Come To Think of It...Obama Ad Delaying World Series Game All About GREED

Major League Baseball has agreed to let Fox delay the start of Game Six of the World Series by about 15 minutes, in order to accommodate a half-hour Obama ad buy on Fox on Oct. 29.

So what's next? MLB agreeing to change the teams participating in the Series to the Yankees and Cubs to increase viewership?

Alright, I admit that the 15 minutes itself is not the issue. Heck, there might not even be a Game Six. At issue, at least to me, is the precedence this sets. I'm not trying to be Oliver Stone, but just how far are the media and MLB willing to go in an effort to make money?

And don't think for a minute that this is about anything other than the $1 million Barack Obama paid for the half hour communication with the voters.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that this is being done to endorse one candidate over the other. For one, Fox is the network televising the World Series. If anything, they have been accused of being on the conservative side of the political fence, so this is not simply another attempt by the liberal media to endorse a Democratic candidate.

But what if other advertising executives see this and think "hmmm...why don't we pay to stop the game in the fifth inning for an on-field advertisement of Viagra?" I'm thinking baseball bats would somehow be part of the visual. I know, TMI.

Even more disturbing, what if you turn on the TV one day, expecting to find a ballgame, and instead see your local congressman ready to talk to you about why she would be better than the incumbent at holding the line on taxes?

What if McCain demands equal time?

Look, for one thing, sports and politics make strange bedfellows. And sports is a form of escapism from the real world for many of us.  We don't want a presidential debate to suddenly pop up in between innings, do we?

I know, one can simply not turn on the TV until the ad is over. That is simple enough. But what if the advertisers realize the best way to more or less "force" our attention is to interrupt the program already in progress? 

Don't scoff, I'll bet Fox has a price for that. 

Imagine the seventh inning stretch sponsored by "Friends of McCain"—as we suddenly interrupt the broadcast to go live to a 10-minute diatribe about the horrors of being a POW...or Obama's camp paying the Rays to wear "Obama/Biden in '08" patches on their uni's?

Now throwing out the first pitch—Joe the Plumber!

I don't know, maybe I'm making too much out of nothing. Call it paranoia, but where is this trend leading us to? Granted, defining who our next President is going to be is more important for our country than determining the next World Series champion.

And yet, I like my sports and politics served on separate plates, if you don't mind.

I'm guessing we won't be seeing this article up on the Fox Sports website any time soon. Some "partner" I'm turning out to be, eh? But truth is truth and greed is greed, come to think of it.