Blackout Games [Don’t] Apply
We got a dog this year. The kids and I put up a real campaign full of bi-partisan advertising and rallies in our living room all to gain that one vote we needed-from Mom. She was an undecided voter and in order to get the dog, we needed an unanimous decision. It was a successful campaign, coming in just under $3,000 bucks. Not too bad considering I was the primary, ok the only fundraiser on the campaign trail. Couple things I learned from this experience. If you want a dog that doesn’t shed you need to find one that has some poodle in it and second, you may need to take out a loan.
Naming the dog was easy in our household. We are true Minnesota fans through and through. Make no mistake the perfect name for a new puppy was none other than “the centerfielder KIRBY PUCKETT!!!!!!” I know at the beginning of the pandemic there was a lot of talk trending on social media about families having ‘Covid babies’ but for those of us who are done, I saw far more people opting out for puppies instead. I am happy to say we all love our little Cavapoo, Kirby. He's the newest member of the Laliberte family and we’ve done our best to mold him into a true ‘Twinkies’ fan.
As you’ve already been made aware from earlier podcasts that I am a Minnesotan who migrated southeast (easy on the south) twenty years ago to the land of Hoosiers and what you can probably already guess, there are no Minnesota sports teams on television here. Our solution has been to pay a little extra for things like the Sunday Ticket to get the Vikings games and the Big Ten network to watch the Gophers play. It really has been a nice little compromise, but we’ve never paid for the MLB package. That was until this year when Major League Baseball announced a shortened season of only sixty games and an expanded playoff race of 16 teams. Couldn’t have been more excited. In fact I’m still excited as the Twinkies just took over 1st place in the Central and have locked up a spot in October. There’s only one problem though…that’s the blackouts. In case you don’t know what a blackout is, it's essentially a game that is not allowed to be aired through the MLB package because a local television affiliate owns the rights to the market. For the NFL that’s easy because the games are aired on the major networks. For example, the Colts who are obviously a market team for where I live here in Indiana will always be shown on the local CBS affiliate. Makes sense doesn’t it?
Well, it’s a bit more complicated and illogical for Major League Baseball. Fort Wayne, which is three hours from Chicago, four hours from Cincinnati, three point five hours from Detroit and nearly four hours from Cleveland is apparently a market for the Cubs, the White Sox, the Indians, the Tigers and I’m not sure who the Reds are but that team as well. I can tell you for a fact in twenty years of living here I have never watched one of these teams on local television in this market. So naturally, you can understand my frustration when my son and I sit down with a bowl of popcorn and our dog Kirby Puckett to watch the Twins try to clinch the division only to find out we are going to have to watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’ instead because they’re blacked out against the frickin Reds! You’ve got to be kidding me, right?
In case you're wondering, out of the 60 games the Twins played we only were able to watch about 10 games. I felt bad for the guy who answered the phone on Monday, I really did. It’s not his fault someone above his pay grade is greedy. Fort Wayne has got to be one of, if not the only market in the country that is claimed by four completely different markets who’s only relation is a three hour drive away.
Blackout games in Fort Wayne for professional baseball? Please!
Don’t worry, if you don’t live in one of our markets, you can still use our software we don’t mind.
Oh yeah, WIN TWINS!
