The grainy feed sputtered to life. The TD Garden crowd looked like a collection of moving Legos, and the commentary was in a language Marcus didn't recognize, but the green and wine-colored jerseys were unmistakable.
"Come on, don't freeze now," Marcus whispered, leaning so close to the screen he could see the individual RGB subpixels. The grainy feed sputtered to life
It wasn't cable, and it wasn't perfect, but for a Tuesday night in a dark apartment, Video 5 had delivered the magic. It wasn't cable, and it wasn't perfect, but
Just as Tatum rose for a step-back three, the dreaded spinning circle appeared. The screen went black. Marcus frantically refreshed the page. He jumped back to the main VIPBox directory, dodging ads for "Hot Singles in Your Area" with the reflexes of an elite athlete. He clicked "Video 5" again. Marcus frantically refreshed the page
The feed snapped back just in time to see the Boston bench clearing. The score had flipped. The Garden was erupting in a silent, pixelated roar. Marcus didn't need the high-definition replay to know what happened. He sank back into his chair, a small smirk on his face.