Fans of the game, I submit to you another wrong committed upon your viewing pleasures by the powers that be. Today, Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game and there was no television interruption.
Yes, I’m upset.
I would’ve tuned out the Celtics-Cavs game for the final innings of Braden’s masterpiece. Even Braden’s near masterpiece, had that been the case. As I see it, TV interruptions are for, as they’re meant to be, the big sh*t. And as the 19th player in Major League Baseball’s history to ever pitch a perfect game, I think it would’ve have at least merited a couple of game breaks or updates on all news and sports oriented TV stations.
That includes you ABC.
Dallas Braden, right, is congratulated by his teammate Landon Powel after pitching a perfect game Sunday. It would've been nice to see him complete the game.
However, I am not ready to believe that there was no television interruption conceived of by the 9th inning, in which Braden was set to create history. I want to believe that somebody messed up big time.
Hailing from the Bay Area and living on the East Coast, I know very well of the East-West bias. Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs dominate national television scheduling for baseball, and everybody else is just the “opponent.” Only when Barry Bonds was on the San Francisco Giants did the Bay really get love. But even then, Oakland was left out of the equation. So it is conceivable that somebody saw that a perfect game was underway, noted it was an Oakland pitcher — a no-name fella if there ever was one — and waived it off as uninteresting. That person, if he or she exists, should be fired.
At the same time, I am also aware of the mangled and often confusing TV contract history of the Oakland A’s in the Bay Area which can be used as a very opportune scapegoat (especially with local affiliates like KICU). Finding them on a specific channel from game to game, as I recall it, was not always easy. That’s not an excuse now. They’re featured on 150+ games on CSN Bay Area, a frequent provider of footage to ESPN/ABC, including today’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
No, what we have here is a complete meltdown in the face of breaking sports news.
Braden’s perfect game will be highlighted on the front pages of every single sports section in the country Monday morning, further emphasizing the lack of a national television presence — especially by the 9th inning. This all points to a supreme lack of judgment. Just point me in the direction of who was in charge. I want to kick them in the shins.
I'm a sports producer for Boston.com, originally from San Francisco. I was the second place winner for "columns" in the California Newspaper Publisher's Association Better Newspapers contest in 2008. My favorite teams are the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors. For more information about me, go to ZuriBerry.com. 
Zuri, I’m assuming ESPN did interrupt, but ABC can’t. It has no contractual obligation with Major League Baseball and, therefore, was probably prohibited from doing so. A TV station can’t just siphon the live feed from another network. It doesn’t work that way. It would need the consent of Major League Baseball, and I doubt its broadcast partners would have gone for that.
I don’t think I’m wrong here, but if I am, I hope my colleagues on the listserve will set me straight. Yes, it was history, but you shouldn’t be upset with ABC for not doing what it couldn’t possibly have done: broadcast the final inning.
Thanks. I hope that’s the case. I just figure that these things are worked out in the background so that way it can be shown. And seeing how ABC and ESPN are both under Disney, it would make more sense to me that it would be seamless with the partnership ESPN has with Comcast.
It’s funny you mention it bc even Sfgate.com mentioned the eastcoast bias a few days ago… bay area sports get no love…I don’t even watch sportcenter any more bc I have to sit thru Yankees Red Sox Mets Dodgers highlights and then they start breaking down their games all thru the first hour before we get to our 1 minute of A’s and Giants highlights…lol SMH
Exactly. Don’t even think about turning on the alleged world wide leader if you’re in a fly-over state.
I am boiling as I write this. Today, I had to go back a century and listen to the radio — remember the radio? — to this “witness” this historic event. You had to respectively and admirably use the asterisk in this blog posting, but I will not do so in this commentary: Fuck ESPN, and everyone else who didn’t show the ninth inning of the boy from Stockton’s perfect game. A couple of weeks ago I remember another pitcher, I’m not exactly sure where from, getting covered for a potential no-hitter. They showed him in the eight inning. Guess what? He blew it, but still it was worth watching. So would have Braden’s game. Except for, guess what? He didn’t blow it. And because of that, I am really pissed at ESPN and ABC — I don’t care about the legalities, if someone is making history, show the damn game and throw your policies out the window — for not showing the fantastic story of Dallas Braden. What a story it was for him, on Mother’s Day, a player who has lost his mother, and yet, minimal coverage.
To top it all off, Zur, I couldn’t even watch the game. Astound, a bay area cable service, was showing Giants Post Game coverage rather than Braden throwing a perfect game. Just goes to show you just how much love a small market team gets. The world of baseball, sports in general, and television stations all around need to wake up and figure out that there are more teams out there than just those on the East Coast.
Zuri: thank you for writing this story and opening up discussion. I hope you can continue plugging the West Coast out there in the East. Wake em up for us, son. Do like Magic Johnson did and show Boston, and the rest of the East Coast, what’s up.
– Mando
Oh fa sho.