IT’S not the most patriotic of connections, but the Fourth of July I will most remember was Monday, July 4, 1983. I always will remember it for the day Dave Righetti no-hit the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. That also was the first day my household was cable-TV wired and ready to go, which is why I missed that game, missed every pitch.
Not much has changed in 26 years, except that advanced technology now allows cable to be negligent in high def. That game was supposed to be on Cablevision-owned SportsChannel, and shown on my local system, TKR, before it was bought by larger cable companies, the inflated purchase cost passed along to subscribers.
Before that, I could catch a few SportsChannel Yankees and Mets cablecasts on something called Wometco Home Theater. Anyone recall WHT? It was a pay service delivered through a special roof antenna and then into a descrambler atop the TV set. It carried porn and the “Uncle Floyd Show,” too — all the essentials.
Anyway, at game time, July 4, 1983, SportsChannel had nothing. It was blank. And by the time Yankees radio play-by-player Frank Messer on WABC announced the start of the second inning, I began to steam.
It was on that day that I began to learn that just because cable systems have phone numbers, and just because cable owns exclusive rights to live sports telecasts, and just because you pay a month in advance, doesn’t mean cable has to answer its phone — especially on weekends and holidays — and it doesn’t mean that there would be anyone on site to fix the problem, if someone answered.
In fact, I soon figured out that if you want to speak to a real live human being who works for a cable system, call the system’s sales office, where they’re always eager to answer the phone, and not the customer service office, where they’re not.
Anyway, Righetti’s July Fourth no-hitter, I later learned, first appeared on TKR sometime after the sixth inning, which by then was too late. I had given up on it.
The next day, a work day, I got hold of both TKR and SportsChannel to ask what the heck happened. TKR blamed SportsChannel, SportsChannel blamed TKR. (Soon, I’d become accustomed to such explanations.) There would be no refund, not even for missing the first no-hitter pitched by a Yankee since Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
But it was 26 years ago yesterday, my first day as a cable TV subscriber, when I got my first dose of cable. And because I didn’t see even one pitch is why I will never forget Dave Righetti’s July Fourth no hitter.
A few years later, George Steinbrenner, born on the Fourth of July, became the first MLB team owner to sell all of his team’s TV rights to cable.
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Speaking of Fourth of July patriotism, one of the more blatant and sad sellouts to gangwear marketing — the 76ers’ uniforms changing from red, white and blue (in line with the team’s name which was derived from Philadelphia’s historical significance) to black — has, at least for now, ended. Next season the Sixers will revert to red, white and blue.
That makes reader Tom Lake suspicious: “Maybe the new gang in town wears red, white and blue.”
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MLB Network continues to make friends for all the right reasons. Thursday, it cut to live Fox Sports Net regional coverage of Astros-Padres. Houston, at the time, was up, 6-1. So what’s the big deal? A tremendous swarm of bees had invaded the stadium, stopping the game. A sight to behold was beheld.
MLB Network tonight at 8 honors the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig‘s farewell speech with Bob Costas interviewing Cal Ripken, who broke Gehrig’s consecutive-game record. The interview is followed by the 1942 movie, “Pride of the Yankees,” Gary Cooper as Gehrig. Gehrig to Ripken. And to think that the man MLB’s TV partners are most eager to promote, these days, is Manny Ramirez.
The Elias Sports Bureau confirms that Ron Darling‘s June 23 use of the phrase, “The crux of the biscuit,” — with the bases loaded and Albert Pujols batting — is the first time Frank Zappa was quoted on a Mets telecast.
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Not an inning passes in which John Sterling‘s arrogant disregard for fundamental radio play-by-play doesn’t leave you stunned, confused, disgusted.
In the bottom of the seventh on Friday, Derek Jeter was doubled off first when Jays shortstop Marco Scutaro made a nice, over-the-shoulder grab of a Johnny Damon fly. After the catch, Sterling said, “This will be a double play,” then casually added that the throw to first was, in fact, in time to get Jeter. Only then did he mention the throw to first was made by second baseman Aaron Hill, who had taken the throw from Scutaro!
On YES, what Sterling couldn’t be bothered to describe was chosen as the Geico Play of the Game.
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It never fails; the same folks that the Cablevision/Dolan Empire insists are evil on Monday, by Friday become business partners. The same ironclad, unconditional policy Cablevision claims to adhere to on Tuesday is the opposite of the one it embraces Wednesday. And then Jimmy Dolan can’t understand where all the bad ink comes from.
Last week, Cablevision and YES announced a partnership to stream Yankees telecasts. Previously, having lost Yankees TV rights to YES, Cablevision went so far as to take out full-page newspaper ads to denounce YES as the work of the devil; Cablevision even prevented YES’s Yankees telecasts from appearing on its systems. And now the two are sharing a bed.