The MLB Extra Innings Package offers up to 35 regular season, out-of-market games a week. Due to my lack of a spare $159 laying around, as well as my mom and dad's apparent but puzzling lack of interest in receiving those "extra innings" to our home each week, I am unable to follow certain big games (such as last week's Curt Schilling/Pedro Martinez matchup) or more importantly, my fantasy players on live TV. Instead, I am relegated to technology's next best deal, semi-live java applets or Flash programs such as ESPN's GameCast, CBS Sportsline's GameCenter, or MLB.com's GameDay.

These little pieces of heaven offer all some simple graphics representing games at hand, namely a picture of a baseball field and the names of players who occupy each base/position. Refreshing itself frequently, I receive text-based updates of the latest plays thanks to my trusty cable-modem internet connection. All three of the sources I mentioned above are pretty solid, but there are of course limitations, just like watching the game on TV is not nearly as great as being there in person. When GameCast tells me Barry Bonds reached on an infield single, or Jason Giambi was caught stealing 3rd, I can't help but be puzzled as to how a guy with hamstring issues and has at times been unable to reach 2nd base on a hit off the wall somehow got an infield hit, or what in the world a slow man like Giambi was doing trying to steal 3rd in the first place. If i had been watching on TV, at least I would be able to see that the infield hit was a high chopper that was a little misplayed, and that Giambi was thrown out in a botched hit-and-run play.

Anyways, what I was originally gonna write about was that someday I envision living with, or near a few of my fellow baseball lovers with maybe 40 bucks of disposable income to chip in to get that deal. Kind of like the Tyson-Lewis fight, when maybe 15 people or so showed up and put in some contributions and everyone got what they wanted. But that Extra Innings thing does sound pretty sweet.

On a side note, Chip Caray has to be the worst baseball announcer ever. I guess if you don't pay attention to what he says, or watch Cubs games that much, he doesn't seem all that bad. But honestly, every time I watch a game with him announcing, I feel like throwing oranges at the tv set, or at least writing a long-winded hate letter to WGN bashing his ineptitude. First of all, he's calling the game on TV, so he doesn't have to always be talking. Shut up once in a while and just let the viewers watch. Also, stop using words like "scalded" or "out by an eyelash" so much. And if he says "swung on, belted!" one more time I will likely flip.

The worst is how none of what he says makes sense when you think about it. Bases loaded, the batter hits a line drive that's caught, and Chip says "liner, caught! everybody's safe!" No, not everybody is safe, because the batter is out, you idiot. "Everybody's safe" is what you say when the batter reaches on an error, or a good bunt, or a fielders choice that failed to get the runner. Or today, after the 6th inning, he feels compelled to say "Jason Bere - pitching a gem!" when the guy has given up 4 runs on 6 hits and walked 3 through six. Just cause he retired the side in order and struck out Adam Everett to end the inning does not make it a "gem." A gem is giving up no hits, or maybe 2 or 3 at most, and no runs (or maybe a solo homer even). Jason Bere's stats weren't even technically classified a "quality start" (6+ innings, 3 or fewer ER). Another irritating thing was when Todd Hundley was picked off 1st base to end the inning, and he starts telling the Greek myth of Sisyphus and how he pushed a rock to the top of a hill, and then had to push it back or some crap. um, right... Why, Chip, why? can't you just say, Everett, Hernandez, and Vizcaino coming up in the bottom half?

i'm pretty puzzled by the fact that my dad likes to watch Fear Factor... i can't stand watching it sometimes but i guess I can understand the simple appeal. just that my dad was the one who used to always get on me about watching too much sports, how it was a waste of time and I should be studying or doing something more productive. to be fair, it was probably a good thing back then that he made me work, and now he doesn't really care as much about it.

still, fear factor?? have you ever seen that show? i've been so fortunate enough to catch all of about one and a half episodes of pure unadulterated family fun. thank goodness that I did not miss such quality stuff like the skee ball/pig uterus eating event, or having bugs crawl over you while picking out colored snakes and sticking them in a bucket for points. and these contestants are all either dumb as rocks or just plain annoying (or both)... where do they find these people? not to mention the host... was he on some sitcom before, i think as a dumb repairman type guy on Newsradio maybe? he tries too hard. that guy almost makes Jeff Probst on Survivor seem cool.

by the way, is it a rule on TV that the host of any major show has to irritate me? especially the male hosts, that is... how many non-young-teenage-girls actually like Carson Daly? What about non-middle-age-women who think Regis is "the man"? AJ from BET's 106&Park is pretty flaming too, and I already mentioned Jeff Probst.

One guy who i actually like is Alex Trebek (in a purely platonic heterosexual way, of course). you may think i am joking but that guy has been around so long his style must have grown on me. he's way too intelligent for any of us and pretty downright nerdy at times, but can you imagine anybody else hosting Jeopardy? maybe it's just me, but i like how his jokes aren't really funny at all but he thinks they are, and everyone kind of just figures he's a dork (hey, that reminds me of myself). and he doesn't try to mack on all the female contestants, probably cause he's got no game anyways. the way i see it, how can you NOT like alex trebek? after all, he's just a harmless old smart guy.

oh yeah, one other thing that i think is hilarious is how my grandma loves Wheel of Fortune. she doesn't speak more than 3 words of English, yet she never misses a show and she goes crazy when they hit the $5000 or a prize. It doesn't make a difference that she will never be able to guess the words herself at home in a million years. Maybe she thinks Pat Sajak is hot (haha just kidding... ewwww). Isn't Wheel of Fortune one of the longest-running game shows in this country? besides The Price is Right, I think. What does that say about what kind of shows really appeal to the general public... it's not really how clever the game is, but how well it's all packaged. it's gotta be all about the shiny wheel and flashy prizes, the studio crowd providing excitement, and watching contestants jump up and down winning some money that they will end up blowing in a week anyways and half of which will probably go to taxes right off the bat.

come to think of it, most of the popular shows in Taiwan (besides soap operas, which run in primetime there actually) are basically game shows which are designe usually to humiliate contestants, mostly "celebrities," otherwise known as just the latest pop singers who have one song that is played on a 5 song playlist on the radio or MTV asia. and the hosts there are all pretty annoying too. well, it's really only one or two hosts that are on every night in a differently themed show on one of the three channels of public TV. thank goodness for cable hookup and ESPN when I was there.

just to clarify, I do not watch TV 24 hours a day. i used to watch a couple shows regularly (like Simpsons or Friends) but now it's usually just surfing around the channels a few times a day when i get a chance to sit down. and now pretty much the only thing I like watching a lot on TV is baseball. and maybe conan o'brien too.