Dear Major League Baseball,
As you know, I am a lifelong San Francisco Giant fan. Since the days of Mays, Marichal and McCovey. However, I now live in the Los Angeles area, so my access to their games is much more limited than it was when I lived in the Bay Area. Boo-hoo for me.
So a couple of years ago, missing you a lot, I came very close to getting your “Extra Innings” package, but in the end, I didn’t. You were very expensive, and I wasn’t quite there finanancially. I was stuck with whatever I could get from the great ESPN broadcasts and those brutally awful FOX broadcasts. But I missed my Giants broadcasts — Krukow and Kuiper, especially. Now I have the scratch, but I can’t, because you — Major League Baseball — have decided to limit the availability of your package to a single provider: DirectTV.
Why? I can only conclude it’s because you hate me, and don’t want me to watch my beloved Giants on a regular basis.
I suppose that you think I’m being paranoid, thinking that you is singling me out somehow. You’re gonna say that it’s not just me that you are jilting. You are going to point out that DirectTV only reaches 16% percent of your potential fanbase, which is almost the exact percentage that your previous setup didn’t reach. That — like the hometown girl who made it into Playboy — you now hang out at exclusive clubs too good for the likes of me.
And to be fair — because I love you and all, for the last couple of years, I was part of that small group that you weren’t reaching. After a couple years of carrying it, my cable company — which I won’t name, but rhymes with “non-STARTER” — stopped offering the Extra Innings package. But I expect my cable company to hate me and treat me with contempt. After all, I only give them $100 per month, so why should they give me any love whatsoever?
But Baseball. Baseball, you and me have a special relationship! Why hast thou forever forsaken me?
Is it because I’m a Giants fan, and a longtime Bonds apologist, even though he’s pretty much become an embarassment to all involved?
Is it because I’ve won my Fantasy Baseball League three years in a row, now? And you feel that the data that Yahoo! supplies me should be given to them at a fee? And even though you lost that particular money-grab, you may be trying again?
Is it because I think that Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame? And when I visited it a couple of years ago, I noticed that he was in about four separate exhibits — because he was just that great on the field — and yet he’s kept off of the ballot?
Is it because I think that Bud Selig is the worst Commissioner you’ve ever ever had, having done only one thing right — the wildcard — in the entire time that he’s been the Commissioner?
Is it because I think that FOX shouldn’t be telecasting those playoffs that I love so much?
Some people might say it’s because y’all are a bunch of money-grubbing whores who don’t give a rats ass what your most loyal fans think. But not me, Major League Baseball, it’s gotta be something that I did wrong.
Please let me know, Major League Baseball, so I can fix it, and you’ll love me again as much as I love you!
Love, (see!)
Jim
You can watch at our place. But only when Zito is pitching.
Again with the Fantasy Baseball!
MLB loves me. I get the baseball package every year, no problem. And I’m a Giants fan!
Cable = evil.
Hiya, I’m trying to track down the article you linked to (the second link about fantasy baseball fees). I need it for a paper I’m writing about the subject, but the link leads to a blank page and the Chronicle Herald won’t let me into their archives to get the article. Any chance you remember what it was about exactly (i.e. who the MLB was looking to sue) so I could maybe look up a press release or a story from another news site?
Thanks a ton.
Melanie,
I hate when links disappear. Try googling “MLB vs Fantasy Baseball.”
I came up with a couple of things:
http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2006/05/22/mlb_vs_fantasy_baseball.php
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/07/eveningnews/main1872987.shtml
see if those help.
I am absolutely outraged that the solons of baseball are so willing to dump on their most loyal fans around the country. Apparently, our support of their industry by purchasing the Extra Innings package these last few years was some kind of test or focus group to prove that we would pony up enough bucks for the service to make them even richer by moving it to the satellite TV services. And for what? So they can afford to pay even more outrageous salaries to the players? The money lust is just unbelievable. I live far away from my Red Sox and the only way I can really follow the team as intensively as I want to is through the Extra Innings package. I am a cable subscriber, and in fact my provider, Comcast, is a tough customer when it comes to accommodating baseball fans. Because of a contract dispute, they made Washington Nationals fans wait two years before allowing an adequate number of games to appear on their system. Only after loud and persistent fan reaction and editorials by big newspapers did the dispute get settled. Comcast is certainly not going to lay out one extra dime to MLB to get Extra Innings away from the satellite people. Bottom line: This is yet another slap in the face at the fans who do more for baseball than anyone else — the diehards who view the sport as a national treasure, a major element of our collective consciousness that must never be taken for granted. Congress should take a good hard look at the problem and make serious noise about taking away the antitrust exemption. It’s a damned shame, but it seems that the legislative branch of our government is the only institution that can ever get the attention of the lords of baseball because it is the only one with any leverage over it. The fans just don’t matter — even the ones willing to pay $169 a year for this service.