July 28, 2004

• as far as i know nothing is free anymore. just going to a team's site, the phillies, it is $14.95 for, well it says, "over 2400 games". ah, or free with sports illustrated. espn.com has something as well but you have to pay to join that i believe as well. you can always just go to espn's scoreboard and click refresh and announce the game yourself in funny voices.
• Yes, the only way to get anything more than highlights free is probably to see if your favorite teams local AM sports radio has a webcast.
• good for you, wibble!!! baseball is awesome and complex and dramatic and hilarious and VERY rich in history. my sweetie has the MLB video package and loves it. that also lets you watch "classic" games from as far back as the 1960s and '70s. the major league teams all have the same basic web site (here's my beloved Cubbies) and if you go to each DURING a game and click on "Game Day," you can "watch" a simulation of the game for free. (you see where each pitch goes, who's on base, etc., it automatically refreshes.) also, as a new fan you may appreciate the baseball library's "today in baseball," a free e-newsletter.
• unfortunately MLB quarantined the live streaming coverage and chages $$ for it now. Even the streaming version of my local station that broadcasts games plays something else for that time. It's the best game in the world, despite some of MLB's efforts to fsck it up.
• but pete, i don't think what MLB is charging is outrageous at all. especially for all you're getting!! $14.95 a month to watch 300 games, plus the classic archives. don't get me wrong, i'm no huge fan of MLB as a business. but i'm glad they offer this!
• Yeah, the local Yanks radio station (WCBS880 in NYC) links to MLB.com for live streaming audio of the games. Ditto for WFAN, they don't carry any live Mets broadcasts on the net. But if you want to hear the insanity of New Yorkers with ridiculously thick accents getting extremely worked up over our baseball teams, here are links to free clips of two of the better shows on the FAN (warning: depressed Mets fans by the dozens...): http://wfan.com/chrismikeaudio/ http://wfan.com/somers/
• mlb.com's gameday audio isn't free, but it's dirt-ass cheap, fifteen bucks US for the FULL SEASON. Plus you can choose which team's radio broadcast you want to listen to. Most people would rather have video than audio, but I love listening to ballgames on the radio, mostly because (as a St. Louis fan) I'm spoiled for great baseball radio broadcasts.
• yeah, mid, i have an audio subscription so i can listen to cubs games at my desk at work. wibble, being a new fan you may find audio with no video a tad hard to follow, but that's a good place to start. and while it's not free, like middle said, $15 for the whole season is very reasonable. so what team/teams are you most interested in?
• Oh I'm glad it's offered, yes, but just two years ago (I think, damn is it 2004 already?) it was FREE. FREE do ya hear me?! Free-he-he-he-heeeeeee!!! *lunges down the hall, laughing maniacally*
• poor pete. here, i'll buy you some peanuts and crackerjack, you won't care if you ever get back.
• btw, welcome, Wibbleflex, both to MoFi and the wonderful world of base and ball. If you will permit me: If you want history/background on the game, you can go here or watch this documentary series. If you want other good movies, watch this and this, the two greatest baseball flicks ever made. If you want to know who the greatest team in the MLB is, then you should go here (for the AL, go here), but never, I repeat never here or here. yeah, that's right, flame on!
• Just to highlight what Iwanttogiveyoubabies said in passing, the gameday audio at mlb.com is free if you start a trial subscription of Sports Illustrated. I did that last year. I cancelled after the trial had run out, but they still refunded all the money. If you cancel before it runs out, you don't get charged at all. You can cancel over the web, as well, so there's nobody trying to talk you into keeping the subscription. Very painless.
• oh, dear, mid, it appears that you are a cardinals fan and i am a cubs fan. we must now commence with being mortal enemies. HOWEVER... i do love also the red sox! so we can be friends again.
• Well any decent human is a Red Sox fan, Jimmy. *wakes up screaming "Take Pedro out! Take Pedro out!"*
• Just a bit outside...
• yes, mid, and that puzzled, sad look on the loser monkey face is very familiar, as we cubs fans have worn it since 1908. if nothing else, be nice to us out of sheer pity!
• hah... I often have a similar dream pete. It's just so easy to wonder what if. The Sox have to win sometime right? Anyways, I've had a MLB game day subscription all season and I love it. I have been so stuck in watching/listening to only a few teams play (Sox or the Blue jays and whoever they're playing)that I'm finding it useful to just check out what else is going on in MLB - it seems that anytime I'm at the computer I'm flicking on one day or another (or listening to archive). It's sure handy.
• Heh. Just a friendly ribbing. ;-) Hell, my beloved Cardinals have been the choke champs since '83. Not the same as '08, I know, but for the last twenty years they've been in good need of a wake-up wedgie. (Barring the year that Darryl Kile and Jack Buck died -- they performed amazingly well, given the load they were carrying.) We're looking fan-diddly-tastic this season, but that's only because it's not postseason yet.
• A Cubs/Sox Series would be the best. Thing. EVER. Bambino vs. The Goat.
• Just wanted to compliment Wibbleflex on his/her brilliant user name.
• there is no Goat. That whole thing is bupkis. D'ya hear me? Bupkis!! by contrast, the Bambino curse is totally real. No, seriously, it's true.
• Thanks for the tips. Audio + Simulations is pretty good for now. I haven't started following a team. I've had a couple of (shambolic) games with people at work, and caught a few games in bars. It's good to play and watch.
• It's good to play and watch. Damn straight. The strategy of chess, the grace of ballet, the duels of . . fencing . ., the bone-crushing hits of midieval warfare; mix in some ritual and/or divine mystery, let it soak in three or four really large and way overpriced beers and you got yourself a GAME there. Praise Jeebus.