Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Catching My Breath
I wrote up my thoughts on last night's game in such a pell-mell fashion that I forgot some stuff...
1. Another indication that the playoffs have crowded out any other sporting thoughts in my brain -- I didn't realize until this morning that they'd played football last night. I'm not a huge NFL fan, but I'd normally at least check out the Monday Night Football score. Not so last night -- it never even entered into my mind that there was something else going on.
2. Add these to the storylines:
-- Kevin Brown, pitching in really cold, really wet weather, so wet the game might be rained out
-- Tim Wakefield, 2003 Game 7 goat, flummoxes everyone (Yankees, Red Sox catchers)
-- Will Curt Schilling endure Death By Bunt?
-- Are Matsui and Sheffield returning to merely Very Good Status from Oh My Just Walk Them Status? I mean, Matsui was MVP 48 hours ago... has he ceded that to David Ortiz, even if the Yankees win the series?
3. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a special baseball section. Nothing in particular reached "must-read" status, but they did have an article on MLB's TV contract with Fox -- they're in the 4th year of a 6-year contract, with Fox paying $417 million per year. The article also mentioned they're charging up to $380,000 for 30 seconds of ad time in the playoffs. Even assuming Fox is only getting $250,000 for 30 seconds during the ALCS (which could've been pre-sold knowing the Yankees and/or Red Sox would likely make it), that means they're getting a cool half-million a minute. During the 11 hours of game time in Games 4 and 5, you've got to figure that there were at least 100 minutes of ads (52 half-inning breaks at 1.5 minutes each, plus a good dozen mid-inning pitching changes). That, my friends, is $50 million in 48 hours. (Yeah, maybe I've overestimated the number of ads, but I didn't include any of the pre- or post-game ad time.)
4. Phrases I Do Not Care To Hear In Tonight's Broadcast:
-- Curt Schilling is a "warrior"
-- "Mr. October" associated with any player except for Reggie Jackson. (Seriously, can't he copyright that so that we don't have to hear about it anymore?)
-- "Curse of the Bambino"
5. How is the World Series going to top this?
1. Another indication that the playoffs have crowded out any other sporting thoughts in my brain -- I didn't realize until this morning that they'd played football last night. I'm not a huge NFL fan, but I'd normally at least check out the Monday Night Football score. Not so last night -- it never even entered into my mind that there was something else going on.
2. Add these to the storylines:
-- Kevin Brown, pitching in really cold, really wet weather, so wet the game might be rained out
-- Tim Wakefield, 2003 Game 7 goat, flummoxes everyone (Yankees, Red Sox catchers)
-- Will Curt Schilling endure Death By Bunt?
-- Are Matsui and Sheffield returning to merely Very Good Status from Oh My Just Walk Them Status? I mean, Matsui was MVP 48 hours ago... has he ceded that to David Ortiz, even if the Yankees win the series?
3. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a special baseball section. Nothing in particular reached "must-read" status, but they did have an article on MLB's TV contract with Fox -- they're in the 4th year of a 6-year contract, with Fox paying $417 million per year. The article also mentioned they're charging up to $380,000 for 30 seconds of ad time in the playoffs. Even assuming Fox is only getting $250,000 for 30 seconds during the ALCS (which could've been pre-sold knowing the Yankees and/or Red Sox would likely make it), that means they're getting a cool half-million a minute. During the 11 hours of game time in Games 4 and 5, you've got to figure that there were at least 100 minutes of ads (52 half-inning breaks at 1.5 minutes each, plus a good dozen mid-inning pitching changes). That, my friends, is $50 million in 48 hours. (Yeah, maybe I've overestimated the number of ads, but I didn't include any of the pre- or post-game ad time.)
4. Phrases I Do Not Care To Hear In Tonight's Broadcast:
-- Curt Schilling is a "warrior"
-- "Mr. October" associated with any player except for Reggie Jackson. (Seriously, can't he copyright that so that we don't have to hear about it anymore?)
-- "Curse of the Bambino"
5. How is the World Series going to top this?
Comments:
Of course, with the Kevin Brown comment, I was merely predicting that the Red Sox would win Game Six, and I was looking forward to Game Seven.
Yeah, that's my story.
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Yeah, that's my story.
