Because sometimes, some things get lost in the translation from the PR podium to the real world in sports media land. Especially in the summertime:
Item 1:
* Pull up a TV tray and break down the things MLB commissioner Rob Manfred danced around when he was asked about the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA distribution mess while at the All Star Game press conference in Washington D.C. this week:
What he said: “They (Spectrum) own those rights. You can’t just go in and ignore those local rights that belong to someone else. You’d have to figure out a way around it.”
What he means: Our lawyers tell us our hands are tied. But if we pretend to try to find a loophole in this …
What he said: “We have explored two possible paths of influence … Unfortunately, a lot of those creative ideas we have affect the balance of power or the economic situation of the distributor or the RSN.”
What it means: We’re the most creative people we know. But we can’t create new laws that make us the kind of local rights fees.
What else he said: “It’s difficult to convince people to go along with any of these creative ideas. But we will be back at it again during this off-season.”
What he means: It’s difficult to convince Dodgers fans to go along with trying to sign up for games at this point because we think they’ve just given up.
As long as Spectrum holds the rights, it won’t compromise its exclusivity agreement with those who currently subscribe to the service. It is kind of interesting how Spectrum doesn’t offer online streaming access to its subscribers – like Fox Sports West does with the Angels. It fears perhaps that the passwords would be shared and exploited. Probably a larger issue: It won’t matter. How embarrassing would it be if they offered the channel a la cart and the response was dismal? The number of fans tuned out and turned off by this situation won’t just come clamoring back. Think of those who’ve already started up on the Spectrum subscription because of its attractive rates to new customers, but that deal has expired, and others are coming up with less expensive bundles.
When we say ‘during the off-season’ we have no idea what that means. Apparently because they’ve given up on this season.
According to the latest data by the Sports Business Daily, the Angels and Dodger rank 26th and 27th out of 30 regional sports network ratings for the first half of the season.
SportsNet LA has been drawing a 1.66 rating, actually up 13 percent from last year. The Angels’ 1.65 rating on Fox Sports West is up 74 percent — although the Angels are reporting it to be a jump of 79 percent, the highest year-over-year rating increase, and a jump of 93 percent in adults 18-to-49 and 67 percent in adults 25-54. This could result in the largest Angels’ audience on FSW since 2005.
The team with the lowest ratings: Oakland on NBC Sports California (0.67). The highest rated: St. Louis on Fox Sports Midwest (6.76, which is actually down 5 percent from last year). The biggest drop (50 percent) is with Baltimore on MASN (with its 2.89 rating).
Item 2:
Phil Mickelson wants to be a better man.
This is where we witness, as Scott Cacciola wrote recently 
Tom Hoffarth's The Drill: More Farther Off the Wall 