I am a loyal red sox fan but we purchased the baseball package on cable. I dont have to be a slave to any network choosing and I can pick the teams I want to watch. all or none, Angels to the Yankees (not that I’d choose a yankee game, thank you). My only gripe is that most of their games are BROADCAST in Hi-Def but comcast only shoes them in analog. SUCKS.

You have never met a Yankees fan?!? I find that very hard to believe. I am a Yankees fan and I have met many others.

I’m nowhere near NY or NYC. BTW, since you are a Yankees fan, I am obligated to hate you.

I can never find Red Sox games or any other games on the TV often times in upstate NY unless you by the sports package. Every game is either Yankees (mostly), some Mets, or alot of old Yankee games from 20 years ago being shown again.

By the way, I hate ESPN when they show the Soxs’ games. I prefer watching NESN and listening to Jerry Remmy.

You think they fuck up the MLB bad, you should see what they do to NASCAR. Imagine watching a baseball game only to be flooded with ads for Football, Hockey and Spelling Bees. ESPN blows donkey balls

I love the Red Sox…I live in NE, and we get NESN in Hi-Def….Life is good!

I hate ESPN as well. Living in Boston and being a Sox fan, it irks me to have to listen to those idiots they have announcing. “And here we are, at Fenway Park, in Boston’s Back Bay.” No? Wait…it’s…/Fenway/ Park. I do believe you could safely assume, Mr. Miller you idiot, that it is in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. Unless you are telling me that I’ve been living in Back Bay these past three years.

Other gems from last night included four miscalls on how many strikes there were, mixing up which positions Ellsbury and Ramirez were playing, and calling the score of the Cubs game incorrectly not once, but twice.

Why can’t they find announcers who will actually watch the game and comment on it intelligently? I don’t understand it.

That’s too bad. I’m a Yankees fan, and I love your blog. Save the nut-kicking for A-Rod or Jeter, not your loyal readers!

Okay, I’ll relent a little bit…It’s not that I hate the normal fans. I have the obsessive-compulsive fans that flip out when their team drops two in a row. I have my team that I love. I try and keep up with them. I watch the games when I can — if I can’t I check the scores and watch the highlights…but I’m not obsessed. I mostly just hate the Yankees management. They have no salary cap. If they aren’t winning, they go out and buy the piece that isn’t working for them. They are muscling out the smaller market teams…I mean, I’m not a Pirates fan, but I’d like to seem them have a chance to compete. With the Yankees spending 200 million on their starting 9 and 5 pitchers, how can the Pirates or the AL “little guys” ever have a chance in hell? Players follow the money…and that’s the noose around the TEAMS neck(s).

This entire discussion is, of course, interesting, but the fact is that the Yankees give blow jobs to goats.

Really.

I have proof!

/me shrugs.

I don’t have cable TV. I listen to baseball games on the radio.

(Hey, I was born in Brooklyn, which was probably the last part of the USA to get wired for cable, so I grew up without it and don’t miss it now. I’d rather spend that $50 a month on old cameras from Ebay or something equally useless.)

(And no, I don’t listen to the Yankees. Feh.)

I have a friend that collects old cameras and camera materials. I think they are wonderful. He has them on a high shelf as an accent in his living room — I don’t want to copy him and do the same, but I am jealous! Maybe I can contribute to his by visiting a few antique actions, garage sales, and *shrug* ebay. PS — I can’t live without cable…Merely for WEEDS and HOUSE, MD.

Wow, this is remarkably similar to a rant I had about ESPN commentating during the CWS. I didn’t have a media guide in front of me, yet I could keep up with players’ names better than they could. Glad you’re back from vacation (and with a vengeance, too!).

im 110% with you on the hatred for ESPN, the yankees, red sox, mets, etc. But, you fail to mention the other 3 teams that ESPN is in love with: Cards, Cubs, Angels. Screw ESPN (and don’t forget about FOX also as they show the SAME teams EVERY saturday).

I don’t hate Fox because they are busted up into Region. If you want games from another region, you, ugh, have to buy the larger Fox Sports package. I’m not exactly sure about the actual Fox network and the games they show — never paid much attention.

I grew up about 4 miles from ESPN’s studio headquarters, in the same city. We’re half-way between NYC and Boston, so everywhere I go, it’s either Sox or Yanks. Personally, I don’t like sports. I hated the rivalry, the overpublicity on that damn station, and the fanatics rioting in the streets. But every once in a while I’d see some sports anchorpeople come to us with scripts.

Similar to this, I despise Notre Dame football which is why it was SOOOO enjoyable to watch them suck dick last year and NBC is stuck airing it every Saturday afternoon. Now we just need ESPN to have the Red Sox and Yankees both start blowing.

Nothing would please me more than having each of them lose 100 games in the same season. Hell, I’d give up drinking for a yea—err—month!

Your reply to my other comment can’t be argued with - but by that logic, shouldn’t you hate the Red Sox as well? Sure, for years they were the underdog trying to take out the Evil Empire(TM), but now they are just as bad re: no salary cap and big payroll. I don’t think it is the teams’ fault - after all, it’s a business, and if they are allowed to spend the money they earn (NY and BOS both being HUGE markets, with YES Network and NESN bringing in tons of dough), why shouldn’t they?

I agree with you - I think no salary cap allows teams like the Yankees and Sox to tip the scales in their favor. It thrills me that the RAYS are actually giving both teams a run for it! Frankly, the Sox/Yanks playoff rivalry has gotten stale, IMHO. Anyway, how about salary caps in baseball, or a rule that proceeds not directly earned from a stadium (parking, hotdogs, tickets OK, TV broadcasts no) can’t be used for the team? That way Steinbrenner and Epstein can get rich but it levels the field a bit for the small market teams.

And I also agree - fanatic fans suck, no matter what sport/hobby/whatever they obsess about!

Ugh - wrote out a big response, and it appears to have gotten lost in the sauce. SO here’s the highlight reel:

1. If you hate the Yankees for being a big-spending, big-market team, you’ll have to hate the Sox too - they are no longer the little underdog, and becoming more and more like the Yankees each day

2. Can you really blame the teams for spending what they have availble to them? Both BOS and NYC are huge markets, and the owners make a ton of cash off their media empires (NESN and YES Network) - blame baseball, not the teams

3. What about salary caps in baseball? What about some rule which restricts how much auxilliary revenue (i.e., from TV networks and such) can be used for the roster? Let the owners get rich, but stop them from being able to spend it all on their lineup.

4. Gotta love the Rays for giving both teams a run for it! I hope neither the Yankees or Sox make it to the playoffs, and I’m a Yanks fan! Seeing them both in the playoffs year after year is getting old.

5. Obsessive, fanatical people suck. In all walks of life :)

Cheers!

The ESPN ombudsman did an story on this issue (more or less an east coast vs west coast bias) but along the same lines. Here is the link.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3534299

P.S. I sent you a regualr comment as well, I just want to tag this to the actually story….sorry

I just had this sent to me in a website comment….

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3534299