What is it with Major League Baseball??? Game 2 of the Angels/Twins series and game 1 of the Cards/Giants series are being played AT THE SAME TIME which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Logic & common sense would indicate that to optimize the excitement these series could generate the games should be played at times when an audience could watch each game, not have to choose between the two (or play remote control racer.) Has baseball gone completely crazy??? I'm just glad I'll be at Staples Center watching the Kings tonight or I'd go fully ballistic!!

~Adam

[ October 09, 2002: Message edited by: Adam ]

My sentiments exactly Adam....as I posted in another thread when Joe in Philly mentioned this yesterday, this is just ANOTHER example of how badly Selig is mismanaging the game (if you can even call what he does "managing")....I don't buy the explanation that the schedule is at the sole discretion of the networks and to call this decision LUDICROUS is being far too kind....could you even imagine the NFL scheduling both the NFC and AFC championship games to kick off at the exact same time or the US Open having its mens and womens finals take place simultaneously on opposite courts?

Based upon Selig's incomprehensible statements and actions as Commissioner that have served to drive fans AWAY from the game that he supposedly is protecting and deprive millions of baseball fans of enjoying our national pasttime (especially in POSTSEASON play) you would think he was baseball's "arch enemy" or that he was overseeing some sort of "competition" that was battling baseball for the public's time and money....the worst part about it is that from listening to Selig speak he actually BELIEVES that his decisions are in the best interests of the game and its fans -- he's like an alcoholic or drug addict that refuses to believe he has a problem or is acting irrationally....What more does this f**king idiot have to do before he is removed from office (by force if necessary)? ....if these decisions that adversely affect millions of baseball fans weren't so downright sad they'd almost be humorous.

Just be "grateful" tonight's the last time this is happening...

Bad Channels: Postseason MLB Madness (D Zumsteg, Baseball Prospectus)

[quote]The A's, for reasons beyond me, have their playoff tickets priced higher than anyone in the majors. They're crazy: $50 for a field level seat, $35 for a bleacher seat. The Giants, the fricking paid-for-their-own-stadium Giants, charged $40 for their lower box seats, and $15 for bleacher seats. That's insane. The A's are a good team, but they play in a crappy football stadium, and $50 a stub is where the rational consumer weighs taking the wife to a series against buying DirecTV with TiVo and getting a fat channel package

---

Exactly. The Coliseum is an awful place to see baseball. You know the football seats high up in center field? Do they even sell those or count them in to the capacity total?

The guy is not completely accurate about "highest prices in the majors". The Angels also charged $50 for the Division series, albeit in the "Premium Seats", which at The Ed are the seats behind the screen behind homeplate (there's a restaurant for those folks only that serves them etc.) and on the second level. The regular box seats went for $35 though, in a much more baseball-friendly ballpark. The prices increase, of course, the further the Angels go in the playoffs.

Big miscalculation by the A's.

[ October 09, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]

[quote]Originally posted by Bill W:
Just be "grateful" tonight's the last time this is happening...

Bad Channels: Postseason MLB Madness (D Zumsteg, Baseball Prospectus)

---

This article says:

[quote] This bizarre arrangement is the product of the crazy world of cable television. Fox put playoff games on Fox Family and then sold Fox Family to Disney, who needed an outlet for old Wonder Years episodes (because the world can't get enough of Winnie). When Disney bought the channel, they got those games, but didn't want to air them on an ESPN channel, except when they did.

So Wednesday, here's what I got: after ditching "Sudden Death 7-Ball" for the A's-Twins, I watched Eric Chavez airmail that Mays pitch deep into the stands, enjoyed the game, and then ESPN dumped the game to ABC Family after a couple of innings so they could show NFL Tonight.

---

ESPN never had plans to air any games, except if a game on ABC Family ran long when a second one scheduled for the same channel was about to start. They announced at the beginning of the playoffs that if this happened, ESPN would show the beginning of the next game, until the first game ended. Then they'd switch it to ABC Family.

This blows! The Twins-Angels game is on Fox Sports New York in my area. But I don't get it as I have basic cable. Way to sell the game, Buddy Boy!

That's OK, GVF. You'll not want to see what the Angels are going to do to Twins pitching tonight anyways!

Jim Allen
Extremely nervous Angels fan who doesn't want them to be down 2-0

Does anyone here know when the TV contract is up for renewal? I think MLB is in for a big shock if they think that they're going to get anywhere near the same amount for a contract. Of course, taking the package out of the hands of The Mouse might be something they think of too.

In England, the lower soccer divisions (Divisions 1-3, the Premiereship is a different entity) all relied heavily on the TV money from the independant TV provider ITV. ITV collapsed earlier this year and a lot of the Div. 1-3 are really hurting because they counted on that money to be the difference between breaking even or making a little profit and poverty. It's not quite as apocalyptic in baseball, but if the next TV contract is significantly lower in dollars than the current one--and why would any network pay huge bucks for such a poorly run business?--the smaller market teams will suffer.

[ October 09, 2002: Message edited by: Jim Allen ]