World Series 2006: Ratings are down? I can't imagine why!

Do you want to really know why people are not watching the World Series? For me, it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm not a fan of the Cards or Tigers. I am a baseball fan, first and foremost. I love the game. I love the Mets, and I'll be honest - the fact that the Mets are not playing the World Series puts a damper on it for me. But while there are some great stories going on in this year's Fall Classic, that's not enough for me to put up with Fox's irritating coverage. Anymore, post season television coverage is like this: it's as if Bud Selig presented me with a perfectly lovely chocolate cream pie, then proceeded to throw it on the floor and hand me a fork.

So, here are a few pointers for the folks at Fox and MLB, if you're interested in getting viewers back:

1) Kill some of those commercial breaks, and/or shorten them. Ok, I know that next year you're actually going to INCREASE the commercial time between innings. But maybe you won't have to if you heed some simple advice. If you make the commercial breaks longer, I'll just TIVO the game and start watching it a half-hour to 45 minutes in, so I can fast forward through them. But if you have fewer commercials, you increase the chance that people will actually stay put and watch them. If I know I don't have enough time to go out to dinner, walk the dog, or get a manicure between innings, then I'll sit still.

2) Dump the announcing crew. Fox, you need to face it: more people dislike Joe Buck than actually like him. And coupled with Tim McCarver, who is arguably suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease, you couldn't ask for a more annoying crew than that. During the playoffs, I'd taken to muting the TV and turning on the XM radio so I could listen to WFAN while watching the game. And why not include an announcer from the home team along with your designated Fox Guy? So many talented announcers are sitting at home during the World Series (Vin Scully is another, as SI.com pointed out) and this is just wrong.

3) STOP: extreme closeups, six replays of every pitch, and coming back from the commercial break as the first pitch of the inning is sailing towards the batter (and sometimes after it's been pitched, which is inexcusable). Also, lose that stupid "plate cam" or whatever you call that idiotic thing. You know what I'm talking about. Why not add a camera that shows a view of the pitch from above the plate, or something useful like that?

4) Start the games earlier. For a league espousing so much "it's all for the kids" crap, you don't seem to care that most adults, let alone kids, cannot stay up until midnight watching a baseball game in the middle of the week. If you can't shorten the game by eliminating all the commercial breaks (and we know the game has gotten longer over the years due to managers making 27 pitching changes a game) then at least start earlier.

5) STOP IT with the endless promos for Fox television shows. All they do is remind me that there's probably something far less annoying on another channel.

You all need to face the fact that ratings aren't down because people don't care about baseball. Ratings are down because your coverage stinks so much that most of us, despite our devotion to the game, simply cannot put up with it.

I am really, really hoping that someone from FOX and/or MLB reads this posting, or any of the postings from the myriad of blog sites out there railing against the FOX Network's horrendous coverage of the series. Bloggers aren't doing this for money or influence. Fox and MLB have an invaluable resource on the Internet to help the suits really understand what fans think. Unlike The Worldwide Leader, we have no interest in market share. All we want to see is a ballgame, played in under 3 hours thank you, with decent, intelligent analysis, uninterrupted by moronic plugs for the network's television shows and all the other annoying crap I just mentioned. I just don't think that's too much to ask.