You may have read about The Irish News sportsdesk's nightmare trip to this year's Ulster Final when we got delayed in terrible traffic around Monaghan town.
The only blame I'll accept for that debacle is that I let a Down man drive and an Antrim man navigate.
My stress levels were soon very high as I knew the senior game would be starting at 2pm – and not a minute later, because of its live TV broadcast.
All the sweating and swearing (from those other two) wasn't going to alter that inescapable fact. The clock was ticking down.
If only the Ulster Senior Football Final had been part two of a live TV double-header or if, somehow stretching the provincial boundaries beyond breaking point, Dublin has been playing in it.
It always irked me when big games at Croke Park were delayed because thousands of Dubs couldn't be arsed dragging their lazy behinds off sofas and bar stools and into the stadium in advance of throw-in time.
Perhaps that was why Dublin games always seemed to be the second part of double-headers, meaning that throw-ins could be delayed.
Yet we knew we had no one to blame but ourselves.
Still, if only the Ulster Final had been the second live game to be shown on July 16…
Then we, and the hundreds, perhaps thousands in the cars that were on the road(s) behind us, could have completed a stress-free journey to Clones, comforted by the knowledge that the throw-in would be delayed due to traffic congestion.
No such luck.
The TV broadcast of the game was due to start at 2pm, so start at 2pm it would.
The opposite scenario occurred at the weekend, when a collective groan emanated from the crowd in Sligo's Markievicz Park as the Cork-Mayo game 'ended' in a draw at the conclusion of the 70 minutes (plus added time).
The Donegal and Galway supporters in Sligo knew that their game would be pushed back in order to allow for live TV coverage of extra time from Limerick 's Gaelic Grounds.
And broadcasters Sky duly got it in the neck from disgruntled spectators and viewers; the players and managers probably weren't best pleased at the delay either.
However, it has happened before; for example, as a colleague recalled, when the 2010 Down-Donegal Ulster SFC quarter-final went to extra time, delaying the Cork-Tipperary Munster SHC game. On RTE.
To be clear, this is not an anti-Sky moan. Although I refuse to subscribe to Sky – partly through anti-Murdoch principle, partly through tightness – its deal with the GAA doesn't really bother me.
What does annoy me is the belief – summed up in a current advertising campaign for TV coverage – that 'Every fan deserves every game'.
No. They. Don't.
The notion that there's an intrinsic national birthright to see every game live, free of charge is absolutely ludicrous.
Ironically, if you cared about tradition and history then, depending on your age, you'd only be able to watch live coverage of All-Ireland Finals and provincial finals, perhaps All-Ireland semi-finals too.
These poor grandfathers we read about on social media bleats, if they actually exist, would only have seen one or two live games each year in their younger days.
That moan is almost as tedious as the daft comparison between GAA viewing figures for RTE and those for Sky.
It's not like the days when the FA Cup Final was shown by both the BBC and ITV – and the Beeb consistently attracted more viewers, largely because people preferred it, partly because few like being interrupted by ads (unless you want to go to the loo or get a drink without missing any coverage).
Of course RTE is going to have much higher viewing figures – it's free to watch.
Why would anyone choose to pay to see a match when they can watch it for nothing on another channel?
Besides, Sky has its positives, never mind the merits of its match analysis. There are parts of the north that struggle to receive RTE, or had trouble getting TV3 when they showed live games. Anyone with a Sky dish can see games on Sky (as long as they, cough, pay for them).
Basically, the games on Sky should be regarded as a bonus.
Call me old-fashioned, call me worse than that if you want, but I feel the problem with TV is that too many games are shown live, not too few.
Falling attendances have been blamed on supposedly falling levels of entertainment in matches when it's just as likely that increased TV coverage is to blame.
Anyway, back to Donegal-Galway. Clearly a game has to be delayed if an earlier one AT THE SAME VENUE goes to extra time.
That's why occupants of the press box curse any fool who tempts fate and asks the stupid question towards the end of a close game, 'Is there extra time in this match?' The reply? Something like 'There will be now, you gaunch' (expletives deleted).
Yet delays because of events in the ground are accepted. Delays because of events in a ground many, many miles away are unacceptable.
TV should not dictate that everyone's night got longer, including pushing Sunday newspaper reporters even closer to their already tight deadlines.
TV should have had to choose between showing the end of the Cork-Mayo game or the start of the Donegal-Galway one.
They paid for the rights to broadcast the first match, which started at 5pm, and the second match, which commenced at 7pm.
If those two games happen to overlap, then tough. Make a choice.
Alternatively, enough time should be left between the two throw-ins to allow for the possibility of extra time.
However, no matter how much money TV pays for games, its schedules should not over-ride the rights of the players, managers, spectators, and, yes, the rest of the media.
Part of what makes sport great is the atmosphere generated in the grounds. Yet if people increasingly realise that you've more chance of seeing everything by sitting on your sofa then attendances will dwindle.
When it comes down to it, it's about playing the games and going to see them, not being able to watch them on TV.
