Gambling
I lobbied hard for getting cable teevee when the Phillies got into the playoffs, and we ended up getting a nine month “deal.” I know most of you have cable and are probably so used to paying for it that it doesn’t seem like a big expense any more, but to me the extra thirty or forty bucks a month seems like a lot because we’ve gone so long without it.
So, we get cable, and it comes a day late so I missed game one. Then they installed it the day of game two, but when I got home there was a bunch of stuff I had to do right away, so I missed the last couple at bats. Both games starting at 3pm didn’t help matters much either. I was all set to watch game three, but by now less excited because the Phils were down 2-0 in the series. Only problem was I was completely exhausted because I was at game two of the ALDS the previous night, which lasted until just before one am. Then I came home and the new baby that my wife had was making all sorts of noises all night and I couldn’t get any sleep. Don’t know if I mentioned the baby before, but he’s here now, so back to baseball.
I lasted until the fourth or fifth inning before falling asleep. I woke up to some sit-com on TBS. The season was over I found out via a blurb on mlb.com.
At least I got cable.
A few notes then on all of the non-Phillies baseball I have been watching.
Chip Carey. When my family got cable back when I was a kid, one of the benefits was that I went from just being able to watch the Phillies to being able to watch the Phillies, Yankees, Mets, and Braves. Chip’s father Skip was a Braves announcer, and I have never been able to get over how boring those old TBS broadcasts were. Chip was just abysmal during the Yankees series. He would get all pumped up over Yankee singles and so forth. At one point, the Yankees were trying to get a rally going and the crowd was really into it, and Chip goes, “This crowd is up for grabs!”
This crowd is up for grabs.
As if it wasn’t enough that the Yankees already have a soap opera based on them, all of the baseball coverage revolves around what is going to happen to Torre, Posada, et al after the season. Then again, it is hard to get into the playoffs when the Dbacks are playing the Rockies, Troy Tulowitzki or no Troy Tulowitzki. Maybe I’ll just watch when Tulowitzki comes to bat. Actually, Branden Webb is as good a pitcher as anybody, but that’s not as important as ARod’s feelings.