Jenn Pedde / Shattered Clay

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Cuse Basketball! in Korea?

This will be a short but sweet post, as I can't help but rave about modern technology and my love of college basketball.

It is no secret that I have nothing but love for my alma matter - Syracuse University. Best four years of my life, easily - even if this current year in Korea is rivaling that. My junior year the Syracuse Basketball team won the NCAA Championship which will forever go down as one of the most incredible nights of my life. This was also the year that I started working security at the Carrier Dome where I was paid to see every sporting event.

When I moved to NYC I went to every SU game at Madison Square Garden, and watched every game that was aired on the local NY network, ESPN, or other sporting stations. So naturally one of my big concerns with moving to Asia was how to assuage my addiction to watching college ball.

Well, technology to the rescue. The SU Athletics website offers a thing called the Orange Access Package. For $9.95 a month I can listen* to live radio broadcasts of the games, and 30 minutes after the completion of the game I can watch the game in its entirety. They've paired with a company called Internet Consulting Services, Inc. which has created the site and its features.

And for once, the 14 hour time difference works in my favor. A 7pm game on Monday means that its 9am Tuesday here for me. So I listen to the first half before I go to work, and then come home to watch the 2nd half. It really is excellent. The trick is not reading SU news, or ESPN, or talking to anyone throughout the day.

I'm sure that if you're from a Division I school they also offer this type of package on your athletic website. If not, well then, 'Cuse really is superior ;)

*Take note, that if you are a 'Cuse fan reading this and are also the proud owner of a shiny Mac computer, you will need to download Flip4Mac. A program that converts all Windows Media Player content into a Quicktime file for your easy viewing pleasure. You have to do nothing except open whatever file you're trying to watch and the program will take care of the rest.