Information wars
Actually, I’ve written on athletes’ absurd salaries, a pillar in my argument that anyone making more than the president should be in a 95 percent tax bracket. And on absurd political correctness when the worst Chief Illiniwek could do is screw up a dance of a tribe that disappeared in the 1800s.
But Sunday brought me a sunny blessing of pure sport: the first Cubs game I’d found on local cable this season. (I was going to say “free TV” until I recalled that 60-buck monthly check to Mediacom.) The Cubs won big, so it had to be spring training
Then Monday, I learned of another spring-training battle - this one over information rights between the moguls of the media and Major League Baseball. (Fogeys use “mogul” to disparage powerful autocrats; like young skiers’ and snowboarders’ moguls, they can ruin a person’s day.)
I ran out of patience before I could find the specifics - strange in a business devoted to telling everyone everything - but I gather the beef is over MLB’s desire to control (or more precisely, make us pay for) stuff like posting online photos during a game.
Funny thing is, each side can argue convincingly that the other bites the hand that feeds it.
From high school to the pros, the media have long had an ambiguous relationship with sport: Can reporters accept perks unavailable to the average fan and still seem objective? Wouldn’t you like one of those cards that let you prowl the Kinnick Stadium sidelines and chat with coaches, or hang out in a warm press box?
Bigger example: On March 25, the Oakland A’s and Boston Red Sox open the official season with a two-game series in Tokyo. MLB offered a media package: economy round trip from New York, seven nights in a downtown hotel with two restaurants and two bars, 15 minutes from the stadium. Wouldn’t you like to get that for just $2,065?
You read right: Two grand for seven nights in Tokyo to “work” a two-game series. Another press package cost $5,575 - business class from Boston and seven nights in a hotel that’s farther from Tokyo Dome but has two bars and NINE restaurants.
Cushy .. but now MLB also wants money for coverage that used to be free.
(To my indignant friend: This is similar to showing Iowa games only on the Big Ten Network, clearly making this appropriate fodder for the edit page.)
The whole dust-up does suggest new ways for us to make money. I’ve tried it.
I’m old and no longer good at playing softball. (”Don,” the late Bill Mertens whispers, “you weren’t much good in your 20s, either.”) So I’ve taken up umpiring.
After games, there’s a place where I usually enjoy supper. To help them stay open in the winter, I stop by for an occasional cold one. Twice, a pretty 20-something from a coed league spotted me and had me pose for cellphone-camera pictures with her.
The third time, I asked what she’d done with the first two.
Turns out she’d posted them on My Book or Face Space or some “social networking” site for people who have cellphones and know how to use them, “just for fun.”
“Fine!” I replied, “but now, I want a $50 modeling fee per shot plus a $5 royalty for each hit on your Web site.”
Giggling, she pointed her phone at me.
“No!” I said. “I’m serious. Fifty bucks - and conditions on the photo release.”
Think of the possibilities: You might charge your doctor for your height, weight and blood pressure. Or the county treasurer for the use of your address at tax and auto registration time. Isn’t it all proprietary information you should have a right to control?
That 20-something? Now, she just smiles and waves … but maybe I’ll find someone who’ll pay.
And maybe the Cubs will win the Series.
Tags: objective, pace, smile