No, there isn't going to be a lot of game analysis here, primarily because I don't think there's much of a point to dissecting something that's likely already been sliced and diced to death today.

A lot of people have asked me what it's like to cover the Eastern Conference Finals, so what the heck.  I figured I'd offer some insight (as if the rest of you really care).

-  I've heard some people complain about the pyrotechnics the Cavs use before games.  Here's a piece of advice:  do not go to The Palace of Auburn Hills to watch one.  During their pre-game festivities they use the fireworks and spewing flames.  By the time it was done I felt as if I should have had an apple in my mouth, been garnished with pineapple and pineapple juice and roasted over an open pit.  Fun. Fun. Fun.

- I've been to a few arenas in my lifetime, but I've yet to meet ushers the caliber of the ones in Motown.  Ushers?  Who the hell am I kidding?  Some of them acted as if they worked with Tony Soprano.  Some of the badges don't even give them the title of "usher".  They actually read "crowd control."  How welcoming.  But on at least two occasions the crowd control folks crossed the line.  One grabbed me without permission and by the time he was done I wanted to ask him if it was good for him and whether he wanted a smoke.  Such fun.  And the biggest crime of all, he didn't even ask for my number.  I feel so cheap and used.

- Then there's always the irrationality that follows losses such as the one Thursday night.  I get home from Detroit and this gem waits in my mailbox.  Please note that as sloppy as I can be on this blog occasionally, the spelling and grammatical errors are not mine:

"i am sending in this preemptive email, before everybody starts bashing lebron.  why is it that everybody except maybe dan gilbert, see that mike brown is the problem.  he could get away with ineptitude against terrible teams, but the pistons bring out what many die hard cavs fans have been seeing all year."

Now everyone out there raise your hand if you think that the Cavaliers have a championship caliber team.  Go stand over there and the folks from your local mental health institution will be by shortly.

- Then there was this gem of an email that came in response to a column of mine that ran today:

After reading your article about the guy who doesn't have cable, I thought you might offer up better solutions. There are plenty of places to go and enjoy a game that are fan friendly. How about going to watch the game at a Damon's Grill??? They are family friendly

with four 12 FOOT Big Screen televisions. Personally I am sick of people whining about cable tv. This isn't 1979, its 2007! This person wasn't complaining the Cavs weren't on television when they were they were only winning 17 games a short time ago?!?!
Tell the guy to quit whining and do something about it!  He is probably the same guy who called Mark "Munch" Bishops show the other day complaining the game wasn't on TV.  It was on TV, its called CABLE TV and no one wants to hear his whining.

Ahhh such intelligence.  Such compassion.  Such questionable taste in dining choices.  Damon's?  As Rodney Dangerfield said so eloquently about the country club cuisine in Caddyshack - "Tell the chef this was low grade dog food."

As for getting cable because it's 2007, please.  He's a parent who doesn't want to put temptation in his house in the form of unwanted channels.  Being a parent, I get that.  Secondly, any league that wants to please its fans will want to make sure its post-season games are easily accessible.  Selling the rights to cable networks who do not intend to sell the feed to over-the-air stations doesn't exactly fall into that category.  This is why the NFL continues to dominate and the NBA and MLB continue to eat football's turf.

It's too early to tell what exactly is going to happen with Major League Baseball's Extra Innings package now that InDemand, a consortium of three of the nation's largest cable companies, apparently has agreed to match the terms of DirecTV's pact with MLB, according to a report from the Associated Press.

The pay-per-service has apparently agreed to carry the Baseball Channel (scheduled to launch in 2009), which is the crux of all of this metaphorical  pitcher's mound melee, to "at least the same number of customers" that DirecTV does.  MLB had decided to withhold the Extra Innings service to cable companies unless it was placed in the companies basic channel line-ups.   Were they right to do so?  That depends on your point of view.  Are they playing ummm…errr…hardball?  Yup, you betcha.

However I am scratching my head trying to figure out exactly what InDemand and the cable companies are doing.  Why?  It's simple.  DirecTV has approximately 15.6 million subscribers, the three cable companies that own InDemand - approximately 43 million.  If those companies are only guaranteeing that at least 15.6 million of their customers will see the new Baseball Channel, what's to happen to the other 27 million or so customers?

So parts of Northeast Ohio get the Baseball Channel and other parts don't?  South Jersey gets the Baseball Channel and Philadelphia doesn't?  It'll be the equivalent of chaos - dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria.

What should have been a simple business right of Major League Baseball - deciding the fate of a premium package of games - has grown into little more than a quagmire.  Let MLB does what it wants - if baseball fans vacate in droves, so be it.  But given that fewer than half of Extra Innings subcribers come via cable, I don't think that's going ot happen.