Not What I Expected

Rethinking my position in the metals market

You know, when Pat and Ron discuss silver futures during the Cubs broadcast, maybe it's time to rethink my position in the market.

I don't think this means it's going to crash, but I do think it's going to get even more volatile than it has been. Anyone who's trying to play the spot market or day trade in silver is taking a much bigger chance that they'er going to get seriously burned. It's like finding yourself at a blackjack table with people who barely understand the rules--they'll do stuff that makes no sense whatsoever, and nail everyone else at the table for their trouble.

Too bad the copper and zinc markets are even a worse mess.

Geez, maybe I ought to wait for Bay Meadows to re-open and try my luck with the horses. There's probably less chance of someone stumbling in and randomizing the race.

(technorati tags: silver, baseball,futures)

MLB site strikes again

I was surprised that this season, MLB (the site that deals with the online multimedia products from Major League Baseball) didn't barf into my lap on opening day, as it has every past season. No, it decided to wait until today to deal me dirt.

I clecked on the multimedia tag to open up a browser window for the radio broadcast of the Cubs game. The first message I received from the site was that they didn't support my browser, which is safari, and that I should use either firefox/netscape or MSIE. Oddly enough, it's been working fine with Safari until this morning.

Then it told me that I didn't have a subscription. Unfortunately, I have been paying these idiots for their miserable service since MLB decided to take the games from the radio stations streaming them, and put them on a "pay for" service. Believe me, I'd be lots happier if the Cubs games were still on the WGN radio site, and I didn't have to deal with changing services to go from the pre-game to the actualy boradcast, and then back again. Not that I'm going to get that, though.

So I check my credit card statements. Nope--MLB, even though they had told me they were going to automatically charge my card, hadn't. I've learned that attempting to deal with MLB's alleged "customer service" is a no-win game. The customer service script they use is to tell the customer (note--in many cases, the customer has paid for a service they aren't getting) that they are completely full of shit, and don't know what they are doing. I've had these conversations, from "it won't run on a Mac--get a Windows box", to "there's a problem, I don't know when it will be fixed", followed by a hang-up. Nice guys. They mlb.com people know they have a monopoly, and once they have your money, they don't have to care.

So, it's time to pay up. I finish the process, and check my mailbox. ALong with the "thanks for your money", I see a "if we weren't able to charge to your credit card, we cancelled your account w/o telling you, and we started it back up again" email. Now, *there's* customer service--first they use the negative option for renewals, and then they kill off accounts without telling the customers when they can't get the charge to go through. Ever hear of contacting the customers? There must be a reason, other than selling account info and sending advertisments, that you require email addresses, right?

I had hopes that with XM, I'd be able to get away from this stupidity, but XM is following the "play one feed from the game" model. Maybe once compression and bandwidth improves, I can hope for a "pick your broadcaster" option. I'm looking forward to it.

And to Bud Selig, self-described technophobe, who according to the New York Times, admits that he can't point his browser to the MLB website: Bud, get someone who understands e-commerce, electronic product delivery, and who actually gives a damn about the customers, and have them manage the site. Given all the grief that's currently comng down in baseball, can you really afford to anger *more* of your fanbase?

(technorati tags: baseball, business,ecommerce)

Ron Santo--Zen Master

Today's Zen:

"It's always the turning point."

Where else can you get the universe explained, hear a homily on peanut butter, and still get a Cubs game?

Baseball Tonight Parody Site

Check out Yard Work before someone with no sense of humour takes it off the air....

Eric Gagne's intro

I'm watching the Dodgers/Tigers game, and the Dodgers bring in Gagne to close down the game.

The guy has a live-edited intro tape. OMG. Jump-cuts everywhere, staggered frame sampling, the whole nine yards. I mean, this *is* LA, but geez, are the Dodgers trying to get him techncal Oscar or what?

Fixing the Mariners

Here's a thought--the Mariners need a second catcher (well, they need a full-time catcher--we'll work on that), and they definitely need someone in the lockeroom to solidify the team. What (or who) they need is Benito Santiago,.

He's tanned, rested, and ready. The Pirates let him loose a month ago. Defensively and offensively, he's a better bet than bringing in the flavour of the week from double-A. And if anyone is giving grief in the lockeroom (which is alluded to in the PI and Times), well, he'll take care of that as well.

And now he's available for waivers price.

Hard to see where this can go wrong.

A Note to the Mariners

It is a good thing that Ichiro is hitting .360. However, if the rest of the team is hitting at or below the Mendoza Line , Ichiro isn't getting much beyond first base, if you know what I mean....

Um, control--we have bees....

It's been a big bee season in Phoenix and Tucson this spring--everything is in bloom in a big way. The bees have been showing up to some of the baseball parks. That's what happened at Tucson's Electric Park today, when the Rockies/Diamonbacks game was called on account of a bee swarm.

Cubs Spring Training--the awful truth

I'm in Phoneix this week, doing Spring Training. The last time I was here, I was working on my MBA thesis, and getting a fine collection of "off-spec" collectibles from various organizations.

So, things have changed in 12 years. Spring Training is a much bigger business than it was before. And part of that is that a number of parks have been replaced with newer parks.

Hohokam, where the Cubs play, is one of these. The last time I was here, Hohokam was a high school park with delusions of grandeur, but it had one thing the shiny new Hohokam park doesn't have.

You could actually get a "Chicago-style hot dog" at the park.

I'm not going to go into which is the best hot dog, because we all have our own opinions (completely misguided that the "Dodger Dog" crowd might be) but if you're going to get a Chicago-style, there are some rules:

1. It's a Vienna Beef hot dog
2. It comes on a poppy seed bun
3. It does *not* have ketchup
4. It *does* have glow-in-the-dark green relish, onions, sport peppers, pickle spears, celery salt, and tomato slices

Both the concession stands at Hohokam, *and* the "real Chicago Hot Dog" cart break rules 2-4. The buns are generic, there are no nuclear-green relish, tomatoes, etc, available at the concession stand (the cart has a lonely shaker of celery salt), and #3 is violated by the stadium having a standard concessions table of mustard, ketchup, regular relish, jalapeno slices, onions, and sauerkraut. At other places I would applaid having that many options available for hot dogs, but this is supposed to be an extension of Chicago.

At the old Hohokam, you could get a hot dog and and Old Style beer from a stand run by local volunteers. You ordered in one line, told them what you wanted on your hot dog, and picked it and the beer up in another line (allows the under 21 to take orders, but not have to deliver them--clever).

Now? I guess that now the Cubs are their own marketing concept, they don't have to deliver the goods.

*sigh*--they just don't make them like they used to.....

Phrase that pays--3/23/05

"Tell the bee he's pitching in the ninth."