The latest on the Extra Innings deal here.

Basically, the offer made by DirecTV won't make EI exclusive to them, should anyone else match the offer. So if the cable companies (or Dish TV) want in, they can get in. Now, I remember hearing that DirecTV's offer of 700 million bucks is way more than what the cable people paid in the past. But in this article, it says that any other offers will decrease the value of the total amount that goes to MLB. So wouldn't that mean the cable companies and Dish TV only have to offer, like, a third of $700 million each, or something like that? I don't even know what to say about this. Is this how the deal was going to go down all along? Wasn't it not even "official"--the rumor that it would be an exclusive deal with DirecTV, end of story? But then you had Selig defending it like that was the deal. I don't know. I'm sure in the end we'll all be complaining about something.

AND PARTS OF NEW ENGLAND STILL WON'T HAVE NEW ENGLAND SPORTS NETWORK. (Another killer about that is when other problems do get solved, you're left at the station with a tear in your eye as all your friends ride off into the sunset in celebration--in this case, with a victory for out-of-towners while the locals continue to be screwed. And I don't even live in Fairfield County anymore, but I'll always fight for the place where I was born and raised--if only on this one issue.)

It's kind of like when the Ghostbusters beat Mr. Sta-Puft, hence destroying all the ghosts, and they're all celebrating, but then they realize that Venkman did lose his would-be girlfriend in the chaos. But it turned out she was alive in the end, so there will always be hope for Fairfield County--one day it will break free of it's dog-shaped mold!