Dear Bud:

MLB is being run by idiots. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the most-successful, most-widely followed sport in America is pro football. It is not MLB. Sorry. Of the many reasons why pro football is a better product is a rational broadcast policy for television. You want to watch all the NFL games? Get DirecTV and the Sunday Ticket package. Want to get all the MLB games? Get MLB TV -- oh, wait...that won't work. You will not get *any* games from teams that are within up to hundreds of miles from your home. Even road games. It's worse if you are in Canada. People in BC are blacked out from the Blue Jays. Woe, Canada, indeed.

I live in central PA, near Harrisburg. I am blacked out from all home or road games, whether sold out or not, of the:

• Phillies
• Orioles
• Nationals, and
• Pirates

I am prevented from watching, usually, four games per day on an MLB schedule that includes about 15 games on a "full" day. I can, however, watch the Mariners play the A's, though. I'm surprised that isn't blacked out, since someone still probably owns the A's broadcast rights in Philadelphia. Considering the quality of most of those blacked-out products in my market, it is a fucking miracle that I watch baseball at all.

I realize that you don't care, Bud. I realize that local tv contracts are, in large part, one of the sources of the competitive balance issues that will ultimately destroy baseball, if left uncorrected. I'm sure you are with me on that, since the Brewers had sand kicked in their face when the Bronx Bombers wooed CC away from Milwaukee. Too bad the Yankees will never consent to the sharing of their TV network revenue. Nor will any of the other "have" teams.

Bud, I will never pay for cable or satellite tv. My digital TV antenna gets only a few Phillies games a year and no games from the O's, Nats, or Pirates. I had hoped to be able to get something like MLB TV and be able to watch some of those games, but the terms of service preclude it.  I am not, at this stage, able to jimmy the system sufficiently through proxy servers or other technical means, so I can't bypass the blackout. In the meantime, I am left with a seething hatred of MLB. That means you, Bud. Men with the look of Montgomery Burns are ordinarily a turn-on for me, but even that doesn't get me over the hump with you anymore.

I am willing to pay MLB an exorbitant amount of money just to get all the games with no bullshit. I would be glad to do it. I would be *glad* to be raped by MLB. Make me send a huge annual payment to your racket, Bud. Please...abuse me. I *want* it. I'm asking for it, Bud. MLB wouldn't just make me happy...this would make my son and daughter into permanent, lifetime baseball bitches, too. The franchise would just get bigger and more entrenched.

Why don't you do it, Bud? For the good of the game... Why are you so short-sighted and stupid about this? You are just pissing me off. This makes me more upset than gross financial inequalities and competitive imbalances. This makes me mad in a way that steroids (which I don't care about) never could. Labor problems? Who cares? If you really want to alienate me, though, keep me from being able to watch the games. Keep refusing to take my money.

Love,

RTP