It’s a Religion

I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. -- Crash Davis, Bull Durham

Welcome back to baseball.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day as well.

Play Ball!

Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.

--Crash Davis, Bull Durham

Play Ball!

The first game is in the books (Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees), and San Francisco is up on Arizona in the seventh on the back of not one but two home runs hit by the pitcher, Madison Bumgarner. Yes, the pitcher has hit two home runs on Opening Day. This afternoon ends up with the Cubs and the Cardinals at 8:35 this evening.

I am happy that Opening Day is here. I am not crazy about the three games to start the season, and I am still not a huge fan of the instant replay, but the good news is that baseball is back for 2017.

On the ice, Boston beat Chicago and has leapfrogged Toronto in the standings for the last playoff spot (yeah, and Ottawa too, but who cares about Ottawa, eh?). So it looks like the Leafs are golf course bound. The Jays open in Baltimore tomorrow (which means I will only get to see replays since I cannot stream the game at work, being in MASN's backyard - yes, someday the leagues will realize how much they are cutting off the fans, but that's another argument).

Pass the hot dogs, the Cracker Jack, and the beverage of choice. The 2017 MLB season is here. And minor league too. I will be going to see the Potomac Nations at some point as well.

Go Jays!

The Networks are waking up.

Some people have had it with TV. They've had enough of the 100-plus channel universe. They don't like timing their lives around network show schedules. They're tired of $100-plus monthly bills. (WTOP)

According to Nielsen, who has been tracking household viewing habits since time immemorial (or at least as long as it has been a money making effort), there are five million folks who do not even own a television. That seems low to me. I suspect there are a lot of people that own a television, but have long since given up their connection to receive the traditional television signals. And, if you have watched television lately, you probably know why.

As pointed out in the article, people are tired of being tied to their televisions. More so, they are tired of being tied to schedules that have nothing to offer, either intellectually, or visually. For the one or two shows that you find interesting - and I suspect most people find fewer than five shows even worth the time - there are other ways to watch it if you really want to. The rest is a waste of time.

Lately, we have moved from relying on regular television to watching Netflix, Hulu, and any of our many DVDs rather than wasting time looking for something to watch on broadcast networks (and this includes cable).  We get our sports directly from the leagues, without the commercials and with the ability to rewind and watch the game later if we want to or have other things going on when the game is live. The rest is ignored in favor of other, more interesting things, like doing laundry.

And the networks are only just talking about this?  Here is the first light-bulb they should turn on - get rid of the anachronistic blackout rule. Just because I live in the same geography as a marketing area for a sports team does not mean I have any intention of going to see the game, and for a variety of good reasons.  If you think someone should have exclusive rights to show it, you are again ignoring those of us who have paid for the privilege of watching this same game, yet do not have a television, or, access to television. Sometimes I want to watch a game while working at the office.  There is no television at my desk, but the video stream works just fine. And did I mention, I have already paid for it?

By the time the networks, and their boards realize what is going on, people will have already flocked to other forms of media.  My daughter already gets more video from YouTube than she does from television and this is not a trend that will change any time soon. But it is good to see that the networks are taking notice. To bad it is five years too late.

And in baseball news…

With the New York Yankees out of the post-season before it started and more attention being paid to the people crammed into parks around Wall Street than to the people that showed up at the ball parks, the World Series teams have been determined.  It will be the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.

And if your reaction was...so?  You are probably not alone.  In fact, of all the match ups I am sure Fox Sports did not want, it was St. Louis and Texas.  Even Tampa Bay would have been a bigger draw than Texas.  And while St. Louis has a following, it is still considerably less than even the San Francisco Giants.  But there you go.  St. Louis and Texas.  In the World Series.

If I am asking in March who won the 2011 World Series, please excuse me.  Even I have no real desire to watch the games.