Spring Training

16 Days until pitchers and catchers report. Who's ready?

An Open Letter to the MLB Chief Blackout Officer

Dear Sir or Madam:

I have been a huge baseball fan since sometime between 1984 and 1987. The first year I actually played little league was in 1984, when I was four years old. Don't ask, I was from a small town, and we just made it work. The first time I fell in love with the Chicago Cubs was in 1987. Back then, the Cubs were on WGN every DAY (yeah, day, not night). I, like many other kids, would run home from school to turn on the last couple innings of that day's game. I learned to keep scorebook, and I have since found countless books from games stashed all over my old bedroom. Suffice it to say, I'm a pretty big Cubs fan, and I like to watch a baseball game any chance I get. Let's get to the point.

I live in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is home to the Indianapolis Indians, AAA farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Because of your — what some would call arcane — blackout restrictions, I don't get to see many Cubs games these days. I've always been under the impression that the point of blackout restrictions is to make sure fans go to the ballgame. If there's a home game and it's not sold out, the game is not on TV in that team's market. This is where it gets cloudy. Why am I in so many teams' "markets?" There's no way I could possibly go to Cubs games in Chicago very regularly when I live three hours away. I'm in everybody's market. I can't get Cubs or White Sox games. I can't get Reds games. Despite what the map above appears to say, I can't even get Cardinals games. (Trust me, they're playing KC right now on Fox Sports Midwest and I've got test bars.) St. Louis is NEARLY FOUR HOURS AWAY!

Anyway, I would like someone to explain these rules to me. I just want to see my first place Cubs play a game every now and then. I have made trips to Wrigley Field every year for a long time. Last year I purchased the Extra Innings package because I was out of the Cubs market for the summer. I have paid for MLB.com's Gameday Audio every year for as long as I can remember. I'm not trying to escape expenses. Throw me a bone MLB!

Sincerely,

Scott Allen

Indianapolis Indians

Katie and I, and my mom and dad went to Victory Field last night to see the Indians home opener against the Norfolk Tides. The Indians held their annual opening day "60 Degree Guarantee," but alas, the gametime temperature was only 59 degrees. So every one of the 12,073 fans in attendance can use their ticket stub to get into any other home game during April. That's a pretty sweet deal that will save us $18 sometime later this month.

The Indians played pretty well, winning 9-3. They were ahead 6-0 going into the top of the seventh, when the starter, Luis Munoz, started to tire out. He gave up three in the seventh to cut the lead to 6-3 before being pulled. The Indians answered with three more runs in the bottom of the eighth against former big leaguer Esteban Yan to seal the deal. After the game, there was a really nice fireworks show, which they apparently do every Friday night after the game. We had to wait a little while for them to set everything up on the outfield grass, but it was worth the wait. I don't know the details of who put the show on, but it was very impressive. The Tribe moved to 6-3 overall, a half-game behind Toledo for the West Division lead in the International League.

I took a few pictures, but none of them are any good. Dusk was not friendly to my camera, and I'm not to the point where I feel like carrying around a tripod all the time yet. I just need a new lens instead... :)