Info on the TV situation for Saturday's World Cup qualifier in Honduras

Alternate headline: "Young folks ask, What the heck is 'closed-circuit TV?'  … And why is it screwing up Saturday’s World Cup qualifier? 

Throw in a Breakfast Club video, a Cabbage Patch kid and a little Ms. Pac Man munch-fest and it’s, like, 1986 all over again. Come to think of it, there were some pretty badass sneakers back then. But when it came to skinny jeans, headbands and hair styles … well, results may vary.

One of the less fortunate remnants of the 1980s was closed-circuit television. Gather round, ye young folk, and let Uncle Steve ‘splain to you what that relic was all about.

Before the ubiquity of broadband-enabled, digitally enhanced TV, The Man had a greater hold over what we could all see and hear.

Sometimes that meant big games or big fights never reached households. Instead, the rights were co-opted by mean and greedy providers, who parceled out those rights to bars and – yikes! – movie theaters.  Seriously.  I know that for you, movie theaters are where you go to watch the latest Transformer flick or the newest mutilations in that oddly alluring Saw series. (WTF is up with that, guys?) But, yes, there was a time when you had to locate the nearest land of artificial butter and jumbo Twizlers to watch your big sporting event. Sad, no?

Or, I suppose, you could have damned the second-hand smoke and dragged the kiddoes to the local sports-friendly pub. Just know that it would surely become Exhibit A in any future divorce proceedings.

So here we are today, in a better and seemingly more balanced world. In terms of the perspiring arts, most everything worth seeing is available right in your little living room, where you can wear your jammies while some thoughtful TV provider or the wonder of the web will pipe the proceedings right into your living room, dorm room or poster-plastered man cave.

Unless, that is, the match is emanating from the obscure and sadly chaotic land of Honduras, apparently.

Here are two good explanations for how it came to be that this weekend’s U.S.-Honduras qualifier will be seen only on closed-circuit TV. One is from the Washington Post’s excellent Steven Goff. And one is from Grant Wahl, Sports Illustrated’s well-informed soccer scribe.

What does it all mean for you? If you want to see the match live, you’ve got some internet searchin’ ahead.  Alternatively, there are two MLS sides lookin' to do you a solid here, as some folks out there are on the ball. More info ahead ...

In Los Angeles, the Galaxy has partnered with the Off Campus Pub to show Bob Bradley’s boys in action. Admission is $15 and includes a beverage. Galaxy officials tell us the Off Campus Pub is the only local venue to watch an English-language broadcast, and one of just two places to do so in all of Southern California. Word to all my L.A.-based homies: Get there early, or don’t complain about that jackass in front of you who won’t take off his big Sam’s Army Hat.

 And for my local peeps in North Texas: At Pizza Hut Park, FC Dallas is upping the U.S. Soccer ante. Officials there are opening up the stadium club and showing the match free, which is a very cool thing to do. Yes, I do know they’ll still be charging small fortunes for bevs and such … but you’re saving the $15-25 admission that lots of bars are charging. And since the local soccer pub standbys are passing on the chance to show Saturday’s contest (not even Trinity Hall or Dubliner for this one, gang), PHP could probably have squeezed a little more green from the local soccer supporters by charging a cover. So, good on ‘em for this one.

For the rest of you, for a pretty short list of places showing the darn thing ('short' being relative), go to this list, where they managed to spell MOST of the states correctly.