Watch Every Yankees Game! (Unless Of Course You Can't)

I got an email from the Yankees yesterday, informing me that I could "Watch every Yankees game on MLB.tv Premium":

You don't say!

They use lots of fonts and fades and flashy graphics, but tucked away in the fine print just underneath the bright green buttons where you can buy the service, it says "Blackout and other Restrictions Apply".

Hey Yankees, guess where probably 90% of the people on this email list live? In your fucking broadcast territory! It's not that the headline is misleading, it's the exact opposite of the truth for the vast majority of the recipients of this blast. Is that not a little disingenuous?

The people out of the market have probably looked into how they would be able to watch the games, don't you think? I'm not breaking new ground here, nor is this going to make a difference, but they should just stream the commercials through the feeds and dump the ridiculous blackout restrictions. It's bullshit. They have customers who are willing to pay for the service and I'm sure any of those cable networks would be open to having their viewing audiences increased if the viewers were shown the ads. Work it out. I blame Bud Selig.

And in the interest of full disclosure, they should probably be more up front with what the blackout restrictions entail. The price is high enough where the customer deserves to be made aware that if they are in their home market, they are going to be dropping $110 for everyone else's games and their team's radio feed.

Player 00

I'm guessing many of you are on the Yankees Shop email list, and recieved the same email shown above this morning. In light of the most recent A-Rod scandal, that jersey actually seems pretty appealing.

I don't have an authentic Yankee jersey. Before last season, I very nearly bought some Robinson Cano road threads on eBay for $90, but decided to pass at the last moment. Pretty happy about that decision, seeing that he only posted an 86 OPS+ in 2008.

During the apology contained in his interview with Peter Gammons last night A-Rod said he had "millions of fans". I've got to assume that pretty much all of them are under the age of 7, and don't immediately realize that he's not all that likeable even when he's not admitting to doing steroids.

If you have a kid with an A-Rod jersey, what do you do? Do you let them wear it because despite the fact that he made a mistake, he ultimately told the truth? Or does the fact that he cheated remove him as a role model for your kids? There's no easy answer. I'm glad I don't have to make that call.

The great thing about the jersey above is that there is no risk involed. Fictional "Player 00" is never going to embarass you with their terrible performance, PED usage or off-the-field antics. You can still show your love for the team without hitching your wagon to any of the flawed human beings wearing your team's colors. Like Jerry Seinfeld said, we are just rooting for laundry.