New Math

Here's a nugget of joy from Dr. Phil:

MLB accepted a seven-year, $700 million deal with DirecTV seemingly without considering that it had in effect taken access to the game away from potentially millions of its most passionate fans—specifically, the transplants who have moved away from their hometowns but still live and die with their teams. [emphasis mine]

Millions of fans? That's funny -- I see in a sidebar right next to Dr. Phil's article that there were a total of 500,000 subscribers to Extra Innings last year.

"Potentially" is one of those weasel words that writers like to use in order to puff up their arguments. And before you ask, yes, I will cop to using similar tactics in my own work. It's an old, useful trick.

But it's also weaselly. Dr. Phil will rush to tell you that the DirecTV deal will mean that millions of people who may or may not want the package will not be able to get Extra Innings. You have to read the Trib sidebar to see that 230,000 subscribers got their baseball fix with cable or the Dish Network. There's nothing potential about that lot. They're the folks who will be left out, unless they change their providers.

230,00 is a pretty big number. But apparently not big or impressive enough for some...