Back on the real coast

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
Pink Floyd - Time

Yeah, I haven't posted anything in a long time. Well I've been busy. So screw you. Anyways, I've been back on the east coast, and let me just say, this coast kicks major ass. The weather sucks half the time and the people are asses, but I'll be damned if ain't home. After being out off the east coast for the last few months, the main difference I had to get used to on my return was the time zone. It's not enough to affect my sleep. But it is enough to affect my TV watching. Specifically my sports watching.
Growing up there were certain constants. Football on Sunday started at 1. Other weeknight sports didn't start till 7. I had grown fond of this schedule. You roll out of bed on Sunday, eat some breakfast, bitch about having to wait for football (which only adds to the anticipation) and then, magically, football appears at 1 o'clock. On weeknights, you had time to get home, eat some dinner, and relax with whoever was playing that night. But now I'm living in central time. This is like frickin bizarro world. Football at noon, east coast games starting at 6. What is that? Both zones, though, have their distinct sports viewing benefits and disadvantages.
Starting with the central. Games start earlier. You get to watch games and actually go to bed at a reasonable time. This was especially noticeable during basketball season when most of the teams I actually wanted to watch played out west and often had late starting times. Having to work in the morning, I would've been screwed had I lived on the east coast. But being in the central allowed me to watch a game and actually get some sleep as well. But my problem with the central is that games just start too early sometimes. If I wanna go for a run or soemething after work, chances are I might miss the start of the game. And that's just not cool.
On to eastern time. Watching sports late into the night was a way of life for me. Monday Night Football, extra-inning baseball games, overtime NHL playoff games. When these were on, you knew it was gonna be a late night. Going into school the next day, seeing others blurry-eyed and falling asleep at their desks, you knew who, like you, had stayed up to watch the game last night. You were united by your fanaticism. You'd acknowledge each other with a "man I'm fuckin tired today," or a "fuckin great game last night." The usual reply was just a nod and a 'yup.' But that said it all.
Fans suffer on the east coast. Sports is akin to religion. Hell, maybe even bigger than religion. I know more about Iverson and Jeter than I'll ever care to know about Jesus. And staying up to an un-godly hour to watch sports, when you really should be asleep, is a way of life in the eastern corridor (we like to think we're just tougher than the rest of the country for this and many other reasons, and frankly, it's true, we really are just tougher). But central time is growing on me. I enjoy sleep. So I'm torn. There's something magical about staying up till 1 to watch your favorite team. But there's also something completely rational about watching the game and getting to sleep. I'm still deciding which one i prefer. But for now, there really is nowhere like home. And anyways, I've never been one for rationality.