It costs $100 to subscribe to the basic package of MLB-TV. It seems a bit steep, but to a fan of baseball who lives outside of the area where the games of his favorite team are normally aired and has nothing but rabbit ears hooked up to his TV, it is easy to justify. If not for my subscription to MLB-TV there was a good chance that I would not have been able to watch a single Cubs game this season.
Though MLB-TV airs some of the Spring Training games, you have to figure that most people are paying for the service in order to follow their team throughout the regular season. Therefore, it is easy to assume that the Season Opener and the Home Opener are two of the most viewed games of the entire season. They are very important games.
I imagine that today lots of people took time off work and had barbecues or other gatherings in order to celebrate the Cubs' Opening Day. Many of those individuals probably hoped to watch the game with their pricey subscription to MLB-TV. Most of them probably saw the same thing that I did when they tried to view the game: blank screen.
When the game wouldn't work on the browser I was using I tried to use another browser: blank screen. I tried to upgrade my browsers: blank screen. I tried to upgrade my plug-ins: blank screen. Finally, I consulted the help forum. The Forum Administrators were incredibly useless, suggesting that I do all of the things that I had already tried. Finally, some 7 innings into the game, I was able to get the game to play by following the advice of someone in the help forum who was not an Administrator (go figure). Just to be clear, I was able to watch a number of archived games from 2009 and live spring training games without difficulty.
This is unacceptable. The subscription is just too expensive for the MLB-TV media player to absolutely fail during one of the biggest games of the year. There is no excuse for a technical failure like this on OPENING DAY. Furthermore, why can't they get some Administrators who actually know what they are doing in their help forum? I suppose that MLB-TV's only concern is to get their 100 bucks. After that, they leave their customers out to dry.
MLB-TV is crap. If this happens again I am going to be truly enraged. I would have canceled my subscription today if MLB-TV wasn't the only way for me to watch Cubs games this season. MLB-TV knows that most fans are in this position. That's why they don't give a crap about their service completely failing.
Sure, the Cubs suffered a horrible loss today. But after slapping down 100 bucks I should be able to watch them suffer a horrible loss. Thus endeth my rant.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
On how to properly wear a new Cubs cap
The Brooklyn Excelsiors wore the first "baseball caps" in the 1860's, when the game was still in its infancy. Originally, the caps were made of wool and were far floppier than the baseball caps we have today. Latex was first used to stiffen baseball caps when the Cubs won their last pennant in the 40's, and the contemporary baseball cap had its genesis.
The history of baseball caps is fairly undisputed, but there is one thing that has been continually challenged since the inception of the baseball cap: how to properly wear one. In modern years, trends and fashions have continued to evolve (or devolve, depending one who you ask) to include a seemingly numberless amount of ways to wear the classic baseball cap. For example, when I was growing up there was only one way to wear a baseball cap if you were "cool":
...ack basswards. Although this made the bill useless for fulfilling its intended purpose, man was it cool. It showed a stringent rebelliousness and provided a physical way to "stick it to the man", whoever the "man" may be. Wearing a cap this way and having this expression usually go hand in hand. The days of my youth have passed, however. Now there is a new fad:
...keeping the stickers on the cap. Every time I see this on a Leader of Tomorrow I cringe a little inside. Why would anyone want to keep the stickers and tags on their hat? Is there something I'm not getting here? I think keeping the stickers on your hat is indicative of some kind of deep and debilitating mental illness that no amount of pills can cure. I think its called "adolescence". So, call me a traditionalist, but this is how I choose to wear my new Cubs cap:
...front and center, with the bill gently curved like the the arc of the summer sky. Cub agrees:
...but the proper sizing of a baseball cap is a subject for another post.
The history of baseball caps is fairly undisputed, but there is one thing that has been continually challenged since the inception of the baseball cap: how to properly wear one. In modern years, trends and fashions have continued to evolve (or devolve, depending one who you ask) to include a seemingly numberless amount of ways to wear the classic baseball cap. For example, when I was growing up there was only one way to wear a baseball cap if you were "cool":
...ack basswards. Although this made the bill useless for fulfilling its intended purpose, man was it cool. It showed a stringent rebelliousness and provided a physical way to "stick it to the man", whoever the "man" may be. Wearing a cap this way and having this expression usually go hand in hand. The days of my youth have passed, however. Now there is a new fad:
...keeping the stickers on the cap. Every time I see this on a Leader of Tomorrow I cringe a little inside. Why would anyone want to keep the stickers and tags on their hat? Is there something I'm not getting here? I think keeping the stickers on your hat is indicative of some kind of deep and debilitating mental illness that no amount of pills can cure. I think its called "adolescence". So, call me a traditionalist, but this is how I choose to wear my new Cubs cap:
...front and center, with the bill gently curved like the the arc of the summer sky. Cub agrees:
...but the proper sizing of a baseball cap is a subject for another post.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Cactus League Opener
Today, while I was huddling inside and praying that the freezing rain wouldn't wash the house away, the Cubs took to the field under jewel blue skies to battle the Oakland A's in their Cactus League opener. Unfortunately no one seemed to think that the game was worth its price in video footage, so I had to content myself with reading about the game after the fact. It sounds as if it was a good game, the Cubs dominating with a 9-3 win. Derrik Lee hammered a homer during his first at-bat, but who could expect him to do anything less? Newcomer Marlon Byrd apparently showed himself well, and youngin' Starlin Castro tripled late in the game to prove that there may indeed be something behind all of the hype.
Spring Training play officially began this week, with several exhibition games unfolding in sunny Arizona and Florida. I watched portions of two games (though, as stated earlier, someone dropped the ball and decided not to televise the Cubs opener.) The first was the Yankees opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates; one of the most highly paid ball clubs versus one of the lowest. The Pirates showed themselves well against the Yanks, but (in typical Yankee fashion) a end-of- game comeback sealed the Pirates' fates and left the Yankees with their pinstripes and pompous sneers in tact (here's hoping that number 28 never comes). The second game was today's match between the Angels and the White Sox (otherwise known to the author of this blog as "that other Chicago ball club".) I would liked to have seen the White Sox suffer a double digit shutout so that they would come into Saturday's match against the Cubbies with hunched shoulders and tear-stained faces. Unfortunately, I had to content myself with a late-game comeback from the Angels and a 4-4 tie.
I know that Spring Training games amount to absolutely nothing, but I do like their symbolic strength. With each crack of the bat and thump of the glove Winter seems to flee further away, retreating to whatever frostbitten place it calls its home. Baseball is as much a clarion for the approaching Spring as budding trees and swelling rivers.
Cub napped through both of this week's games (and I joined him during the Yankee-Pirates game) so that he could be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Saturday's match. Not even three booming thunderclaps could wake him as he lay dreaming of ivied walls and rippling new pennants...
Spring Training play officially began this week, with several exhibition games unfolding in sunny Arizona and Florida. I watched portions of two games (though, as stated earlier, someone dropped the ball and decided not to televise the Cubs opener.) The first was the Yankees opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates; one of the most highly paid ball clubs versus one of the lowest. The Pirates showed themselves well against the Yanks, but (in typical Yankee fashion) a end-of- game comeback sealed the Pirates' fates and left the Yankees with their pinstripes and pompous sneers in tact (here's hoping that number 28 never comes). The second game was today's match between the Angels and the White Sox (otherwise known to the author of this blog as "that other Chicago ball club".) I would liked to have seen the White Sox suffer a double digit shutout so that they would come into Saturday's match against the Cubbies with hunched shoulders and tear-stained faces. Unfortunately, I had to content myself with a late-game comeback from the Angels and a 4-4 tie.
I know that Spring Training games amount to absolutely nothing, but I do like their symbolic strength. With each crack of the bat and thump of the glove Winter seems to flee further away, retreating to whatever frostbitten place it calls its home. Baseball is as much a clarion for the approaching Spring as budding trees and swelling rivers.
Cub napped through both of this week's games (and I joined him during the Yankee-Pirates game) so that he could be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for Saturday's match. Not even three booming thunderclaps could wake him as he lay dreaming of ivied walls and rippling new pennants...
Friday, February 26, 2010
The 102nd Year?
1908 was a good year for fans of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs had won their first World Series the year prior. Headed by team leaders like Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown (who tossed a mean curve because of his namesake), the Northsiders made quick work of the teams they played prior to the Fall Classic. With infielder Frank Chance acting as manager, the Cubs were the most dominant team in baseball. Unfortunately, this success wouldn't last. The Cubs would never again become World Series champions.
Though not blessed with victory in the Fall Classic, the Cubs would continue to win pennants. This National League success would continue until 1945, when the Cubs would appear in (and lose) their final World Series. The Cubbies have not returned to the World Series since.
As 1908 was a good year for the Chicago Cubs, so 2009 was a good year for the author of this blog. In the year prior I won my first "World Series", and the prize was my beautiful wife. The next year the team of our family was blessed with the number one draft pick of my firstborn son. Our "Cub" quickly won our hearts, and I became his #1 fan. Because I work nights and take a full-time load of college courses online, I am now able to stay home and care for Cub five days a week.
2010 will be yet another year of firsts. It will be the first full baseball season since I have been a fan of the Cubs, the first baseball season of my son's life, and the first season we share together. Aided by my Birthday and Christmas gift (a pricey subscription to MLB-TV), the Cub and I will spend our days with the Boys in Blue, watching every game that we can squeeze in.
Will the 102nd year be the year? Will the Cubs find the magic of 1908 somewhere deep down, in the chamber of the heart where dreams still live? Will they catch the spirit of the Red Sox, who reversed their own curse in 2004? Will Ted Lilly or Carlos Zambrano lose a couple of fingers so they can throw a curve like Three Finger Brown?
Win or Lose, through diapers both fair and foul, the Cub and I will find out. Spring Training games begin in under a week. Here's to Spring!
Though not blessed with victory in the Fall Classic, the Cubs would continue to win pennants. This National League success would continue until 1945, when the Cubs would appear in (and lose) their final World Series. The Cubbies have not returned to the World Series since.
As 1908 was a good year for the Chicago Cubs, so 2009 was a good year for the author of this blog. In the year prior I won my first "World Series", and the prize was my beautiful wife. The next year the team of our family was blessed with the number one draft pick of my firstborn son. Our "Cub" quickly won our hearts, and I became his #1 fan. Because I work nights and take a full-time load of college courses online, I am now able to stay home and care for Cub five days a week.
2010 will be yet another year of firsts. It will be the first full baseball season since I have been a fan of the Cubs, the first baseball season of my son's life, and the first season we share together. Aided by my Birthday and Christmas gift (a pricey subscription to MLB-TV), the Cub and I will spend our days with the Boys in Blue, watching every game that we can squeeze in.
Will the 102nd year be the year? Will the Cubs find the magic of 1908 somewhere deep down, in the chamber of the heart where dreams still live? Will they catch the spirit of the Red Sox, who reversed their own curse in 2004? Will Ted Lilly or Carlos Zambrano lose a couple of fingers so they can throw a curve like Three Finger Brown?
Win or Lose, through diapers both fair and foul, the Cub and I will find out. Spring Training games begin in under a week. Here's to Spring!
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