Mommy, I Want My Yankees

The score is 7-7 in the top of the ninth inning. Jason Giambi is the Yankees batter with the potential lead run at third base. There are two men out.

Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Willis Roberts delivers the pitch. Giambi hits a harmless ground ball to first baseman Jay Gibbons who makes the play to end the inning. The Orioles score in the bottom of the ninth. The Yankees lose. THUUUUUH Yankees lose.

How do I know that is what happened? I know what happened because I have a computer and I “watch” Yankees games on my computer. I see wonderful graphics that represent the playing field, the defense, the batter, and any base runners. I see a diagram of home plate and a batter ready to hit. When a pitch is made, little colored circles indicate if the pitch was a ball, strike, or put into play. That is how I know what happened.

Ah, you ask, “Why don't you watch the game on television?” Ah, I answer, “I have Cablevision, and Cablevision has shut out almost three million subscribers since it refuses to carry the YES Network created by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to make more money .”

Forget about Steinbrenner's claims that he is concerned about the fans. Forget about Cablevision's claims that they are concerned about their subscribers. Both parties first concern is money. It is also their only concern.

Steinbrenner insists that YES should be carried by cable companies as a basic cable channel. Cablevision is the only company that has refused do so because if it did, Cablevision insists it would have to impose a “Yankee rate increase” of about $2 per month on all it subscribers, including those not interested in Yankees games.

To protect those who do not want to pay $2 for unwanted programming, Cablevision wants YES to be a premium channel and only those interested in receiving it would be assessed a yet undetermined amount of between $8 to $12 monthly.

Both parties are losing money by not reaching an agreement, but they consider it losing money in the short run. The battle has become one in which neither side is willing to compromise and each side is willing to allow more and more fan hostility to build.

I have learned to follow the Yankees without television and I would guess that many of the three million fans who did not make other provisions to get the games (dropping Cablevision and getting DirecTV) follow the Yankees as I do or

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