"Not available in this area."

Eight little words just completely broke my heart: "March Madness is not available in this area."

I love college basketball, so I'm especially fond of March. There's always a game on, and it only gets more exciting as the month rolls on. This year, I've got high hopes for Baylor. The women are still undefeated, and got a 1 seed, while the men are seeded at 3 -- the highest they've ever had. 

So I was thrilled to find out that just $3.99 could get me online access to the tournament. That's like one cup of coffee (I tend to think of prices in terms of coffee...), and since I wouldn't be able to watch it otherwise, I figured it was well worth it. I got all excited. Then, this happened:

Heartbreaking.

I just sat and stared at the screen for a few minutes because I didn't know how to react. 

But that's not the first time it's happened. No, I've seen that message many times since I moved here. For example:

And on and on and on...

I never considered regions when it came to online content. I guess I just assumed that if it was on the Internet, it could be accessed by anyone, anywhere. But I was wrong. 

What a sad, sad realization.