Oh, how I hate the #$%@ing Braves...

So there I am, about to log off of Twitter for the night after yet another marathon Mets game, and I come across a re-tweet via Metszilla from none other than one Larry "Chipper" Jones, who had this stream of consciousness happening:

Really?  REALLY?

Someone who spent his career in a Braves uniform is complaining about an umpire, specifically, said umpires inaccurate strike zone?

Well, let me be the first to welcome you to our world.  You know, the one where for about 5 years, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux could get a strike call so long as the ball was within about 6 inches of the plate in either direction?  Glavine became so accustomed to friendly calls, that when an automated system to judge pitch locations was being implemented to keep umpires honest, his career went to crap until he figured out how to pitch honestly again.

Even if Angel Hernandez isn't the best umpire, so what?  Heaven knows other teams (ahem) have had their issues with him (hat tip to @LaurieInQueens).  It's not like he has a special strike zone dedicated to screwing over the Atlanta Braves, but that's pretty much been the standard mentality of the Bravesiverse since the team found success 20 years ago: entitled and paranoid.  By gum, the Braves winning is a birthright proclaimed from the heavens, and if it doesn't happen, it's obviously due to some meddling shenanigans on the part of someone else or some other unfairness of inexplicable cosmic origin.  I have to listen to that crap for at least 9 innings every time the Mets play the Braves and those stupid territorial broadcast rules force me to listen to a couple of chuckleheads who describe no-doubters hit by the opposition as weak fly balls aided at the last moment by a hurricane wind and lame ground balls to the other team's shortstop as screaming line drives that would surely have been a hit were it not for a Gold Glove-worthy robbery.

For criminiy's sake, get over yourselves.

BTW, it still blows my mind that an pitcher could somehow be suspended for racial insensitivity while playing on a team that encourages fans to wave their foam tommyhawks while doing an Injun war chant, but I guess I need to take that one up with Bud Selig.

Broadcast frustration (and how to beat it sometimes)

Before I even get started about tonight, I must express my latest frustration with the MLB television rules.  Today, I finally sat down to check my recording of the All-Time Team show, and there was none because it was blacked out as out-of-market programming.  I'll never figure this crap out.  Mets Weekly?  No problem.  Kids Clubhouse?  Yeah, they'll let me see that.  All-Time Team presentation?  Nuh-uh.  The Braves might get jealous.

Anyway, on to tonight.  For some reason, there's no Mets feed on Extra Innings.  I have no clue why, as PIX games have been carried for a couple of years now.  Whatever the reason, the only TV feed I have is the Yankees broadcast from my9.  I thought maybe I could tolerate it with Al Leiter and David Cone in the booth, but the Yankees-centric discussion got old in a hurry.

So as I type this, I'm watching video from my9 and listening to Howie Rose and Josh Lewin on the WFAN audio feed via SirusXM.  Ain't technology wonderful sometimes?  The only thing kinda annoying is that the audio is just a hair ahead of the video.  Were it the other way around, I could just pause the TV for a second and let it catch up, but I can't pause the radio.

Anyway, this setup still beats having to watch Fox's overproduced crap and listening to McCarver and Buck.  Speaking of which, I won't be allowed to watch tomorrow's game at all.  I get Braves vs. Red Sox, which of course means I'll be listening to Rose and Lewin with the TV off.  Can't say I'm too upset about that.  Heck, I might be out fishing during the first couple of innings anyway.

It may be a fair a tradeoff, I suppose...

Negative: Being forced to watch a game with the Braves' incessantly whining announcers providing all commentary.

Positive: Not having to suffer through that now-beyond-annoying Citibank card commercial another dozen times in one afternoon.