The Chicago Cubs' baseball game against the Houston Astros on Sunday night, which was moved to Milwaukee due to Hurricane Ike, ended up being about as historical as it gets.
Carlos Zambrano, the Cubs' starting pitcher, threw a no-hitter, the first for a Cub since 1972. Luckily, WGN was broadcasting the game, so the whole nation was going to get to see this performance, right?
Wrong.
Due to ESPN's agreement with Major League Baseball, no other game can be broadcast nationally at the same time as its Sunday Night Baseball. Therefore, unless you paid for every Fox Sports channel and watched the game via Houston's regional broadcast, or you lived in Chicago and watched WGN's local broadcast, you were out of luck.
Like me, a guy who lives less than an hour away from the Skyway, who found out about Zambrano's no-hitter via a text message from someone in Chicago that thought I was watching the game (because I hate missing the games).
Instead, I was watching Pittsburgh laugh at Cleveland's offense on Sunday Night Football. Awesome.
I hear that ESPN did broadcast the ninth inning of the Cubs-Astros game to show the no-hitter, but, unless you were watching ESPN already, how would you know?
I've never hated ESPN like a lot of people west of New York City do, but this is an outrage.
A game that got moved because of a natural disaster couldn't be seen by 95 percent of the country. A game that normally would have been available to 100 percent of the country. That's pathetic.
ESPN and MLB should be ashamed that they ruined a night of baseball for fans all over the country, and that was before I knew there was a no-hitter.
22 comments Last one added 9 months ago — Leave a Comment
mr jones 9 months ago
Hahah, not only mr Cub fan did they blow this, but they blew the whole game in the fact it was played in Milwaukee. Some Home field adv. Lets see Zambrano throw this in Houston when the doesn't arrive a couple hours before game time on a 10 hour bus ride. Not taking away from Zambrano's greatness, but I am pretty sure I could pitch against Zombies and throw a no no too!
Again, Cubs fans not seeing the full picture!
Edit Comment Cancel
Michael Inglis 9 months ago
You couldn't throw a no hitter against little leaguers.
Edit Comment Cancel
Ryan Guellow 9 months ago
Um......Zombies usually don't have two days off either. So you are a Houston fan not seeing the full picture. So everytime the Astros go on the road and get beat it's because they just got off a bus? Boo-Hoo. "I am pretty sure I could pitch against Zombies and throw a no no too!" - Did you really say that? These are Major Leaguers not 40 year old's in your softball league. I think the Astros hit one ball hard the entire game. Everyone keep hating on the Cubs, please so when we win it makes it all the better.
Edit Comment Cancel
HEY HEY 9 months ago
Well I was one of the 23,441 fans that saw the no-no live. I have been to games at Miller Park before and the fans of the Cubs and Astros made more noise in the first inning than a whole game of a Brewers game. Try and get a Cub vs Brewers ticket in Miller Park any time they play and you will have to stand the whole game. This was a great move on MLB to try and make the games meaningful. Cry if you want Astros but without the Cubs or Brewers playing the Astros you could not sell out your stadium for a full series.
Edit Comment Cancel
Patrick Murray 9 months ago
ESPN did a terrible job covering the no hitter. I watched sportscenter for an hour this morning and they talked about the no hitter for about 15 seconds of that hour.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tony Bishop 9 months ago
I've also noticed this in the meantime, Patrick. If this were Josh Beckett it would compromise 75% of their telecast, but instead it was a lowly Cub and didn't even make ESPN.com's headline story until this morning. It was all about football last night.
Edit Comment Cancel
Zack Johnson 9 months ago
yeah ESPN does a horrible job with that. It is just because ESPN broadcasts from the east coast, so they don't do teams in the mid-west. Just look at it. And im not even saying it just from Cubs. Im saying it for Milwaukee, Houston, Cardnials, and even football. The only time the Football Mid-West got attention was when Favre was retiring. And that was 24/7.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tom Marshall 9 months ago
What on earth are you guys talking about? It was the lead on sportscenter last night (didn't watch this morning) and they gave it a good solid 5+ minutes. In fact if memory serves, they gave it more time than Lester's no-no this year and he didn't have football to contend with!
I hate to say it, but us baseball fans get relegated to second tier status during the month of September. At a minimum this is true on the weekends, but sometimes I feel like it is during the entire week. Lets face it, most of us baseball fans will still watch some football. All those lazy Sunday warriors however couldn't be bothered trying to keep track of the complexities of a full baseball season. They'd rather just tune in for October (but only if the local team is playing) with a brand new cap on their head.
Edit Comment Cancel
Dan Wade 9 months ago
Fox sports did this on Saturday as well. There were several doubleheaders that couldn't be shown due to Fox's exclusive rights to the Saturday afternoon window. Sure, it wasn't as bad as missing the no-hitter, but it easily could have been.
These contracts are bad for baseball on the whole.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tom Marshall 9 months ago
Got to agree entirely with you.
I'm originally from Boston and went to a string of almost a dozen consecutive home openers as a child. Naturally I had to play hookie from school for all those day games. So now I live in Portland, OR as a (mostly) grown-up and I decided to play hookie from work last year for the Sox home opener against Seattle. Somehow all of Oregon counts as Seattle's home market even though it is at least a 3 hour drive from the border. I headed down to a sports bar figuring worst case scenario I'd have to watch the game with Seattle's announcers (whom I despise).
Sadly for me, FSN North West had other ideas. Apparently they decided some time ago that it was not profitable for them to broadcast weekday afternoon games, so there was no TV coverage by any local station. Not only that, when the barkeeper tried to pull it up on the Extra Innings package it was blacked out. The same was true on mlb.tv. So in order to protect a network that didn't care enough about their own fans to cover a game (never mind the Sox fans) they had to blackout the NESN feed 3+ hours away from their home city.
Can someone explain the benefit of that to me? I can't figure how it helps the Sox, Mariners, MLB, MLB.TV, FSN, NESN or most importantly, the fans of the game.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tony Bishop 9 months ago
I guess the Cubs will just have to make sure that FOX covers them through October.
Edit Comment Cancel
Chris Pope 9 months ago
Outrage? You're easily outraged. You should cut the hyperbole. It was a game played in difficult circumstances in a park far away from its intended site of play.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tony Bishop 9 months ago
Swimming for the lives due to natural disaster... what are you going to get outraged at, God?
Listen bud, I'm sorry Houston got hit hard. I have many friends who live there or are from there, so don't preach to me.
I was mad about the greed of two for-profit corporations. I don't see the comparison you're trying to make.
Edit Comment Cancel
Steven Resnick 9 months ago
There's a easier fix get rid of the cable go onto the internet and watch mlb.tv or better yet you can go to http://myp2p.eu and try to find the game there.
Edit Comment Cancel
Joey Dalfonso 9 months ago
Just want to say that your article is not exactlly accurate when you say that WGN televises to "100 percent of the country." Time Warner Cable in Maine does not broadcast WGN. So those in Maine, assuming that they have cable, would not have been able to see it. You shouldn't even be complainning about the fact that you couldn't see it because this will probably be one of the most memorable no-hitters in MLB history. After all, it is the first no-hitteron neutral territory. I understand your upset that you didn't get to see it, but i'm sure it will be replayed for many years to come.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tony Bishop 9 months ago
Steven- I'm in Chicago's viewing area therefore the Cubs games on MLB.tv are blacked out. I've never heard of myp2p but i'll check it out, thanks.
Joey- Both major satellite companies carry WGN and I see no reason why they wouldn't sell to people in Maine. You're right that not every cable company carries the channel, but all areas have the ability to get it.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tom Marshall 9 months ago
Tony, I'm originally from just outside of Boston and in the 4 different cities I lived in Comcast did NOT carry WGN. In one town I switched from Comcast to RCN in part because they did carry WGN. RCN was not an option in most of the other towns. I got to figure Comcast has a beef with WGN and makes a good size chunk of the nation pay for it. Also keep in mind that it is impossible or not feasible for many of us (renters) to get a dish.
Edit Comment Cancel
Tony Bishop 9 months ago
I didn't think about renters who can't get dishes, thanks for bringing that up.
I also didn't realize Comcast didn't carry WGN out east. I assumed if they did here, they did everywhere.
Edit Comment Cancel
Chris Plouffe 9 months ago
Boo hoo, so the cubs got passed over one time for a big accomplishment.
I guess it makes up for all the time they do something nobody cares about and everyone gushes about how this is the year for the cubbies.
Also, this stuff happens every year, kind of like how Buchholz and Verlander got all that love last year, but Buehrle's no-no was an after thought.
Either way, does he throw a no hitter if this game is actually a home game for the other team?
Edit Comment Cancel
Tony Bishop 9 months ago
"Does he throw a no hitter if this game is actually a home game for the other team?"
That's the dumbest question I've seen. Does it matter?
The point is.. the game was played in Milwaukee. To make "what if" statements only makes you sound ignorant and childish.
Edit Comment Cancel
Chris Plouffe 9 months ago
I'm not saying he doesn't throw one. But lets face it, that crowd was 90% cubs fans and umps can give in to the home crowd sometimes on close calls.
I'm not trying to say the no hitter was not deserved, Big Z threw one hell of a game, but i just feel that the astros really got screwed on this one.
If it had to be in a dome, why wasnt it in Toronto, Tampa Bay, Seattle, or Minnesota?
I mean Milwaukee is 90 minutes away from the visting team, but hundreds of miles away from texas, so how is this all fair to Houston?
Edit Comment Cancel
Ryan Bishop 9 months ago
You know, sometimes you will have to play games at a different venue. Making it sound as if the Cubs were given a home field advantage is absurd. Milwaukee was chosen for a very good reason.
Also, its a no hitter. No amount of lack of sleep or whatever, would lead to that 99.99% of the time. The supposed horrible travesty done unto the Astros didn't lead to Zambrano having ridiculous command of his pitches, and striking out as many as he did with filthy pitches.
I'm a White Sox fan, just for purposes of disclosure. I find the whining coming from the Astros absurd and not at all realistic.
As far as the hurricane, it really wasn't that bad. A 13 foot storm surge is something that can happen in bad storms. If your life was in jeopardy, you were given plenty of time to rectify that before it was. If you don't like it, move. I'm not going to continue to pay for my fellow human beings making piss poor choices, moving to areas where natural disasters are common. Whether it be to the coasts, or areas in the west where forest fires are all too common.
Chicago got nearly 12 inches of rain in some areas from a stationary front that was over the area all weekend. That's about 3 inches less than what Houston got during Ike.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.