Farewell old friend

I lost a friend on Saturday.

Starting in 1998 we told Cablevision to hose-off together.  We watched the 2000 World Series.  My friend kept me company night after night as I blogged and tweeted during Mets games.

We saw Santana throw a no-hitter together.

On Saturday my 60 inch Zenith TV died.

The 60 inch never got its ring.

It got close, and that’s a story in itself.

Right as the 2000 playoffs started a tube blew out and the TV had no picture.  Fortunately I had gotten a 5 year warranty so off to the shop the guts went.

I wound up watching the NLCS in the basement on a small screen.

As the NLCS moved on I begged and pleaded with the TV repair shop to fix it quickly and they gave me the runaround.

Eventually it was Subway Series time.  Those come around every 50 years or so.  You younglings can see how rare a Mets World Series existence is.

So I called the guy and went old-school and said – ok dude, whats it going to take.  A $100 greased palm did the trick.  I didn’t care.  The 60 inch was back for the Subway Series, and together we watched Piazza fly out to CF with one last gasp of “maybe” before the ball died.

Somewhere in the middle of the decade the same tube started to glow orange and make the high-pitched squeal that let me know that it was going to happen again.  Eventually it did.  I spent $500 on a repair and Mrs. MP thought I was nuts.  I loved my old-school 4×3 60 inch standard definition TV.  The 4×3’s had a massiveness the 16×9’s don’t have.  It’s a matter of geometry.

We waited for more playoff games, and a few did come in 2006.  Then we waited some more.  Now I will wait alone.

On Saturday Junior wanted to play some NHL Slapshot on the Wii, and we got two hours in.  I mentioned that the top of the screen looked a little warped but didn’t think too much about it.

A few hours later Junior reported the TV was making clicking sounds, and before I made it to the room the picture had died.

There will be no $500 repair this time.  It just doesn’t make sense.

A new Sharp 60 inch TV is now in place.  An HD cable box is on its way.  Maybe this one and I will watch a World Series together.

Farewell old Zenith.  Thanks for the memories.

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