At least someone is doing something right

Waiting for the final word to come down from MLB regarding the Extra Innings package - I know, I know, it's a dead horse - is like waiting for an ailing grandparent to die.

You can look at it rationally, as you lay awake in bed and say to yourself, "It would just be better if they slipped away - this is far too difficult on everyone," but you know that deep in your heart you're not really ready for that final word to come down.

Sometimes hope is more valuable than anything in these trying times.

As I continue my candlelight vigil in the hopes that a last-second settlement can be reached and that baseball will return to my cable box more than the ESPN games of the week, I got an odd letter in the mail from Comcast (which, as everyone knows, directly contributes half of all profits to Satan himself).

It seems that in an effort to make things up to me, a loyal baseball fan who has subscribed to the Extra Innings package through several years and two moves, Comcast would like to chip in 50 bucks to help ease me through this awful, awful injustice that MLB hath wrought.

The whole tone of the letter comes off as a little snarky with a fair amount of finger pointing, but the bottom line is that if I pony up for the MLB.tv package, Comcast will kick me back 50 bones for my troubles as well as keeping my Comcast cable and Internet services... hmm...

OK, I get it now.

The high points from the letter:

Dear Minneapolis Red Sox,

We regret to inform you that, due to a recent decision by Major League Baseball, it has become impossible for any cable company to distribute MLB Extra Innings beginning with the 2007 baseball season.

It goes on to say:

We love baseball as much as you do. And we're committed to delivering the in-market and out-of-market games you enjoy.

Blah, blah, please feel free to use our wonderful Internet service to stream in an inferior product that may or may not lock up entirely during critical moments in play. Also, we heard dishes drop the value of your home by up to 50 percent.

So, anyways, this now surpasses the free hot dog and a soda coupon the Twins gave me last year on the night they signed the paperwork for their new ballpark as the weirdest thing I've received from Major League Baseball.

Still, despite the obvious venomous under current coming from Comcast as they frantically point fingers back at Bud Selig, it's a nice thought. A $50 bite out of the $80 or $120 it will cost me to reward the league for screwing its fans is a pretty nice peace offering.

I think if I've learned anything here, it's that MLB is not my friend, but I should ask Comcast over the next time I fire up the grill for a few beers and a hot dog or two. They're my real friends.

(Image from HarmonySweets.com)