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July 24, 2006

The Ledger Domain

Blackout Blues

by Maury Brown

While the steroid issue has grabbed the front page, there continues to be a growing legion of fans that are truly upset with Major League Baseball over a separate issue that falls squarely on MLB’s shoulders, and is not at all related to the players. Like fans upset about steroids in the game, many have written their representatives in Congress, and have attempted to bring the issue to the attention of the Commissioner’s Office.

In last week's article, I posted a small blurb simply reading, “If you are caught in the middle of a blackout dilemma, e-mail me,” as well as on my blog, The Baseball Journals. To show how widespread this issue really is, I received my first email less than 30 seconds after my article posted.

On average, I received an email from another “satisfied” MLB customer every five minutes. At its height, I pulled in six in less than a minute. I scrolled through the list of incoming messages with amazement. So many came in that I had to set up an inbox filter and create a new folder for them: Blackout Emails.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they all had a central theme: anger, coupled with confusion, coupled with more anger: "I’m not sure if this is what you are looking for but I’m frustrated. I pay hundreds of dollars a year for these viewing rights, and I feel cheated," only 'frustrated' was normally replaced with something a little more colorful.

They came in from all parts: Montana, Alaska, Pennsylvania, Oregon, South Carolina, Las Vegas, Louisiana... the U.S. was covered from sea to pissed-off sea. It didn’t stop there--Japan, Vietnam, and Guam were represented. Age wasn’t a factor, or race, or gender.

The e-mails haven’t stopped. As I’m typing, another one's come in.