I like to watch the Stanley Cup Finals. I don’t watch too much hockey the rest of the year, but when the Stanley Cup Finals are on, I like to watch.

For some reason, NBC and a network called Versus decided to share the airing of the finals. Versus did the first two games and then NBC is doing the rest. Versus used to be called “The Outdoor Life Network.” Not too many folks get Versus so the numbers of viewers must have been pretty low.

So last night in a pivotal game five, I tuned in to watch the finals on NBC. The signal was very poor (I have cable). During most of the second and third periods all I saw was a black screen, with some choppy pictures every 30 seconds or so. I pulled an old TV out of the closet and tried to get the game with an antenna, with the same results. So, it must have been the local NBC affiliate’s problem.

The signal came back for about half of the first overtime. During the second overtime, I gave up. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the game against the Detroit Red Wings in the third overtime.

I read all about it in the newspaper this morning.

I guess when you are a small network affiliate in the middle of Montana, the duct tape and paperclip method doesn’t always work to repair the problem. The advertisers should ask for a refund. If this had been the Super Bowl, there would have been rioting.

Game six is Wednesday night…on NBC.