It wasn’t as bad as having an obstructed view seat, but it was pretty close.

We have three TV sets in our house. The main one in our living room is HD and crystal clear. Another in our basement is old, but has great sound and works fine.

The other is a smaller set in our bedroom where I retreat to when others are watching something else. I don’t want to be hogging the remote all the time.

A couple of nights ago, I was watching an NBA playoff game. The problem was, the screen is so small, it couldn’t contain the scores of both teams. It showed the score of one team, but the other team’s total was not visible. That meant that you had to be paying attention to know exactly what was going on.

The next night was even more challenging. During a telecast of an NHL hockey playoff game, the type size used by the network was so large you couldn’t even see one of the teams that was playing, let alone its score.

Keep in mind that I grew up during an era where none of that information was present no matter how big the screen (yes, the games were shown in color). You certainly didn’t miss it, because that feature didn’t exist. In some ways, the games were easier to watch because there wasn’t so much stuff cluttering the screen.

Now days, just about every bit of information imaginable is right there on the screen so there is no guess work involved. A baseball game will tell you everything from score to outs to runners on base to total pitch count. Like I said, no guess work involved, unless of course your screen is so small that some of that information is missing.

I know that it could be much worse. For starters, I am still able to afford a cable package that shows the games and a small set is better than none at all. And it’s not like I needed binoculars to see the TV, which reminds me of growing up. My brother won a cool, but extremely small, TV during a contest once. I’m not sure what the size of the screen was, but suffice it to say you had to squint if you were any more than five feet away. Not only that, but you had to adjust the antenna just right in order to get the best reception.

Yes, times have definitely changed for the better in that regard. No more pounding on top of a three-in-one console (you have to be somewhat old to get that reference) to try and get a channel to come in, no more hoping that your favorite team would somehow make it on to the Game of the Week so you could watch. Now that I think about it, all things considered, having to pay attention just to see who is winning a contest doesn’t seem to be too much to ask.