BigbadB

=D> =D> =D> I guess since Muskat has not asked you to remove derogatory posts about her we can continue calling her Muskat. Maybe we can mix it up a little, like God Muskat damn. . btw - I have reason to believe that Carrie's been here in the past. OTOH, I'm pretty sure it's not worth God's time to see what people are saying about Him here. And I'd hope that He's got a pretty thick skin about such things. I've never understood why He would be put out by mere mortals using his name in vain, anyway. It seems so petty. If you were all powerful, would you care?!? I meant that post in levity. Sure cursing offends me, but if we can curse we should beable to say Muskat, or atleast say it without someone making a huge deal about it. It's not a filthy word, just a childish name. Cursing offends me more than seeing someone spout a bad nickname like Muskat, or Jock (whom I like). . So if we are allowed to offend the "beleivers", we should continue to beable to make up childish nicknames for Muskrats sake!! You are REALLY pushing your luck. I suggest you stop.

The Horn can do anything he wants.

I'm an average consumer. I won't do either. I'll still be a baseball fan, but I'll just have to see the limited games made available in my area and just read up on box scores and watch more highlights. And if it does go through, I hope somebody gets hit real hard in the wallet. Either MLB or DirecTV. I'll send a follow up letter to MLB thanking them for saving me $139.00 by no longer paying for MLB EI. They didn't care about the fans during the strike year and they are clearly proving they don't care about the fans by going exclusive with a dish network. Someday, they'll piss off too many of the right people....

Vernon Wells didn't start playing everyday until 2002. Shannon has zero games in CF since 2001. He played one game in CF in 2000. 7 games in '99. Not even a couple of games here and there to rest the everyday CF. Worthy of note, however, is that it appears that Jacque Jones and Lew Ford were the guys who covered for Torii when he was injured in 2005. Nick Punto and Jason Tyner got CF duty rather than Stewart. The Cubs already have Jacque Jones.

The Jays began to phase Vernon Wells into the lineup and CF starting in 1999. He didn't play significantly early, but I think I recall them shifting Stewart in preparation of Wells' emergence. Then, when he was traded to the Twins, they had Torii Hunter already and had no reason to put Stewart there. Okay, but why didn't they put Stewart there when Torii missed most of the season in 2005?

Before the plopped down more money for Shannon Stewart, I'd like to know why he hasn't seen any significant playing time in CF since 1998.

You could get WGN and the Cubs for just about every game back in the good old days. And, outside of some premium channels like HBO and Cinemax, there wasn't much more to cable than a few superstations like TBS, WGN and the one in New York, forgot the name.

By the way, the cost of Pay-Per-View in bars is loosely based on maximum occupancy. I recall a few bars in San Diego several years ago that got busted for illegally transmitting PPV fights to their customers. When they got caught, they were fined a hefty amount and had to pay so much per head based on maximum occupancy. I can't recall whether the illegal broadcasts were from those illegal analog cable boxes that were just about everywhere right before cable went digital, but the fines weren't pretty.

SI predicted that many years ago. You might be right, but I doubt it'll ever go 100% PPV. That would be the surest way to erode the fan base. Agreed. The Super Bowl is the most watched sporting event for a few particular reasons. AVAILABILITY is the main factor. Take away the availability, and it will no longer be the #1 watched sporting event. It is a well produced program as well. There are side attractions like commercials that interest a non-football base. I can take or leave watching the Super Bowl if MY team isn't playing. I do watch it now because of the availability. However, if the Colts and Saints were playing this year and it was on pay-per-view? I'm not going to pay to watch it. It's a bit early to predict how much it would cost to see individual games or even the Super Bowl, but the successful sports bar owner I discussed earlier predicts it would cost him somewhere around 20K to show the Super Bowl. He will do it, even at that cost. He knows he'll lose money on game day, but his hope would be to improve his clientele over the course of the entire year.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to have time to check it out. If anyone can provide a quick synopsis, it would be much appreciated.

This is exactly what will happen eventually. Although, Pay-Per-View hasn't been what they hoped it would. Eventually, the Super Bowl will only be available by Pay-Per-View. One of my best clients has one of the best sports bars in San Diego County, and he expects that to happen very soon. This location also is the very first bar in the country to offer table top pay tv and video games. People can order food and beverages through their table top tv besides watching whatever sport they want or play any of the currently available bar video games. They can browse the internet as well. It's pretty crazy and will soon be available all over the country.

How many Cub games did you get on this last year BbB? Most of them. The only games that don't show are the WCIU games and black out games occasionally, like Saturday games that air during the Fox game of the week. Even the WGN games show on MLB EI, though I generally just watch them on WGN, because sometimes you get the home team announcers rather than Bob and Len.

Cox Communications does own the broadcasting rights to the Padres. And for a price, other cable companies can pay for the right to broadcast the games as well. Cox is not the only cable company in San Diego. Time Warner is also here. Time Warner buys these rights from Cox. You don't see premium movie channels being exclusive to one provider or another. You can get HBO regardless of what provider you have. Cable providers should have the opportunity to pick up and distribute to their customers whatever programming their customers would like to view. 7 years on DirecTV is just long enough to kill MLB EI. I don't exactly understand the whole trickle down effect of this stuff, but would there be an FSN that broadcasts games in towns like Cincy, Tampa, FL if MLB EI wasn't kicking some profits of the 750,000 subscribers luring advertising dollars? Sunday Ticket is absolutely ridiculous in pricing to sports bars. Ask your local sports bar what they pay for the package. And it is very inaccurate to state that all of these venues reap huge rewards for supplying Sunday Ticket. Some do it because they would be dead in the water if they didn't. The place I watch Sunday football games paid over 3 grand for the rights to Sunday Ticket. They also offer free breakfast to everyone because Sunday Ticket can be seen at the bar down the street just as easily. So, 3 grand plus free breakfast for 17 weeks of football (6 hours of broadcasting a week). He loses money every year on this deal. And it will be more expensive for him next year.

But, there is a problem with this theory. If Marquis is doing well enough, he probably won't be traded. If he's doing bad, he's untradeable.

That's more to my point. I'm in bars all over San Diego County, and they don't carry the package. Part of that is because the Padres are in this town and almost all of their games are televised locally. In fact, the Padres would be blacked out on MLB EI, therefore it makes even less sense. Outside of baseball markets, I'm not nearly as educated there. But, there is plenty of baseball between TBS, WGN, ESPN and Fox weekends. The cost for a bar to have MLB EI is mammoth in cost. OK, but if nobody's carrying it now there certainly won't be a huge impact if they continue to not carry it. DirecTV will want to make up for the 700m they are spending somehow.

Yeah, I think I'd rather give Walker or Fuld the opportunity ahead of Josh Hamilton. Josh had a lot of talent. How much he still has after missing so much time is hard to say. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he won't stick with the Reds all year. Yeah, I'm such a gambler. :D

I really thought Hendry was going to whip this club into shape. I gave him a lot of praise early on. However, those days are long gone. If I had my way, he'd already be gone. He would have been gone during the 2005 campaign right along with Dusty and the rest of the coaching staff. The offseason prior to 2006 was brutal. The Juan Pierre trade..... well, I really don't want to talk about it. Personally, I think they were awful friendly giving Hendry the 25 spot. It takes a really bad GM to increase payroll every year and consistently be a worse team. Chaos reigned with this team for several years. The Sosa ordeal, the issues in the clubhouse, the issues on the planes, the issues in the broadcast booth, the deterioration of the farm, the lack of development of major league talent on the farm, , the inability to understand the importance of not giving up walks on the mound and the inability to understand the importance of drawing walks at the plate, the lack of fundamentals on the field, etc... While many of these things were not Hendry's doing, the spotlight is on him. The distractions and circus side shows should not be part of the game plan. 2006 is a chance to redeem himself, but it will take more than just throwing money at a bunch of free agents to turn this team around. Hopefully, Piniella and Hendry can create some direction. Because they definitely didn't have that last year.

The Horn!!!!!!!! Good luck, Mark! (except against the Cubs)

If we are going to go in house until Pie is ready, the guy's name is Jacque Jones. Let Theriot or Pagan hit against LH pitchers and call it good. That way Soriano doesn't have to move positions when Pie is ready, Jones can build up some value for a trade at the deadline, especially if he plays a respectable CF. If Jones and the Cubs are doing well enough, they can consider hanging onto him and let Pie have a full season in AAA and try his luck in a late season call up.

That's because no one wants Griffey.

Why no mention of the Yankees and their 200m payroll?

That's more to my point. I'm in bars all over San Diego County, and they don't carry the package. Part of that is because the Padres are in this town and almost all of their games are televised locally. In fact, the Padres would be blacked out on MLB EI, therefore it makes even less sense. Outside of baseball markets, I'm not nearly as educated there. But, there is plenty of baseball between TBS, WGN, ESPN and Fox weekends. The cost for a bar to have MLB EI is mammoth in cost.

OMG! Drop it already.

It's definitely been going on all year, but personally I really don't care what people say. I actually like it that way. The Bears will just need to remember on Super Bowl Sunday that no lead is safe when Peyton Manning is lining up behind center. Stick with what got us there and DO NOT TURN THE BALL OVER!

The wife just told me that photo was shown on Keith Olberman's Countdown as yesterday's "worst person in the world".