Column published

I'm a little late getting this up -- this column was published on April 30 in The Cameron Herald and The Rockdale Reporter. I was trying to be nice in print but this really pisses me off. The Rangers should change their name to the "D/FW Rangers" because they sure aren't the Texas Rangers any more.


I Just Want to Listen to the Game

When my dad was a boy growing up in Rockdale, before there were baseball teams in Texas, he used to listen to the St. Louis Cardinals. When I was a kid he and I used to spend summer nights with the radio on in the open window listening to stations from all over the US and Mexico. My kids, who are now grown, say they have fond memories of drifting in and out of sleep in the back seat on nighttime car trips while we listened to the game in the front.

Why all this nostalgia? Because I can no longer get the Texas Rangers on the AM radio in my car. Yeah, I know, it’s the crappy Rangers, but they are my team, and there’s something about passing the time listening to them when driving at night. The other evening I checked the score on my Blackberry before I got in the car and they were ahead, which doesn’t happen that often, so I wanted to hear the end of the game.

I tuned my radio to KRLD-1080, but guess what? THE GAME WASN’T ON!!! Instead they had some mediocre, ditto-head, Rush Limbaugh wannabe talk show where a kookoo lady caller was wondering if America was turning into a new Weimar Republic. Jeez, enough already. I can hear that any time, day or night. Isn’t KRLD the “flagship” station of the Texas Rangers Radio Network? Don’t they have Eric Nadel’s picture on their web site? You’re telling me they can sell more ads for a self-righteous conspiracy theorist than they can for a baseball game?

I called KRLD the next day and found out that they only carry Rangers games on the weekends; they are on a Dallas FM station during the week, which we don’t get in central Texas, and none of the radio stations in our area that sometimes broadcast the game (Waco, Austin, Bryan) have a strong enough signal that can be picked up at night.

So now my only recourse is to pay to hear the game. Yes, I said “pay”. To quote Tom Petty: “As we celebrate mediocrity / All the boys upstairs want to see / How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free.” One option is XM Radio, which carries every major league game, but that involves installing a special receiver and giving them your credit card. It’s loud and clear, but it’s the principle of the thing. It would be one thing if I lived in Ohio and wanted to hear the Rangers, but I’m in Texas, dang it, and I should be able to get them on the Philco radio that came in my dad’s old Ford.

My other option is to sign up at MLB.com to hear it on my computer. It’s not that expensive, only $15 for the whole season, but I have to have my laptop with me, which is obviously freaking useless in my car unless I dish out $30 a month for an internet card.

So then I found out that I could sign up to hear a “streaming audio” broadcast of the game on my Blackberry, which costs me another $15 for the season. OK, except it’s not very loud because it’s a phone, so I have to hold the thing next to my head or use an earphone.

That makes me think of the transistor radio I got for my 10th birthday. I carried it everywhere I went, and one time in 4th grade I put it in my sock and ran an earphone up my pants leg and under my shirt so I could listen to it during social studies. So to listen to the game on my Blackberry I have to use an earphone, just like in 1972. And it turns out that the audio on my Blackberry cuts out in bad coverage areas, just like my old radio when I went under a bridge or if there was lightning.

You know me, I’m all about technology, but, really? I have to have a fancy phone with an internet package and PAY to listen to the crappy Rangers in my car? For the “Cubs of the South?” For the “Strangers?” Really?

So, KRLD, I guess you did it for a business reason, but is it worth denying us hopeless Rangers fans the opportunity to ride around in the sticks and hear the bullpen blow the lead or Michael Young win it with a walk-off homer? Can’t we just forget about all the mean-spirited blab for a few hours? Come on, we just want to pass the time listening to the game.