Eastern Standard Time Zone, complain all you want. I hear it every year, every spring, and you all need to know that when it comes to sports telecasts, these concerns are irrelevant.

I am sure that most of you sleepyheads out there understand how television works, but allow me to provide a refresher. The United States of America has four time zones. One of them is the Pacific Standard Time Zone. Because of that, while you folks out east are watching Grey’s Anatomy at 9 p.m. in Los Angeles the 6 p.m. news is being broadcasted on ABC.

Sports are not scripted, recorded, edited, and then distributed. It is aired live. If the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers played at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST on Thursday night, Crypto.com Arena would be empty and most people in the markets of the teams involved would not be able to watch.

A late afternoon coffee may be necessary for the folks who want to have that game on one screen at 10:30 p.m. EST and Sacramento Kings vs. Golden State Warriors on a different one. The Eastern Conference’s first round matchups have not been that compelling, while the Western Conference has been great.

Tough luck.

Those I-95 complaints are going to grow even louder when the NBA Finals arrive. A sporting event at 9 p.m. How could a person possibly stay awake for a championship contest until midnight?

Think that is hard, try having to navigate rush hour traffic to make it home — or even worse a downtown arena — by 6 p.m. when it takes 50 minutes to drive 10 miles. Go spritz yourself with water and have a Snickers while my blood pressure goes up when my car has been stuck in the same spot on the freeway at 5:30 p.m. for 10 minutes.

I lived in the Eastern Time Zone for more than a decade. Working in sports, many days my work hours were different from the average nine-to-fiver. However, I have absolutely had to work in the morning after watching the Warriors finish up at 1 a.m. I got through it by being an adult. Have you all ever heard of laying your clothes out the night before work?

Another thought, aren’t most people in this country obsessed with wealth? Aren’t rich people always advising people to not sleep but for a few hours a night? I distinctly remember Steve Harvey once yelling at his audience, “Rich people don’t sleep eight hours a day!” For those unable to knock out at 1:30 a.m. and wake up by at least 7:30 a.m. I guess you have a broke mentality.

Eastern Time Zone, whine all you want about the start times of NBA Playoff Games, Sunday Night Football, The Oscars, etc. Feel free to ignore the 12,000,000-plus households who have a team in their market playing in (what before Kawhi Leonard’s knee sprain were) the most highly anticipated Thursday night playoff games. It doesn’t matter that the fans with the most invested in these games have a chance to get home, put their slippers on, get dinner ready, and watch their teams play in peace.

The sports world must always be catered to the whims of New York and Boston. You folks on the right coast who are lacking energy at 12:30 a.m. EST, eat a cookie after dinner or put some extra sugar in your tea.