MLB Direct vs. Cablevision - I have to admit I have not paid to much a
ttention to this MLB Direct issue for two reasons, I have not subscribed in the past and I already had DirectTV. Being a Yankee fan living in the NYC metro area, I get all the games I need via my local satellite provider. Since DirectTV were the ones who had "won" the deal to begin with it was no big deal to me either way. Well after much consternation (can MLB do anything without consternation?) the local cable providers have also won the right to provide the MLB Direct package to its subscribers.
ttention to this MLB Direct issue for two reasons, I have not subscribed in the past and I already had DirectTV. Being a Yankee fan living in the NYC metro area, I get all the games I need via my local satellite provider. Since DirectTV were the ones who had "won" the deal to begin with it was no big deal to me either way. Well after much consternation (can MLB do anything without consternation?) the local cable providers have also won the right to provide the MLB Direct package to its subscribers. Now on the surface this seems reasonable, if someone wants the ability to watch every single game, then either the market dictates that MLB get a national content provider ala the DirectTV deal, or MLB offers it to the local cable providers. Either way MLB charges a price, the provider then passes that cost, with a mark up on through to the consumer and everyone is happy, correct? Wrong, not when you are dealing with the Dolan family who own CableVision, the local cable provider who I abandoned a few years back when they refused to carry the YES network. I believe they also balked at playing the Mets after they announced they were staring their own network as well.
So according to WFAN this afternoon, Cablevision needs to "review" before they offer this package to their consumers. Why? I honestly have no idea why other than this seems like they are simply acting as a monopolistic behemoth that has absolutely no interest in what their customers want. I am actually waiting anxiously for ATT and Verizon to start offering a real choice for cable service and seeing if they are able to react to market demands much quicker than the Cablevision company.
Arod coming through in the clutch (or
not) - So the shit is getting deep for Alex Rodriguez two games into the season. Lets see his transgressions are an error in the first inning of the first game, and a 2 run home run in the 8th inning of the same game, extending the Yankee lead. ARod haters will say the error way typical, though the same fan would cut Derek Jeter a ton of slack on the same play. They will also say that the home run was not clutch because they already had the lead and all it did was pad that lead, which is the major knock against him. In yesterday's game, ARod popped up to end the 8th with the bases loaded, when a hit would have probably scored two runs and won the game.
The problem is more with the second game, rather than the first. A caller on WFAN pointed out, that ARod needs to get a hit in that situation, late in the game, runners in scoring position, and the chance to take the lead in order for him to win over the fans and I agree. That scenario only comes up a few dozen times over the course of the season and the perception is that is when he fails, and that is what bothers the fans. I know the statistics show no correlation, but it is all about perception, and if ARod wants to succeed in NY (and lets face it, who doesn't), that is all he needs to do.
Mathematician: Yankees Will Dominate Baseball This Year - Thanks Len. Good to know
Arod coming through in the clutch (or
not) - So the shit is getting deep for Alex Rodriguez two games into the season. Lets see his transgressions are an error in the first inning of the first game, and a 2 run home run in the 8th inning of the same game, extending the Yankee lead. ARod haters will say the error way typical, though the same fan would cut Derek Jeter a ton of slack on the same play. They will also say that the home run was not clutch because they already had the lead and all it did was pad that lead, which is the major knock against him. In yesterday's game, ARod popped up to end the 8th with the bases loaded, when a hit would have probably scored two runs and won the game.The problem is more with the second game, rather than the first. A caller on WFAN pointed out, that ARod needs to get a hit in that situation, late in the game, runners in scoring position, and the chance to take the lead in order for him to win over the fans and I agree. That scenario only comes up a few dozen times over the course of the season and the perception is that is when he fails, and that is what bothers the fans. I know the statistics show no correlation, but it is all about perception, and if ARod wants to succeed in NY (and lets face it, who doesn't), that is all he needs to do.
Mathematician: Yankees Will Dominate Baseball This Year - Thanks Len. Good to know
The New York Yankees will win a whopping 110 games this season, more than any other major league team, according to a mathematician who applies math to real-life situations.
The projection comes from a model that Bruce Bukiet of the New Jersey Institute of Technology developed and has used and updated for the past six years to predict how many games each team will win during the 162-game season.
Too bad the Yankees are already 1-1, a few more cold weather games and this projection might become very difficult. However the guys over at Pardon the Interruption did note that the Dallas Mavericks started the season 1-4 and now are 62-12, and I believe the 1998 Yankees also started out 1-4 or so and still wound up winning 114 games that season.
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