Marcus didn't have cable. Like thousands of others, he lived in the world of "alternative viewing." He navigated to his bookmarked graveyard of URLs—sites with names like Streameast , BuffStream , and NBA Bite .
He jumped to his backup link. The video was removed due to a copyright claim. He tried the "Russian Mirror." Loading... Loading... 404. NBA Streams | Error 404
The clock on the microwave read 8:58 PM. In two minutes, the Western Conference Finals would tip off, and Marcus was ready. He had his lucky jersey on, a bowl of lukewarm wings to his left, and his laptop balanced precariously on his knees. Marcus didn't have cable
He clicked the first link. A flurry of pop-ups exploded across his screen: "Congratulation! You are the 1,000,000th visitor!" and "Hot local single-digit scorers in your area!" He swiped them away with the precision of a digital ninja. The video was removed due to a copyright claim
He opened the NBA app and looked at the "League Pass" pricing page.