds nailed it and I don't look that good in a wig and high heels.
7. I know what discerning means
8. did I mention I love admiring beautiful women?
9. I am a big sports fan
10. My all time highlight of my Fantasy Football career (I've been playing it since 1979 when I got a copy of the original rules from the Kings X bar) is when I was in Australian outback and didn't find out until a week later that Joe Montana had thrown 5 TD's to Jerry Rice against Atlanta and I had both of them on my team, so I'm a big 49er fan.

Not all of this is true – I have had a date in the last year and I’m only a 49er fan when I have their players on my fantasy football team, but I figured that didn’t matter much.

Today I found out that they’ve picked me, so this Saturday, I’ll be going to Stanford and spend 2 grueling hours judging 250 potential Gold Rush dancers.

They announced my name on the radio as the winner and on March 16th, they mentioned my entry - http://www.thomascoates.com/media/goldrush-maybe-pile.mp3

Update...

49er Gold Rush Cheerleader Auditions 2006

Below are the two best photos I was able to get. The guest judges (mostly luxury box holders) were up in the stands at the Maples Pavilion at Stanford. There were over 400 auditioners and by the time we got there, they had pared it down to around 150. It was really hard work - they were there since 8am. It's just like any showbiz thing, there are some that can do the steps and then there are those that feel the music and have fun. There are 40 dancers on the squad and they make all those returning audition also. You could tell some were more experienced than others.

They practiced about 15 times in big groups before the auditions started. Then they broke into groups of three. I heard this Jealous, Jealous Boyfriend song about 75 times and I hope I never hear it again. #124 in the hot pink & white was my favorite, so her final audition is in the second part of the video.

Here is the link for the video - http://www.thomascoates.com/media/goldrushmovie.wmv