Instead of insulting soldiers or flip-flopping in a desperate attempt to win a presidential election, John Kerry has actually concentrated his efforts on something for which he can make a difference. I speak of Major League Baseball's ill-advised decision to offer its Extra Innings package, allowing television viewers to see out-of-market games, exclusively through DirecTV. Without the Montana state flower, there would be no way you could see your favorite team play if you lived outside the home market (unless, of course, you wanted to watch grainy, erratic streaming video at mlb.com). The deal meant that people living in apartment buildings that prohibited erection of satellite dishes and people with no south-facing exposure on their property would be unable to make the switch to satellite and would lose out on Extra Innings, even if they were otherwise willing to do whatever was necessary in order to retain the package.(Keep in mind that MLB's brain trust are the same folks who came up with the brilliant idea to put ads for Spiderman 2 on the bases during a weekend series of games -- an idea which was thankfully reconsidered.)
Well, I'm about to praise John Kerry for the second time ever (the first time was when he made such an idiot out of himself that even a foundering George W. Bush could be reelected). After Kerry arranged a meeting between MLB and the people from DirecTV and iNDemand, Extra Innings will once again be available through your cable provider. The catch is that cable systems will have to carry The Baseball Channel starting in 2009, since MLB has jumped on the unfortunate bandwagon of sports leagues creating their own television propaganda channels produced in-house, but we can deal with that, just by not watching it.
If this was the duty for which John Kerry reported, he can have it all year long. Now to wean Momma T off the gin-soaked raisins....
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