Strike Zone Channel -- Greatest. Invention. Ever.

For the second night in a row, I'm sitting in front of my TV watching the free preview of the baseball Strike Zone Channel on DirecTV. I wasn't planning to buy the extra tier of service that DirecTV is hawking this year for the first time with the Extra Innings package.

Plans change.

Now, it's not as if this is a new idea. DirecTV did the same thing with its NFL Sunday Ticket package, where they had the Red Zone Channel, which bounced around from game to game, taking you to wherever a team was about to score. And it worked for football. But it works even better for baseball because it's so slow moving. That probably seems counterintuitive to say, but the thing is every time there's a lull in one game, they find something happening elsewhere. In the span of the last couple minutes, I've seen Albert Pujols, Torii Hunter and Miguel Tejada hit.

I don't recognize the guy they have hosting. But no doubt they screened all of the applicants for this job for ADD, because this would be a nightmare for someone who has trouble staying organized. He's a traffic cop, taking you from one game to the next, setting up each situation, which must be real fun when there are 10 games going on at once. He's not bad, though. MLB is going to launch a 24-7 cable network in 2009, and I don't know what they have planned for evenings, while games are being played, but Strike Zone Channel should be it. They can just migrate this coverage over onto the MLB channel. Of course, it's the nucleus of the $40 per year add-on package on DirecTV, so that's probably not likely.

To me, it's stuff like the sports packages where the 500-channel universe shows its true value. Most of the channels on my DirecTV are a complete crapfest. Does anyone need Lifetime Movie Channel? Do I need six Discovery channels? But the ability to watch a dozen baseball games simultaneously? That's the way the world should be. Watching the teams I want to see -- that's what I love about it. I'd love to see it extended to more than just sports. I'd still watch the local TV stations from Pittsburgh if I could, even though I don't live there anymore -- a little slice of home. Yeah, I know there are all sorts of rules that prevent it. Screw 'em. It's the information age. The Internet has broken down the barriers for newspapers. Let's let the 500-channel universe break them down for TV.

In the meantime, I'll be watching the Strike Zone Channel this summer.

Piss on politicians: A tale of two stadiums

A story started circulating in the last week or so that has me seriously thinking about getting into politics. Because if the buffoons who are responsible for this can be in positions of power, a stupid schmuck like me can do it too.

Apparently, officials from Washington, D.C. are talking about trying to woo the Washington Redskins to relocate back into the city. For those who don't realize it, the Redskins play at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. Been there for 10 years after leaving behind the miserable hell hole known as RFK Stadium. FedEx is one of the jewels of the NFL -- the largest stadium in the league at just under 92,000 seats, more than 200 luxury boxes. But the fact that seemingly has eluded the good mayor of Washington and some of his cronies on the city council is that the Redskins' tyrannical owner, Daniel Snyder owns FedEx Field. So even if the city somehow induced him to move back into town, he'd have to unload the stadium he's already got. And nobody is going to buy a 92,000 seat stadium that has no tenant. The mayor of D.C., by the way, is the same guy who repeatedly opposed funding of the new Nationals' stadium while he was on the city council.

Maybe if Starfleet Command called the starship Enterprise back into Earth orbit, they could beam FedEx Field into the District. Even then, you're looking at myriad problems with the utilities and infrastructure ... you know, sometimes even the easy solution can't work.

I don't live in D.C., so maybe I'm not permitted to comment on things like this -- I'm part of the country that taxes those poor people without representation, after all. But if I did live there, I would be disgusted that anyone in power thinks trying to lure the Redskins back to town is a good use of time. You mean you've got nothing better to do? How about focusing on the development of the area around the new Nationals' stadium? How about doing something about the crime that runs rampant and spills over into the surrounding counties?

The Redskins left. It happened. You had the chance to keep them there, but it didn't occur to you to do anything about the hell hole you had them playing in. And now, a decade later, you want to try to fix it. Too late. Move on. Be lucky you have a baseball team. They play literally 10 times more home games every year than the Redskins. That means if you create the right kind of neighborhood around that ballpark -- retail, dining, clubs -- you're going to have a major boom for the city's economy. Focus on that. Don't just make it good. Make it the best ballpark neighborhood in the nation.

Do that and you'll all have plenty of cash to bankroll a few luxury suites at FedEx.

Tech notes

So I've lost one of the outlets for my witless ramblings about sports media and tech. Things change. What are you going to do? So I guess I'll try to start using this space to do what I'd been doing elsewhere. And I'll be using more words here. Because it's my blog, and I can.

• XM and Sirius are trying to merge. Tell me you didn't see this coming. I remain addicted to satellite radio. I listen on the way to work, which fortunately doesn't take as long as it used to -- nothing like the office moving closer to your house. I listen all day at work. I listen as I'm falling asleep. There's always something on worth hearing. So I'm looking forward to what happens when the two systems come together. Mel Karmazin, the head of Sirius, claims they're not going to raise the subscription price for the new company. I'll believe that when I see it. Actually, I'll sort of believe this whole merger when I see it. I think it's still 50-50 whether it gets regulatory approval. I like what I've seen from the Sirius music channels. Every time I've been in Best Buy and messed around with a Sirius radio, they always seem to have multiple channels playing music I like. And I love the idea of having access to all the sports broadcasts. But it sounds a lot like they're going to create different programming tiers and charge more money to get the sports content. That sucks. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised with the new lineups and prices, but I'm preparing to pay a few bucks more per month.

• NBA Street Homecourt came out a couple weeks ago. I messed around with the demo and it seemed pretty good. The tricks weren't impossible to learn, which was refreshing. There's nothing worse than being unable to really play the game the way it's supposed to be played because you can't master the button mashing. I had a chance to talk to Sue Bird, the former UConn star now with the Seattle Storm of the WNBA. She's one of six WNBA players included in the game, which marks a first for women's basketball players. There wasn't room for me to use most of what I talked to her about, but it was an interesting conversation. She's got the hottie factor going for her. One Web site I saw referred to her as the Anna Kournikova of the WNBA, which I'm not sure is really a compliment, considering how infrequently Kournikova wins. Bird seems to take her off-court celebrity in stride. She doesn't seem to mind the idea that her appearance may bring guys to WNBA games, saying that the quality of the game will make an impression, even if that's not what brought someone in the door to begin with. And she understands that people either appreciate the women's game or they don't. But she was a little frustrated by the fact that there's a double standard when it comes to endorsements. She pointed out that a good-looking male athlete won't get those opportunities unless he achieves something on the field. And, of course, it didn't work that way for Kournikova. The really interesting part of the conversation, to me, was that she still hasn't had a chance to actually see herself in the video game. I figured at some point EA Sports would have given her a demo to check out. No such luck. She spends the winter playing in Moscow (which must be great fun, because that's where I want to be in the dead of winter). She came back to the U.S. to attend the NBA Street launch party in Las Vegas, a couple days before the NBA All-Star game. But there was a snow storm that week and she got stuck in New York and never made it. And she had to turn around and head back to Moscow because her team had a game. It must be a strange experience to see yourself in a video game. And even stranger when the game is out there and people are playing as you and you haven't had a chance to see it yet.
  
  
• SportsLine is gearing up for lots more of its live coverage of big events. Their March Madness on Demand set records last year as the most-viewed live event in Internet history. And they're going to be showing live coverage from the Masters on the Web too. I think this is a model other sports could follow. The reason this stuff works is because it's during the work day, when millions of office drones are tethered to their desks -- the perfect captive audience. The idea of playing sports events during the day is from a bygone era. For years, everything has been at night because that's when the TV networks can get their best audiences. But is the same thing going to happen for Internet broadcasts? The time to maximize the audience for a Web cast is in the middle of the work day. Now, it's true that the NCAA Tournament and the Masters are marquee events, and perhaps much of the interest is the result of their importance in the sports world. Would a routine regular season game draw an audience the same way? Probably not. But isn't that what everyone said about Monday Night Football at the beginning? It became a must-see event because it was packaged properly. And the same thing could be done on the Web.

DJ

When Dennis Johnson's life was cut short by a heart attack last week, the scribes and pundits all came gushing forth with the predictable response: Dennis Johnson, Mr. Under-appreciated.

He was only under-apprecaited by people who didn't watch him play. It's easy to make that interpretation if you only know him by his stat line. He was never the highest profile player on his teams, and so it comes as something of a shock when you see how much he scored -- especially in the playoffs. You don't average 17.3 points per game in the postseason without being a hell of a player.

What you remember about him if you watched those Celtics teams of the 1980s was how great he was in the clutch. You remember how relentless he could be. You remember him shutting down Magic Johnson in the 1984 Finals. Larry Bird called him the best he'd ever played with. He was the perfect point guard for those Celtics teams. He understood his role on a team with Larry Bird was to make sure Bird had the ball. How many other point guards wouldn't have been able to assimilate into that Celtics lineup and make such a critical contribution?

It's unfortunate that he's not been recognized for his achievements. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. And at some point he'll be inducted. And more people who didn't appreciate his game until after he died will write about how great he was.

Some of us knew it all along.

Super Bowl rebroadcasts: It's about damn time. And while we're at it ...

Finally, finally, finally, they heard me. For years I've been complaining to anyone patient enough to listen about how short-sighted it is of the NFL to be so tight-assed about its game broadcasts. They were the only pro league that didn't allow ESPN Classic to show old broadcasts, not that it matters now, because all ESPN Classic seems to show anymore is World Series of Poker and old bowling tournaments. But the NFL always deferred to its NFL Films division and didn't allow any "classic" programming that would compete with what Ed and Steve Sabol do. And I don't say that to disparage NFL Films. They do great stuff. But there's no substitute for watching a TV broadcast of an old game. It's a historical document. A moment captured in time.

Little by little, the NFL has loosened up. They started re-running condensed versions of the previous weekend's games on NFL Network this past season. And in January they finally heeded my call (I'm sure they were listening all this time) and started airing the network broadcasts of several Super Bowls. Apparently, they still don't have clearance from the networks to air them all. But a few is better than none. This afternoon, they'll air Super Bowl XXIII, featuring the Niners' dramatic last-minute drive to beat Cincinnati in 1989. That's one of my favorite Super Bowls. There are many of the greatest athletes who I never saw play. But I'll always be able to say I saw the greatest quarterback ever, Joe Montana, and I vividly remember watching one of his best performances -- the final drive for the game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XXIII. And tonight they're airing the NBC broadcast of Super Bowl III. All I can say is, it's about damn time.

After last season, the NFL released a DVD package of the Steelers four postseason games that included the video from the CBS broadcasts. But they used audio from the Steelers radio network. Unfortunately, it was a year to late for that to include Myron Cope, who had retired after the 2004 season. And as much as it's cool to hear Bill Hillgrove and Tunch Ilkin, I'd rather have the TV broadcasts intact.

So while I'm at it, here are a few other sports media things I'd like to see. It may be a while before any of these things happen. But, hell, I waited out the NFL on the Super Bowl broadcasts. After that, it feels like anything is possible:

• Not that I expect the NFL to make any more moves anytime soon, but how about putting out Super Bowl or playoff game TV broadcasts on DVD? The NHL, NBA and MLB have all done it. I own the 1979 World Series. You telling me that every fan in Steelers Nation wouldn't buy a boxed set of the Steelers five Super Bowl appearances? You could sell a set to Dallas fans. Another one to Patriots fans. Another one to Broncos fans. How much does it really cost to press and package a DVD? And then think of how much more you can charge. Cha-ching!
  
  
• While I'm at it, let's pile another one on the poor old stodgy, crusty NFL. Actually, this one applies to the rest of the leagues too. How about selling out-of-market TV packages a la carte? I love NFL Sunday Ticket. But what I really want is to be able to see the Steelers even though I don't live in Pittsburgh. I can't watch nine games at once, and I don't really care to try when the Steelers are on. Some people want all those games. Some people (like me, occasionally) want to be able to watch guys on their fantasy teams. But would more people be willing to pay for an out-of-market package if they could pay a little less money to see just the team or teams they want to see? I'd still pay $100 a season to see the Steelers and nothing else. Of course, perhaps the first thing to work on when it comes to out-of-market packages is keeping them available to as many people as possible. Senators Specter and Kerry are calling DirecTV's exclusivity into question on Sunday Ticket and Extra Innings. These packages need to be available to everyone.
  
  
• I'd like to see leagues embrace their past by officially licensing video games with classic teams. This has long been done without licenses on baseball games for the PC. And word came this week that 2K Sports is working on an unlicensed pro football game that is rumored to include retired players. And EA Sports' Madden series has included classic teams for years. But in Madden, they don't use player names, and in many cases they don't use the right uniform numbers either. The leagues should get with their players' associations and alumni associations and work to get these things licensed. Gamers in their 30s, like me, will love the nostalgia. And younger gamers will be exposed to the history of sports that they weren't around to see.
  
  
• Once MLB and DirecTV finalize their deal to carry Extra Innings, the stage should finally be set for a 24-7 baseball channel. Word is that working out the details of the channel are the final sticking point. It's been a long time in coming. They've been talking about it since 2004. And it's a natural fit for baseball. If you count spring training, the season is eight months long. They can cover the minors. They can cover the summer college leagues. They can cover the Arizona Fall League. If they were really ambitious they could get deals to televise the Caribbean World Series. There's no shortage of programming options. And as you might have guessed, I'd approve of classic games too. They're talking about launching it on DirecTV in 2009. They should make it happen ASAP.
  
  
• I'm in love with satellite radio, and it's great to listen to all the play by play and sports talk. But sometimes what I'd really like to hear is the local perspective instead of the national stuff. If they can give us all those local game broadcasts from around the country and even the feed of stations like WLW (which is on XM) it would be great to have local sports talk stations too. They do it on satellite TV. I can get Fox Sports Pittsburgh (and every other regional sports net). So why not do the same thing on the radio? ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio are already carried, so why not some of their affiliates from around the country?
  

One year

I'm pretty sure I've moved past the point of being overly sentimental about anniversaries, but for some reason, I logged back into this flight of fancy today after many months of not having done so, and I realized that it's been one year to the day since I started this whole sleigh ride.

A few things have changed. No Super Bowl repeat for the Steelers. And no more Bill Cowher. And I guess there have been some changes in Washington too. The Dems are in control. That's good. But Bush is still the decider! We're never getting out of Iraq. And it's looking like we're going to bomb Iran while we're at it. Why not? It's fun making piles of rubble in the sand.

And I'm watching a lot of hockey. That's different. I got into a fantasy league and I'm starting to get hooked on Sidney Crosby. Unfortunately, the Penguins may not be in Pittsburgh for much longer if the city and state can't figure out how to build them an arena. For reasons that pass understanding, the state gaming commission denied the slots license to the company that would have built a new arena at no cost to the city. Of course, the idea of the state putting itself into a position where it's beholden to a casino may not have been such a good thing. But the Pens have a good young team. Here's hoping the city and state find a way.

Aside from that, I'm working, I'm freelancing, and that's about it. So you can bet my witless ramblings in 2007 are bound to be so much better than the ones from 2006.