Like last year, I purchased DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket for the 2005 season. I can't live without my Bears games.* My first Sunday of football was excellent, despite a Bears loss. My enjoyment can be credited to a new program DirecTV added called SuperFan. With this package you get games in HD, the Redzone Channel, two Game Mix channels and Short Cuts. I don't care about the HD, but the other ones are amazing.

The Redzone channel flips from game to game as different teams enter the red zone. It's awesome for someone who just wants to see the most exciting plays. The Game Mix channels show eight games on the screen at once. It's perfect for commercial breaks for your primary game. As you highlight different games, the sound source changes. It's fantastic.

My favorite feature thus far has been Short Cuts. It takes a three hour NFL game and compresses it down to 30 minutes of plays. From what I can tell, they show every single play. It's non-stop and I have three different games waiting for me when I get home tonight.

The downside? It's an extra $100. I had all these features this week, but I didn't pony up the cash (I'm guessing it was a free preview). After already spending $200, it just isn't worth it. Now, if they split this up into $50 for HD games and $50 for the bonus features, you could count me in. With the average NFL ticket in the secondary market topping out at $290 for Packers games, you could get the whole package for less than one ticket to one game. That is, if you'd actually go to a live game. Personally, I like watching from home.

Anywho, DirecTV, if you're listening, lemme buy the pack of extra features on its own and I'm in. Or even better, roll the features into the general Sunday Ticket package and charge an extra $25. I wouldn't complain, honest.

* Yes, I could go to a sports bar, but 16 games x $10+ tab works out to about the same. If I still lived on Staten Island I would forgo Sunday Ticket in favor of Sharkey's.