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TV Station Interrupts World Cup For...

by Alicia Lu

On Sunday, an estimated one billion people tuned in to watch the World Cup final. While most people were sitting on the edge of their seats, people in southern New York and northern Pennsylvania were forced to watch a tornado warning: Their local TV station, WENY, interrupted the World Cup to air a weather report. For soccer fans, there is no greater offense, and the station is lucky viewers didn't riot and burn their cities down.

Naturally, angry viewers took to Twitter to express their outrage, pointing out that the World Cup only happens every four years, and for the station to cut away in the last six minutes of the last match just wasn't okay. At least viewers were able to catch German forward Mario Götze score a goal in extra time, which put them at a 1 to 0 lead against Argentina — but they missed superstar Lionel Messi's unsuccessful free kick for Argentina in the last few minutes.

Instead, viewers were watching Elmira ABC affiliate WENY's report on severe thunderstorm patterns coming in from the west and moving across Chemung County. For all they knew, Argentina could have scored six times in the last six minutes for the greatest comeback in World Cup history. Hey, crazier things have happened.

Well, when darkness falls, as it did for the good people of southern New York and northern Pennsylvania, Twitter provides a beacon of light. Tweets went from sheer disbelief and outrage over what was happening on their TV screens (note the use of all caps)...

Then the shock evolved into pure hatred...

And then threats started to get thrown around...

Perhaps this one says it best:

Image: WENY