Bubbles and blackouts

Not much is going on after the week break, but that’s not a bad thing.  We’re in our routines and doing our things, school for the girls and the day to day of life and the house with me.  It’s the long stretch now, however.  There are days here and there, but the next big break is February for Chinese (Lunar) New Year.  So, it’s kind of a long slog until the next break, but when that comes it’s gonna be a BREAK!  Part of that is it’s a month off, the other part is we are pulling together plans.

As it stands now, we are planning on getting back to Thailand and going to Chiang Mai and an elephant sanctuary.  We didn’t have the time while we were in Thailand to get to one, but we always wanted to do so.  Now, however, with a month off, we are thinking it might be a good time to do that.  Besides, Kiddo around elephants…. I mean, I’m giddy just thinking about it.  After a few days there, we’re thinking we can get to Da Nang and beach it, relax, eat pho, get some more shoes made (including Kiddo this time, now that we know the cost and durability) and maybe some clothing.  I might pass, I’ll have to see what wants or needs I have once we get there, but J has a few wants that she knows she can get made there and Kiddo wants a dress.  Again, for cost and durability, we’ll happily get her hooked up.  We may return to Shanghai after some time on the beach, but we’re also up in the air on getting to HCMC (Saigon) for a few days as well.  Maybe J will get ink, I might get some more work done and just to be in the city.  I vote for the trip to Saigon, but time, budget, and all that will kind of dictate that.  We can use miles, which will help, but again, we need to get to middle Dec for flights to become available and bookable on our miles site, so prices and availability will help us decide.  Kiddo and J are both getting excited for that.  I’m always excited when it comes to Vietnam.  

What’s NOT exciting is MLB’s coverage of the Playoffs.  I get it, you have local TV contracts and the like.  Regular season, you want to black out, that fine, but during the playoffs??????

MLB has been screaming for years that they can’t get good numbers and views are dropping year over year.  Well, maybe if you’d let people SEE YOUR PRODUCT, you’d gain fans and not lose more and more.  Imagine, if you will, if they pushed the good match ups and teams, advertised that, played it up, put it on prime time, and let people see it.  Not Yanks v RedSox 7 times a year on ESPN, then Dodgers v Giants another 3 times, before you get NY Yanks v NY Mets 5 times and that’s the MLB Sunday night match ups… But why can’t they get viewers in middle America or internationally????

Speaking of internationally, I was out the other day.  I saw an MLB shop.  Popped in, thinking that Milwaukee and the Brewers have been to the playoffs for 9 of the last 10 seasons to the NL Championship game twice in that span, and they had the best record in baseball this season.  Yankees, RedSox, Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, and Phillies.  No other gear.  So, not only do they black out games, they don’t even market or push their PLAYOFF teams, in their own shops, and they wonder why they aren’t growing the sport.  

The sport is HUGE in Korea and Japan and China has tried to start up a league in 2019 (yeah, Covid killed that too) and then again in 2023 that was sputtering and lost half the teams in 2024 because ending it.  There is SO MUCH growth potential for MLB, but they refuse to see it and they just stick with Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, and RedSox and call it a day.  They have no narrative about the scrappy underdogs, the homemade, drafted, built teams (Milwaukee and Seattle), or anything like that.  It’s all major teams in major markets with  zero thought or marketing outside of that.  Heck, you can’t even find WhiteSox gear and they are in Chicago as well.  Couple that with the recent trend towards hip-hop in China, especially some of the early pioneers of rap and you miss another link.  Ice Cube and NWA were all about the black and silver, playing up the Raiders connection to LA early in their careers, but they threw love towards the black and silver/white of the WhiteSox as well.  

I could go on and on about how bad it is and how I’m sick of hearing or reading Rob Manfred (commissioner of MLB) whine about that.  How, last year, “even with the premier teams of the NY Yankees and LA Dodgers facing off, it was a ratings struggle,” blah blah blah.  Of course it was.  No one could see the playoffs so no one was engaged and when the two teams with a combined payroll of $1BILLION (more than the bottom 12 teams in the league, combined and more than all the other playoff teams combined) why do you expect people to care.  It’s WWE wrestling at that point and feels contrived (so fix your league and free agency for parity) and with no engagement early, no one is sticking around to see how it ends.

So, I watch online or get scores and updates where I can.  I keep up to date using ESPN and score trackers, but once Milwaukee is out, why am I engaged?  Fox has the World Series and I’ll be able to watch that, but not seeing the playoffs and seeing what’s happening…. Will I tune in for Seattle or Toronto?  Probably not.  Because I don’t know those teams, haven’t been able to watch them, so I am not engaged in them and they lost a set of eyes.  I’m sure, however, that I’m wrong and some MBA out there can tell me how LESS viewers is actually better and how MLB manipulating markets for profits is better for me, but hey… Late stage capitalism; ain’t it fun!

Rant over, let’s watch Kiddo with bubbles and holahoopin’.

Let’s go, Kiddo… It’s Brewer Time and I need you to help me cheer them on.  Tonight, we pancake in their honor and tomorrow, I may just have to pocket pancake for them.  Keep on kicking butt at being 8 and in Grade 3 and I’ll keep being the best Dada I can.  Remind me later, Kiddo, to do another turtle update and we can show off Nile and Amazon and how their doing.