Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Sports Columnist Calls Blackout a ‘Boondoggle;’ ESPN Carrying Giants Today, but Not in Hawaii

10/1 Update: The MLB Network is offering Padres-Giants and D'backs-Dodgers today. If the Hawaii blackout continues as expected, fans here -- especially Giants fans -- will once again be denied the thrill of watching their playoffs-bound team.
Dave Reardon devotes his entire column in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser today to the MLB-condoned and abetted video blackout of some West Coast teams’ games in Hawaii. Chief among them as the season winds down is the San Francisco Giants.

Reardon’s column had one minor error (selling out a ballpark has nothing to do with the blackout, which is constant), but for the most part, he’s right on the money with this observation:

“Ignorance is one thing,” he writes. “Arrogance combined with indifference is another.”

For the record, those of us who are pushing MLB to lift the blackout have received no responses to the emails sent to MLB executives this week except for one that says essentially, “It’s not my job and I’ll forward it to someone whose job it is.” Problem is, that someone hasn’t done anything to solve the problem on behalf of Hawaii baseball fans.

Giants Not on ESPN Here*

According to ESPN’s Sports Center this morning, the network is carrying tonight’s Giants-Diamondbacks game, and ESPN’s Scores website notes the same today. But not in Hawaii. No, we get Marlins-Braves at 10:30 a.m. and then no other ESPN game coverage the rest of the day.

The indifference to Giants fans in Hawaii and baseball fans in general here continues.

* It turns out you can see ESPN's coverage of the Giants at various watering holes, like Murphy's on Merchant Street, but if you are at home, you're outta luck.

No comments:

Post a Comment