As we all know, social media can be good and bad.

When you come up with a list of negatives, spoilers have to be near the top. Believe it or not, there was a day when you could record a sporting event or television show and not know what happened in real time. Facebook and Twitter have made that virtually impossible.

James Holzhauer was on track Monday to surpass Ken Jennings’ $2.52 million winnings mark on “Jeopardy.” Millions of Americans became fascinated over the past month with the professional sports bettor’s domination of the popular game.

By early Monday, word began to spread on social media that Holzhauer finally lost and he did not break Jennings’ record. The spoilers became more widespread after the episode first aired at 10:30 a.m. Monday on a television station in Alabama, about 10 hours earlier than the majority of the country.

While everyone was distraught at finding out the result, I was wondering about the more pressing questions. Why is “Jeopardy” airing at 10:30 a.m. in Alabama?

Don’t they have a morning talk show they can tap into or enough “Judge Judy” reruns to fill the gap? Is the “Price is Right” on at midnight? Can’t the people of Alabama wait until prime time for “Jeopardy” like the rest of us?

A deeper look into this showed that the Alabama market is the only one showing “Jeopardy” before noon. Four markets show it at noon and six show it between 1 and 4 p.m.

The Montgomery, Alabama, market, where the show aired first, is the 116th largest in the country and the fourth largest in its own state. That means there was a good chance people could still avoid hearing about the result, but Darren Rovell, of the Action Network, tweeted out the ending. About 1.5 million households had actually aired “Jeopardy” before Rovell handed the result to his more than 2 million followers online.

Rovell defended himself, noting that the show had aired in four states by the time his tweet went out. But by the reaction of folks on social media, that excuse didn’t sit well with residents of the other 46 states. Tweets followed, stating things like, “I will never forgive the Internet for spoiling today’s Jeopardy episode,” and “I think Jeopardy just needs a universal national airtime in prime time. I’m sure it didn’t matter before social media, but I think it needs to be changed now.”

Producers said they believe they know who posted footage of the episode online early and plan appropriate action.

“It’s not fair,” executive producer Harry Friedman told The Washington Post.

You’re darn right it’s not. Throw the book at the offenders and get those television times straightened out.