Baseball and Blackouts

As I mentioned in yesterday's column, I was a ravenously devoted fan of Major League Baseball. That ended some time back.

I'm a believer in the system of deposits and withdrawals. I took a motivational course through my employer and discovered the concept of friends making “deposits” with me. These deposits, over time, add up to large “bank accounts.” Then, if a buddy has a bad day and snaps at me over a minor matter, that's a “withdrawal.” Obviously, I'm not going to end a lifelong friendship over some silly thoughtless remark. That's because that friend still has a lot in the “bank.”

Well, baseball built up a massive bank account with me. I was thrilled by the immortal Jack Buck's calls coming in over the radio waves. I was astounded by Nolan Ryan's no-hitter at an age far beyond when most players retire. I loved the Big Red Machine of the 70's. In fact, the first two Cardinal games I ever saw were two losses to Cincinnati in 1974. I didn't care. I was thrilled to see Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, as well as Lou Brock and my beloved Birds. The losses didn't hurt a bit.

Baseball on TV consisted of the Game of the Week. Curt Gowdy and Joe Garagiola would do an excellent job of calling exciting games featuring teams from, literally, all over the country. Saturday afternoon was GOTW time in the summer.

Well, a lot of time has passed since then. Fox has Saturday baseball now, and it's rare that the Yankees aren't playing. If not, it's Boston, L.A., or (thankfully) my beloved Birds. Are you a Minnesota fan? Cleveland? San Diego? I wouldn't look for your team on a Saturday Fox broadcast, unless, of course, they are playing one of the four aforementioned teams.

That stinks, but it's more Fox's fault than MLB. But THIS is:

For some asinine reason, MLB has declared that each of its teams has areas of the country where they can't be broadcast unless the game has been approved for nationwide showing.

That means that if you are a Yankee fan, as the owner of today's FamilyFirst site is, ansd you live in Florida, an area that MLB has declared belonging to Florida and Tampa bay, you are severely limited as to what programming you can see (and have paid extra for, whether via cable or MLB.tv over the internet, you may well be denied viewing rights because of this inane policy!

Read this fan's experience with this stupidity in today's FamilyFirst site.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com

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Written by baldguy at October 22, 2006 12:22 AM

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