The dilemma that is MASN

As I sit here watching the Nats-Blue Jays game on UPN 20, I can't help but think of how much I dislike MASN, and what kind of conflict it stirs in me. It goes without saying that anyone in the Washington regions despises Peter Angelos for doing his damndest to keep a team out of Washington for so long, simply because he wanted to maintain a Orioles monopoly within the region (damn that anti-trust exemption to hell!), not to mention his general condescension towards Nats fans in general (think his "there are no baseball fans in DC" schtick).

And I know it's old news, but it really does turn my stomach to remember how MLB caved to his demands to retain the TV rights to the entire DC/Baltimore region. I mean, c'mon—is one team owning the TV rights to another team not the very definition of "conflict of interest"??? And they can spare me that rhetoric of Angelos paying the Lerners a respectable and fair sum to air the Nats games. I'm sorry, but there's nothing anyone can say that will convince me that the owner of the Baltimore Orioles, the man who fought heaven and earth to keep a team out of Washington, is in any way entitled to profit from the presence of a team in Washington.

Having said all that . . . I still find myself somehow happy that I can sit in the comfort of my own living room and watch a Nationals game on TV every night! Somehow, enough time has passed for me to forget that this TV deal is corrupt and that MASN is the brainchild of politics, intimidation, cowardice, and good-old-boy bullshit.

And as I sit here watching the Nats try to pull it together against the Blue Jays . . . it might be best for Nats fans to remember the price we're paying (literally!) to see the games on TV—particularly the next time you pay your Comcast bill.