No more Padres TV for me

I was just settling in to watch this afternoon's televised Padres Spring Training game when I was surprised to see a frozen message from Cox Communications on my screen with muzak accompaniment. Apparently Cox is going full digital and now you'll have to rent a digital converter to watch those channels formerly available via analog connection.

I cut the cord last Spring when my Cox bill ballooned to well over 200 dollars a month. I first tried to switch to AT&T but the guy who installed my service failed miserably and then refused to return my phone calls. So then I tried to negotiate with Cox as I had done in the past. This time they wouldn't give me any deals and this time I was prepared to walk away. That's what I ended up doing. Now I'm saving $160 a month and really happy with my decision.

I was pleasantly surprised that even though I had cancelled all TV service I still had low-def Fox Sports San Diego coming out of the wall with basic channels. I could still watch the Padres, which last season wasn't necessarily a good thing, but still.

Now, I'm forced to do what I had planned for last season. I'm going full radio. I'm actually pretty excited about it. Though I've always been a fan of consuming baseball games using Marconi's miracle machine, I was watching probably 80% of the games and only listening to about 20%. I'll miss Mark Grant but I'll still be able to catch his calls on highlights and it's only fair to give more love to the great Ted Leitner and new partner Jesse Agler after these years of TV favoritism.

I was just telling our buddy Jonny about my inability to watch games and he said that just means I have to go to more games, which I'm willing to do or find a bar, which is less likely. Then he suggested that the Padres bring back their Padres Watch Parties, that they implemented in the former regimes reign. They'd usually have a few bars around town that would host the parties during Saturday away games and two or three Pad Squadders would hang out and do trivia contests and games during the commercials. We went to two or three of these and while the locations we chose were lightly attended, they were a lot of fun.

In any case, I think some of you should voluntarily stand in solidarity and give up your TV service and go to games with me and or at very least invite me over from time to time.  I'll be like George Costanza watching Breakfast at Tiffany's with you.