Travel advisory

It seemed like a simple enough request.

"Would you mind switching that TV set to TNT? It's channel 25 in the room."

We were in the bar of the spanking new Marriott City Center Hotel in downtown Raleigh. There were a half dozen TVs, and I was fairly certain no one was watching whatever was on Fox at that moment. I wanted to keep tabs on the Cavs and Hawks.

Long story short: they couldn't do it. We were told they had a different TV contract in the bar than in the rooms. No TNT and, of course, no Versus, in case we felt like checking out the Canucks and Black Hawks.

Excuse me?

This is a Marriott. People come into Marriott bars nationwide to watch sports. And how could they have a different deal in the bar than in the rooms? What kind of total corporate idiot could sanction such a thing?

So, no Hawks-Cavs and no Canucks-Black Hawks. But if we had come back last night I'm sure we could have had a nice "American Idol." No sound, but what the hell?

Thursday night we take our business to the Oxford up the street. They have both TNT and Versus, we're told. And I'm sure it will be cheaper.