AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGH!

Blacked out AGAIN!!! I am SO fed up with MLB.Com! I ranted about this just a couple of weeks ago. I have not seen a single Red Sox/ Orioles game the whole year! They are playing at FENWAY tonight! Are you serious!?!? I live in the freaking foothills of North freaking Carolina! Fenway is 9 FREAKING STATES AWAY!!!!! Nine, the number between 8 and 10! Here is another freaking map! {it's down at the bottom. See ya when you get back} Oh, and just because I'm so pissed I'm counting NC as a state I have to drive through, I live on the border, it should count! In fact I'm so pissed I'm going to send this map to MLB.com! Only I'm going to take the LONG WAY to Boston! That's right! I'm going right through WASHINGTON FREAKING DC* on the way there! In fact, I'm going to stop off at the congressional building and slap some people around! WTF does it matter if we have instant FREAKING replay if we can't watch it the first FREAKING time??? I know congress doesn't have anything to do with instant replay, {yet} I just feel like slapping them around on general purposes. I just heard Coco cut off his braids! That makes this a historic game! I missed Manny's {I do miss Manny} HISTORIC home run at Camden Yards because of this stupid freaking blackout!!! I'm still pissed about that! I'm missing history! I'm paying through the nose and missing history! AND TEK HIT A HOME RUN!!! I keep missing home runs because of this! That's it, where is my bat? I'm crackin' skulls!** Where is MLB's headquarters anyway? I bet it's in NEW FREAKING YORK! That's where they keep all the idiots. Get outta my way! I have to go all the freaking way to BOSTON just so I can watch the game in a bar, {no way I can afford beer at fenway} I might as well stop in the NEW EFFING YORK and crack some skulls on the way there.
Damn. Kim just texted me and made me laugh. Well. That rant is over.

* with an an attitude
**not really, just venting do not call the police... or the fbi... or homeland security... or my mother.

{ started drinking at some point and this {{the following}} fell out. I don't remember where I had it and don't really care. I'm just tacking it on the end.}

Are Kidding ME??? This is SUCH crap! If I had a refund for every game I have been blacked out of this season, I could AFFORD to go to FREAKING FENWAY and see the freaking game in PERSON! I still couldn't afford the beer but still...

MLB.com can not possibly be going by the assumption that fans cheer for the geographicaly closest teams. That would be moronic. The Yankee fans are proof of that! They go to the games to BOO the yankees! The closest team to me are the Reds and the Braves. I am able watch every single one of their games if I wanted to. I watched 3 Reds games this year when the Res Sox had to do that ridiculas interleage play. I think that was the first and last time I say our pitcher, Colon. They made him swing a bat and he has been on the DL for like 4 months or something.*

*I'm much to pissed off to go looking for the exact dates and facts, screw it.

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{I wrote this to MLB.com. Note to self: I really should not BWI}

Can I change my address to Wyoming please? I'm positive I would be able to watch my Red Sox that way. The blackout rules are archaic and quite possibly, only imposed to make money of us without having to actually provide the service we are paying for. I know... "Read the TOS and the fine print and you only have 5 days to cancel and you MIGHT get a refund. Here is an idea. Instead of forcing instant replay down out throats, make it possible for us to follow our favorite team.

Tech Reply:"Actually, we are in the process of providing home and away feeds for video at some point this month. There is no definitive date yet."

My reply"

"Oh that's great news. Forgive me for sounding sarcastic but there are 25 games left in the season. We really could have used that option 137 games ago. I'm just saying... Blackouts have been an issue for a really long time. I find it fascinating that this will be rolled out just in time for the playoffs. Doesn't really help those fans who's teams don't make the playoffs. Will there be an extra charge for this option? Or will the fees go up again next season because of this? Again, I know this sounds sarcastic, I really don't mean it to be. {OK, I mean it to be just a little, but it's only because I'm incredible angry about this.} I am NOT directing this at you , more, sorta near you as you are an agent of MLB.com." {I resisted the urge to type EVIL agent of MLB.com}

The long suffering, patience of Job reply:

"I can understand your frustration, and the timing is a little tough, but it took some time to get the licensing agreements down."

Me:

"MLB.com really ought to let the fans help them out with that... I wouldn't mind sitting in on some of those meetings. I bet a meeting between MLB, owners, and a handful of fans with baseball bats... just kidding. It's a huge slow, step in the right direction. I bet lawyers screw it up."

ESPN Hates MLB

Anyone else notice that ESPN hates Major League Baseball? The American league, in particular. It seems that since baseball season started ESPN has aired any sport but baseball. ESPN loves basketball, preseason football*, college football, NASCAR, regular season football, tiddlywinks... not baseball. They might air a game, maybe two a week. Chances are, that game is going to be a National League game. ESPN seems to like the Braves. The problem with that, for me is this: The Braves already have their own network. It's always fun when the Braves play the Reds, who also have their own network, it means I can ignore it on 3 different channels.
what ESPN really loves is basketball. They air 2-3 games a day during the season. {The NBA has the longest season I've ever seen. Is it necessary to play 11 months out of a year? I think not.} Football has a relatively short season, it just seems to take forever. I think it's all the complaining they do. They play one a game a week and bitch about it for the next 6 days. Sissys

ESPN, ESPN2 and the so called FOX Sports networks, suck. They ignore baseball all season and then pay through the nose for the right to broadcast the playoff and World Series games,and screw it up. Joe Morgan is a biased moron. Most of the hasbeens and neverweres that the sports networks hire to "announce" the games have no clue as to what it going on. I watched a Red Sox - Angels game and Morgan spent the whole afternoon talking about the Yankees. WTF???

I'm ranting about this because I just saw the broadcast schedule for the NBA on ESPN. Preseason football {instead of baseball} has been on every sports network, every night for the last few weeks. My post season aggravation is starting early this year.

*Preseason football is the equivalent of spring training baseball. I don't remember ESPN airing any spring training games. I had to watch them online, just like I have with the bulk of the regular season games, because... ESPN hates baseball.

Blackouts

I missed the whole series against Baltimore. You know, the one where Tek hit a couple of homers and real nifty double? Uh-huh, that one. I was blacked out. Before you begin to wonder about just how much beer I was enjoying, let me be clear. MLB.COM blacked me out. Why? Because I live close enough to Baltimore to purchase a ticket and put my fanny in a seat. I went to Map quest and fed it the start and end info, this is what it spit out: Estimated Time: 8.0 hours 15 minutes Estimated Distance: 488.87 miles. I currently reside in North {Sweet} Carolina {Ba-Ba-Ba} tho, not by choice*. In fact, I live close enough to South Carolina, I could spit at it, and sometimes do. So, counting NC, Va, and driving through {i.e. all the way around!} D.C. Camden Yards is like 3 States away! 8 hours and 15 minutes, does not include, potty and fuel stops, food stops, detours, road {de}construction and all the the other crap that goes with 8 hour car trips. What it also does not take into consideration is THE TRIP BACK! THE TIME IT TAKES TO PLAY THE GAME AND THE FACT THAT I WILL HAVE TO DO IT 3 DAYS IN A ROW!!! I pay for Internet service, I pay to "watch every game, every day, everywhere" {that's what they say} in fine print it says "subject to black out". I understand that there is money to be made by having fans come out to the park. I understand that stations like FOX and ESPN want exclusivity rights to broadcast games. I'm OK with that. I'm not OK with being blacked out of nearly every game played on the East Coast. Oh yeah, you read that right. The teams I am blacked out for: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Washington DC and Atlanta. That is nearly every team on the Eastern Seaboard. The good news is, all of them but Baltimore are National League and they don't count until October. Here is how it works. MLB.TV takes my money and I get to watch my beloved Red Sox games on a small computer screen. Sometimes, the games are on ESPN, Fox or one of the Big 3 Networks. That is a BONUS! Yeah!! Sox on the big screen! Never mind the irony**

I'm still paying to watch online but it's OK, it's on the TV!! Only sometimes, FOX, ESPN, etc, buys the right to broadcast the game, but they don't air it. Or, they do, just not in my area. This falls under "regional broadcast". So, the last 3 days the Red Sox played in Baltimore and I {got to see preseason football, eeew} could not see it online OR on the TV because I live within driving distance to Camden Yards. :~)

Let's review: I'm paying {through the nose} for cable, Internet service and MLB.COM. I did NOT see the whole Baltimore series that I paid for twice because I was blacked out. Blacked out because Baltimore is within driving distance from where I live. Here, I'll draw you a picture:
Oh yeah, I'm pissed. Wouldn't you be?
*I'm not incarcerated or anything. I can leave when ever I want. It's just that we do, what we do, for those we love. Love brought me here. It could be worse.

** I have a pretty big TV, I have a fairly small monitor. 90% of my visual entertainment is baseball online, 10% is Lost, Grey's and CSI {and soon Fringe} on the television. Please note that all of these shows are on Thursday. WTF is up with that???