A gift was waiting for me when I moved to Boston last September. My roommate, moving out of his studio apartment near Brigham Circle and into a three bedroom in Fenway, brought with him something that I had missed for three years. It was glitchy cable box, but it had one premium channel it wasn’t supposed to have.

Turns out he had sweet talked his way into receiving the NFL Network’s RedZone channel for free a year earlier (It didn’t last long. We pay for it now). For all of fall and half of winter we sat in front of that box from 1-8 p.m. almost every Sunday, taking only burrito breaks. If we had work to do, we brought it before the box. It commanded at least a fraction of our attention.

The Sunday after the final weekend of the regular season was confusing. We woke up and the day idled on. We saw seven hours that we hadn’t seen in four months. Eventually we readjusted, and I forgot about it.

Until yesterday, the first big day of the NCAA Tournament. Sixteen games were scheduled, more than any regular season Sunday in the NFL. But the viewing experience wasn’t the same. Before RedZone (henceforth B.R.Z in my mind), March Madness felt rushed in an enjoyable way. All these games piled on top of each other. One ending while two others were beginning and two more were in progress. But with NFL RedZone I could see six kickoffs at once. Watching those six kickoffs alone created this weird rush. I felt omniscient. I was just in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Miami for the same moment, separated only by minutes. I was one of the privileged few who could see all the scoring plays of the day. Scott Hansen was there for me, a figurative master of the remote control (but not really).

Now March Madness is tarnished. I know, these games mean more than regular season NFL games. The nature of the sports and the scheduling favor the NFL. Fantasy football has a lot to do with it, too. There were only a few close finishes yesterday. Today will be better.

That’s what I keep telling myself, but I’m nervous. I was hardly an NFL fan B.R.Z. I watched college football and caught up with the pros in the playoffs. With RedZone I felt obligated to watch. I wish I could forget the flowers of Sundays past, but I’m not sure I will.