If you're a Milwaukee Bucks fan living in Madison and you're hoping to watch Game 2 of the Bucks-Pistons series Wednesday night, you're probably out of luck. The game is only available on NBATV, which in the capital city is only carried on some of the pricier tiers of DirecTV and Dish Network and is nowhere to be found on Charter's channel line-up. Fans needing their Bucks fix can impose on their friends or family in the Milwaukee area, where the game will be carried on the local UPN affiliate. But fans are ultimately advised to stay far away, as game 2 in Detroit promises to be a rerun of Monday's lopsided Game 1 Bucks loss. Only when the series moves back to Milwaukee for games 3 and 4 can fans hope for a win.

Apart from the two 1-8 matchups (Milwaukee/Detroit and Sacramento/San Antonio), the first games of the NBA playoffs were surprisingly close, even if Indiana did pull the only upset (over New Jersey). And while both the Clippers and Heat are already up 2-0, both of their home victories were by a narrow margin. So the first round is shaping up to be competitive, except for the two 1-8 series. Maybe the NBA should enact some sort of mercy rule with the 1-8 matchups, like if the underdog team can't keep the final score within fifteen points in either of the first two games, the series gets called. Does anyone really need to see the Spurs trash the Kings four straight times? That's one of the (many) advantages of the NCAA one-and-done men's basketball tournament -- we don't need to see Duke beat up on Southern or Florida manhandle Belmont more than once.

Oh, and apparently there are NHL playoffs going on too. I can't comment much on those games since professional hockey's status as America's twenty-third favorite sport means the games are only covered by fringe Canadian sports networks (TSN? RDS?) and Outdoor Life Network. And I took OLN off of my favorites once they stopped showing Survivor: Marquesas reruns. Seriously, Marquesas rocked. Remember when Kathy peed on John's hand? Or when Pascal picked the purple rock? Or when Sean and Neleh formed a late alliance? Or when Sarah and Boston Rob flirted? I can't believe Survivor didn't win a Peabody Award that year. Or at least a Humanitatis.

I'm still picking Detroit to win the Stanley Cup. Dr. Cox on Scrubs favors the Red Wings, and that's good enough for me, Martha.