Columnist Neil Best, whom I'm unfamiliar with (and shall remain so as is bio page is pretty much unreadable), gives a guarded thumbs-up to the launch of the MLB Network. He sees the regular season as being the channel's true testing grounds. For now, it's just treading water. Any initial thoughts, BCBers? I happened to be near a TV at around 5 pm yesterday, so I couldn't resist watching the countdown and seeing the channel go live. Bug Selig materialized like the Emperor from "Star Wars" and gave his usual spiel. Then it was on to the Hot Stove coverage. My wife dragged me kicking and screaming from the room at that point. I did, however, catch a little of Don Larsen's no-hitter later in the evening. Is it me or was that ump's strike zone a little insane? Seemed to be calling a lot of outside strikes and a lot of high ones as well. Maybe it was just the angle. Am I still typing? Maybe this should have been a Fanpost. Hey, look, a chicken!