All categories - 31 January 2007

Last February, I broke my ankle. I was given the OK to go back to work in July. I had nothing but problems. I went back to my surgeon and the x-rays showed a build up in my ankle. The surgeon said it had gone arthritic and is calcifying. Does anyone know any good ways to deal with the pain? Is there anything that can be done or will it eventually fuse and limit my abilities?

2007-01-31 08:05:57 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pain & Pain Management

i need a real recipe for tamales. all the recipes i get online taste not so good. tell me the recipe and tell me where you got it. thanx.

2007-01-31 08:05:56 · 6 answers · asked by melissa 3 in Cooking & Recipes

2007-01-31 08:05:54 · 1 answers · asked by duke 2 in Other - Games & Recreation

2007-01-31 08:05:52 · 5 answers · asked by LeRoy 4 in Polls & Surveys

My best friend recently became engaged to a very rich man. She has become increasingly distant and did not invite me to her reception because she didn't want to make me feel bad because she felt I would not feel comfortable in her new 'circle' of friends (which are all from his circle). Needless to say I am not invited to the wedding. How does one handle this without being broken hearted?

2007-01-31 08:05:51 · 3 answers · asked by truintexas 1 in Friends

I need help with 20 love songs..my bf loves the old love songs like for mariah carey and stuff but he is a huge fan of Rock..Is there any romantic rock songs?? and what are the best old love songs...thx

2007-01-31 08:05:44 · 6 answers · asked by rosa 1 in Singles & Dating

I weigh 158 at 5'6", roughly 30 lbs to lose. I joined a gym and now exercise 25 minutes on the elliptical 4 days a week. I need to start a diet to make this work. In the past I cut down to 1,100 cals a day, but I think that was too low and I stopped losing. I like to count cals and have found it successful but not sure how many I need...how long it will take...what kinda food I should eat...any help out there?

2007-01-31 08:05:41 · 26 answers · asked by Nikki 2 in Diet & Fitness

2007-01-31 08:05:36 · 5 answers · asked by Priya K 1 in Skin Conditions

I see alot of Yanks on this uk site talking the shi* bigging themselfs up all the time, saying this and that about how they are the best and no other country is better. I think the word for Americans is ignorant. Now I dont mean all Americans as I know a few who are nice decent worldly educated people but the majority of them are not and I want to know why??

I had an American girl (she was like 19-20) ask me when i was in New York " Is London in England or is England in London" I walked away shocked. And its not the first time i have been asked that question!

Yanks seem to know nothing of the world outside the US so why do they interfere in peoples business all the time??

I hate the fact that our armed forces (UK) are in Iraq and Afghanistan through lies that bush told us and blair belived! It makes us look like fools how we always have to jump when the US says so. There is a lack of respect from Americans toward us Brits who dont forget helped make your country what it is!

2007-01-31 08:05:34 · 30 answers · asked by Blink-Monkey-Blink 2 in Military

I just needs some ideas to get a man

2007-01-31 08:05:33 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Valentine's Day

What do you should happen to Harry at the end of the last book?

2007-01-31 08:05:32 · 51 answers · asked by Anonymous in Books & Authors

I have my big ultrasound tomorrow and I am 23 weeks. What kinds of questions should I ask? What can I do to make the baby active so we can tell the sex?

Also... I am 99% sure I have internal hemmorrhoids and have been using Preperation H wipes which have helped a lot... Do I have to tell my doctor? I am embarassed and dont want them to be looking at my bottom... if I did tell him, what would he do to check them?

2007-01-31 08:05:31 · 13 answers · asked by shugarmagnolia420 4 in Pregnancy

I need a girls advice. me and my boyfriend had sex but the condom broke and it broke. When it was time for my period to come up it never did. I'm so worried but i have taken two tests and the both came up negative. If i am prego i don't know how im going to tell my parents. i know my parents will kick me out. please help me out.

2007-01-31 08:05:28 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy

2007-01-31 08:05:27 · 10 answers · asked by steve-o-£££ 1 in Philosophy

2007-01-31 08:05:26 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Polls & Surveys

2007-01-31 08:05:22 · 13 answers · asked by CelticMoonGoddess 2 in Earth Sciences & Geology

little snow in wichita kansas now

2007-01-31 08:05:20 · 2 answers · asked by wether kid 1 in Weather

Tone Tone is reppin' my home state and I was wonderin do ne1 have the lyrics to "What Up Doe" by Tone Tone

2007-01-31 08:05:20 · 1 answers · asked by CrazySexyCool 2 in Music

TV Sports
Extra Innings Throws a Curve, and Fans Cry Foul
Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Reprints Share
DiggFacebookNewsvinePermalink

By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: January 26, 2007
Jeanette Bottone cried last week when she heard that the Extra Innings package of major league baseball games that she has diligently watched on cable since 2002 was about to migrate to DirecTV in April.

Skip to next paragraph
M.L.B.
Schedule/Scores Standings: A.L. | N.L.
Wild Card Standings Stats: A.L. | N.L. Team Reports Yankees
Schedule/Results Individual Stats | Team Roster | History Discuss the Yankees Mets
Schedule/Results Individual Stats | Team Roster | History Discuss the Mets “It’s really a big part of our summertime,” she said by telephone from her condominium in Wellesley, Mass. “But that didn’t last long. And then I felt angry.”

Bottone and her husband bought Extra Innings to keep track of the Yankees. Her father, Lou, was a minor leaguer in the Yankee system in the 1930s.

“But it’s exciting to watch the other teams if the games are important, and because there are certain players I like,” she said, adding, “I’m sad, but it won’t really hit me until those channels won’t have the games.”

Bottone is part of the resentment expressed on fan forums, blogs and inside my e-mail inbox against a pending seven-year, $700 million deal that would shift Extra Innings this season into an exclusive arrangement with DirecTV after five seasons of being available to 75 million cable, DirecTV and Dish homes.

A writer on the Cards Fan Union blog said, “I feel as though I’ve just had my teeth worked on with a drill that entered my body through my big toe.”

On the umpbump.com fan site, a screed against the deal was titled, “MLB Only Needs 700 Million Reasons to Tell You to Drop Dead.”

The deal would also make DirecTV the exclusive home of the 24/7 baseball channel that will launch in 2009 — but that is not the concern of the devotees who will be disenfranchised by cable’s and Dish’s loss of Extra Innings if the agreement is completed. It will be difficult for them to see much besides Major League Baseball getting $30 million more a year than what InDemand, the consortium that distributed Extra Innings to cable systems, bid to renew it.

This is a case of taking something that a part of the fan base has grown accustomed to and selling it to a higher bidder, which is available to 15 million subscribers, less than one-fifth the cable universe.

And it raises these simple questions: Why anger any part of your fan base? Why marginalize any part of your fan base?

“It’s shocking to me because it’s a move to have less of an audience and less coverage nationally,” said Dan Quinn, a graduate student from Newton, Mass., who roots for the Yankees.

Without Extra Innings, he added, “I’ll be stuck watching the Red Sox.”

It will not assuage those fans with cable or Dish, who should expect to see their Extra Innings ties broken, that they will still be able to watch hundreds of games a year on local stations, regional sports networks, Fox, ESPN and TBS. They have been treated to a somewhat privileged view of baseball from 10 Extra Innings channels — and now that will be taken away.

This situation is different from that of Sunday Ticket, the package of CBS’s and Fox’s Sunday afternoon, out-of-market N.F.L. games that are available only on DirecTV, which pays $700 million annually for it. Cable subscribers never had it, and while they may covet it, they can’t complain that they once had it but that it was sold to DirecTV, because DirecTV has always had it.

There will be only two options for discarded Extra Innings fans. They can switch from cable to DirecTV, which is impossible if landlords or condominium boards prohibit dishes, or if their exposure is wrong to snare the signal.

Baseball is counting on fans who lack any building or geographic hindrances to change to DirecTV. It may be right, even if it has to wait for the anger of fans to dissipate.

But Mark Requet, the co-owner of a weekly newspaper in rural Shelbina, Mo., said he would not switch from Dish to DirecTV, even if it means curtailing his ability to watch Mets games, his sole reason for buying Extra Innings for the first time last year. “I’m pretty satisfied with Dish and I’ve heard other people say they have trouble with DirecTV in bad weather,” he said.

The second option is subscribing to a seasonlong package of mlb.tv, the video streaming arm of mlb.com, for $79.95, nearly $100 less than last year’s suggested retail price for Extra Innings for cable subscribers.

It requires a broadband connection, which is increasingly common; there are 57 million subscribers, through cable and telephone connections, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association, a trade group.

Bottone said that mlb.tv is her backup, but she must go to her husband’s office a town away to watch. “But it doesn’t work that well,” she said.

Even with planned upgrades to mlb.tv’s video quality, watching a game on a computer screen is a different experience than taking it in on a TV screen, which allows viewers to be more than three feet away.

Yes, newer televisions allow for a relatively easy connection from the computer, but the quality of the picture degrades in the transfer. And streaming can be bedeviled by breakdowns and choppy pictures.

Baseball isn’t talking for now. How it eventually explains the deal — and tries to temper fan discontent — will be fascinating.

E-mail: sportsbiz@nytimes.com

More Articles in Sports »

2007-01-31 08:05:15 · 5 answers · asked by mrga1024 1 in Baseball

its a 1994 cadillac el dorado with about 140,000 miles black

2007-01-31 08:05:13 · 5 answers · asked by azcruisin101 1 in Buying & Selling

My old roommate left a forwarding address. Can I write this on the mail she receives or will they not send it to her? Do I just write return to sender? It's important stuff (like taxes and all that) so I want her to get it, but I just don't see that it's my responsibility to send her a package with all her mail or anything.

2007-01-31 08:05:10 · 6 answers · asked by graybear 4 in Etiquette

2007-01-31 08:05:08 · 8 answers · asked by kikekk 1 in Maintenance & Repairs

Thank you Mr. President for the tax cut which generated yet another record high in the DJIA and a one day gain for me of $38,429. What do you people think the poor Liberal Democrats are doing today while Cons are making money hand over fist?

2007-01-31 08:05:04 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

2007-01-31 08:04:57 · 8 answers · asked by Dee 1 in Games & Gear

I am trying to understand how much more valuable .com is for a well known brand than .org. If I had a well-known brand, like we'll say Widget, and someone beat me to the punch with the dot com and I have the dot org, how much more would dot com be to me?

I know we could go through all kinds of steps to simply rip it from them, and my organization does own intellectual property rights to the name, but there are a lot of reasons why we've blown our chance to protect our interests. I'm trying to see how much more the dot com extension is worth to come up with a fair offer.

Can you help me find an article on the topic? Not a gut feel. I know that there is .com and then there is everything else. I am looking for some authoritative, quotable source that gives a range of additional value.

2007-01-31 08:04:56 · 3 answers · asked by Bill D 1 in Other - Business & Finance

As being too good to a woman. My gf has alot of emotional issues from her past that get into the way of our life progressing further. I used the old phylosophy of killing her with kindness to help her realize all relationships arent going to end up bad. That not all people are going to hurt her. The problem is that she ends up taking all the kindness I give her but wont return any back unto me. I am beginning to feel she will never heal from her past scars and allow us to be who we are. Am I being too good to her and is there such a thing as being too good to someone to the point they take advantage of me?

2007-01-31 08:04:52 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Singles & Dating

2007-01-31 08:04:50 · 4 answers · asked by surfing_108 1 in Government

First the Indian /Seven Eleven remark. Now this. Is he a redneck sum b***h?

"a mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean."

2007-01-31 08:04:46 · 19 answers · asked by oh beehive 1 in Politics

2007-01-31 08:04:45 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computer Networking