Great game, family time through tech
BY BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer
Monday, November 05, 2012
11/05/12 at 6:42 AM
Because I Said So is a blog written by six parents and one grandparent.
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My grandson Ethan and I sat down to watch the Oklahoma-Kansas football game a couple weeks ago, and were shocked to find that my DirectTV satellite setup with a gazillion stations did not have the game.
Even though Ethan, an ORU student, was born and raised a few miles from the KU stadium in Lawrence, he and his entire family are hard-core OU fans.
Undaunted, Ethan called his dad in Eudora, Kan., who was watching the game on a local channel.
They set up a Skype connection between Ethan's laptop in Tulsa and his dad's laptop in Kansas. His dad set his laptop in front of his big-screen digital TV (one inch bigger than mine) so that the game appeared on Ethan's laptop. Then Ethan plugged the laptop into my TV, and, voila, there was the OU-Kansas game, full screen, full color, and with pretty decent resolution.
But wait, it gets better.
Ethan's dad didn't like the KU-slanted commentators on his TV, so Ethan got the game on a Tulsa radio station. His dad turned off the sound on his TV, and listened to the Oklahoma commentators through the same Skype connection.
If you've followed this so far, hang on, the best part is ahead.
The thing was, Ethan's dad was no doubt feeling a little sad about watching the game alone in Kansas while his sons were going to college in Tulsa.
With our Skype connection, he could hear everything we said, and vice versa. When we erupted in cheers after a touchdown, he shared our joy. It was like he was in the room with us, enjoying and participating in the banter.
It was beautiful thing.
Not to mention the score: 52-7 OU.
Bill Sherman 918-581-8398
bill.sherman@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
Oklahoma's Landry Jones throws the ball downfield during the Sooners' game against Kansas on Oct. 20. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
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