PLAYOFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the first time in 26 years (that's right, first time in my lifetime) the Brew Crew is going to the playoffs!

Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.

But, I hate that I had to watch the FSN camera focus on Miller Park's jumbotron in order to watch end of the Mets game. Intellectual property? Broadcast ownership? Though television stations may argue over who has the right to broadcast a professional sports game, why must the fans suffer for these disagreements? The leagues would not exist without fans spending money on tickets, merchandise, and concessions. Without the cash flow, there would be no games, without the games there would be no broadcast, without the broadcast the stations would not receive advertising dollars.

This is a logical cause and effect argument, correct? Or am I just biased in favor of the fans?

Editor's Note 10/3/08: Currently there is a scuffle taking place in Green Bay, WI between Time Warner Cable and Channel 11, the local Fox affiliate. Fox's contract with Time Warner Cable is up, and renegotiations have resulted in a stalemate, which has left Green Bay Packer's fans unable to watch the football game on basic cable. Time Warner is handing out antenna's to disgruntled fans (in an effort to not lose cable customers over this, I am sure), until the dispute is resolved. If you have basic cable and tune into to Fox, you will see that Time Warner is providing a premium cable channel for your viewing pleasure. At the bottom of the screen they are scrolling a message that says, until Fox ends the argument, in which Time Warner has been nothing but courteous, Time Warner will be gracious enough to provide this premium channel to its customers. Now, that's a clever strategy to gain public approval!

Intellectual property or fit for public consumption?

Can I just say how stupid it is that MLB has proprietary rights over their televised games? I say this because I am currently celebrating the latest Brewers win (RYAN BRAUN!!! CC SABATHIA!!!), however, we (the fans watching at home) cannot watch how this will turn out because the Mets and Marlins game is not televised by FSN. Instead, FSN is staying on the air and focusing their cameras, in Miller Park, on the Mets game on the Jumbotron. This being the only way we are able to watch the game, unless of course, we purchase the MLB package from Time Warner Cable.

Sidenote: Time Warner cable was required to blackout the Brewers game.

How is that MLB is able to claim these proprietary rights? Who ultimately pays for thse games? Who buys the tickets and the merchandise, and accepts higher tax rates to pay for new stadiums for pro teams? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Can you repeat that?

The fans? Is that was you said? Because you are correct. The collective dollar of the fans is what holds up this league, and yet the fans are the ones kept from watching the games from the comfort of their own homes.

I'm annoyed. This fight over televising sporting events is crap. Televise the games. All of them. On basic cable. And shut up about it.

I didn't have to use the Hershey bar afterall

Attention everyone, Hershey has left the building!

That's right folks, Nice Guy and Douche Bag have moved out of the downstairs apartment. To escape Harley City last weekend, I fled Milwaukee for nicer (read: quieter) climes in the Northwoods. When I came home, the guys had moved out and left all of their garbage overflowing in the trash can.

Honestly, would it be too much to ask for you guys to bag it up? *Sigh

Nasty garbage aside, this week has been quiet, and I can only hope that my new neighbor, B, does not have a high-strung dog.

I interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to note that the Brewers just pissed me off. Gagne is not the closer we all hoped he'd be. Realize this, Mr. Yost, and stop pretending otherwise.

Back to the story at hand.

In anticipation of B moving in this weekend (fast turnaround, I wonder where the landlord found this guy, and hope he isn't friends with the former neighbors), I suspect I should get out of dodge if I want some peace and quiet. Alas, this is not to be as I have boat loads of grading and reading to do for class. My first foray into officially grading essays. Wish me luck!