Thursday, October 04, 2007

Baseball in the 21st Century

Last night was the first game of the National League baseball playoff. The Cubs were playing the Diamond Backs. That would be the Diamond Backs of the Mountain Time Zone. Of course the game started at a reasonable time for people to get off work and have dinner before the game if they lived in Arizona. If you were a Cub fan in Chicago the game did not start until 9:00. Now if you are an old fart like myself that is 30 minutes before your bedtime -I made it through the third inning!

This baseball thing sucks now-a-days. There should be a National start time for the playoffs. One that is carefully calculated to ensure that all Americans would be awake to see at least the last three innings.

To make matters worse when I read the newspaper this morning it said the game ended too late for press time. I had to log on to the internet to see the score before going to work. Now I am okay with change and the internet (I used to have blog that I posted on regularly), but it ain't baseball if you don't read about it in the paper.

Finally, to really frost ya! The game is broadcast on TBS, a cable channel. If you don't have cable or satellite T.V. you can't even see America's past time! Gawilli tells me that everyone has one or the other, but there was a time -and probably this is the case some where, maybe a nursing home in Wyoming- when people only had the networks. That would be the free networks that arrived in the comfort of your home via the airwaves.

Gone is network T.V. broadcasting the baseball playoffs. I think I know why. Ever since they banned cigarette commercials and product testing like those ladies dipping their hands in the Palmolive soap at the beauty salon the networks can't compete. They have moved on to advertising those drugs that we can only ask our doctors to buy. So why should a regular company pay for big advertising on the networks. I think only the rich doctors watch those shows. Funny I remember when even the doctors were baseball fans.

-jswilli

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Spoken like the fan that you are. Now I'm going to go soak my hands in some Palmolive.

10:27 PM  
Blogger Jay said...

MLB just can't do anything right. And Bud Selig is a complete moron. LOL

Why did they agree to allow an exclusive for TBS for the playoffs anyway? Why do the games have to be played one at a time? It wouldn't kill them to have East Coast games start at say 5 pm and then West Coast games on another network start at regular prime-time hours.

Baseball just set an all-time attendance record. It's not a dying sport like the NHL or the NBA.

11:59 AM  
Blogger Molly said...

Interesting perspective, although I enjoy baseball about as much as football, which is not much. It is sad when the public has to work so hard or pay big bucks to watch America's pastime. Also, if those medications that the doctor prescribes don't cure you, the ads always tell of ways the drug might kill you.

7:35 PM  
Blogger daddy d said...

Sports is not about the fans in the house at the ball game. It is all about big TV money. Look at the starting time of the Purdue and Ohio football game. Saturday night at 8 or 7 PM. College football should be Saturday afternoon at 1 PM period.

7:52 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home