Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Direct TV can't even add....

See if you can spot what is wrong with this picture......
Several days ago I wrote to the Direct TV customer service department. I told them what was wrong with this advertisment, and had asked them to pass my message along IMMEDIATELY to their advertising department.
If you look above, Direct TV is offering up to 64 games to watch the NCAA tournament. Problem is, that there aren't 64 games in the tournament.

I first noticed this error not on their website, but on the TV. The picture you see above is the same advertising that they have shown on TV about 100 times. "64 games!" "Watch all 64 games!" They exclaim this point over and over, and then show the text "64 games" in such a size, that you would have to be legally blind not to see it. I guess they must think, our brain is not able to comprehend the fact that they are telling us that we can actually see 64 games in the tournament, so they drill it into our heads. As if our brains were small enough to fit inside of the same Coca Cola bottle cap that theirs do.

If Direct TV had someone who could even do 2nd grade math, then they would know that there are only 63 games in the tournament. And if these people truly gave a shit about sports in general, then they would know the number of games in a single-elimination, non-by, tournament, will always be one less than the number of teams involved. For example, if the tournament only consisted of 2 teams, you'd have 1 game. You'd also have a pretty stupid tournament too. Just right for the aptitude of say a company like Direct TV to carry. If you had 8 teams, then you would have 7 games.

Here, let me break it down even better (in case you are from Direct TV and want to learn something better than what time the clock on the office wall reads.... )

The NCAA tournament consists of 64 teams that are paired up.

64 teams in round 1 facing off = 32 games
32 teams in round 2 facing off = 16 more games
16 teams in the sweet sixteen = 8 more games
8 teams in the semis = 4 more games
4 teams in the final four = 2 more games
2 teams in the national championship = 1 final game

NOW DO THE MATH by adding up all the games...... 32+16+8+4+2+1 = 63

63 GAMES. NOT 64 GAMES. 63.

As typical, I got an automated response. And also as typical no one has given me a REAL reply.

Direct TV = Lousy Customer Service.

But that's okay. Because now I just point and laugh at the TV, and know that I will never give my money to a company that can't even add to 64. Even my 7 year old boy can add to 64.

Direct TV = Incompetency.

Okay, my bashing it over for now... As for my training this week. It absolutely sucks. We have had a slew of issues at work this week, and I literally took my first lunch since Sunday. I was up last night till 1:30 in the morning, and it looks like I am going to be too tired to even go to the gym tonight. Between that, and the fact my race is at 7:30 in the morning that morning, the weather is going to be miserable, I haven't ran since Sunday, and that my left leg is still an issue, I think I am going to cancel. Bah.

Even if I don't cancel, I have to get my number, and since the race is Saturday, how am I going to get my number when I also have to get my kids this Friday? There's so much going on right now, I'm getting tired just writing all of this. LOL.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't there a single game between the 64th and 65th seeds to decide who gets into the main tournament?

Anonymous said...

Not to continue your crappy week or anything. Whoops, sorry, Alex!

Machine. said...

Hi Sean.
I checked into that. It's not part of the tournament, and I checked and it's not being carried by Direct TV either. In fact, if you go to the CBS coverage of the NCAA tournament, they have is correct when they state that there are 63 games.

Machine. said...

Further to that, I forgot to mention that the vast majority of games begin offered by Direct TV come from CBS which through their NCAA on-demand service is not even showing that non-tournament game, which is why Direct TV does not even have it on their schedule.
This is from the NCAA website, and is also listed below:


*NCAA March Madness on Demand will not show the Opening Round Game on 3/18.
By registering for NCAA March Madness on Demand, you hereby accept and agree to the MMOD End User License Agreement. NCAA and March Madness are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

DGA said...

Wow! What an important subject for our survival! In the list of life priorities this should rank between the wrappers used for lollypops and plastic paperclips.

Anonymous said...

my bad, alex! Should have looked into it further. Anyways, now you know FOR SURE that you are right. :)

Since you aren't running the 8k tomorrow, maybe you can go out and watch for me? Particularly the amazing race that's sure to take place at the front.

Machine. said...

Sean,
I finally saw your blog. Very nice.
Yeah, I'm taking a break tomorrow, but I wish the best of luck in tomorrow's race. Hope you break your 32:13 PR!!!

Machine. said...

Hi Sean,
Hope you did great in today's race! Actually I knew about that 64th game prior to my posting, so I was COMPLETELY sure about this.
Anyway, let me know how you did. Also, I'm sure the frontrunners did make an amazing race out of it too.