Here's a plea to the powers that be over at the new SiriusXM company, that newly minted company created by the merger of two struggling satellite radio providers. Do. NOT. I REPEAT. DO.NOT. MAKE. SPORTS.FANS.HAVE.TO.SWITCH.SERVICES.

Like approximately 18.5 million folks out there joined with moi over the years and chucked terrestrial radio for the commercial-free comfort of satellite radio. Trust me, many people I know asked if I was crazy to be paying for radio.

But with the evil Clear Channel empire laying its insidious plot to stamp out originality in local radio broadcasting for the past decade, it was a no brainer for me. Commercial free music, most cable news networks (although I'm still pissed that XM ditched MSNBC from its lineup), and sports, sports and more sports. I was in my version of Nirvana. I could listen to any baseball game I wanted or most any major college football game that I wanted. All I needed was the NFL. Unfortunately, I backed the wrong horse in that race. I had XM and Sirius lured the nation's No. 1 sport to its satellite waves.

But I never wavered, primarily because I'm normally working Sundays during football season anway, but now, I'm hoping that this new behemoth will see the light. How so?

The deal is too complex for my brain at this hour of the night, but here's the gist of their new packages. You can find XM's here.

The plan that most sports fans will likely be interested? the XM and Select Sirius and Sirius and Select XM plans for one simple reason - SPORTS.

With XM having the MLB package and Sirius the NFL and NBA, this is a marriage made in sports heaven. And personally I have little doubt that those packages are among the most popular for each service.

So here's a tip should muckety mucks for either company should be reading (yeah, right), do the right thing and make sure sports fans are taken care of in this deal.

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.

Well I'm finally wested and wewaxed and roaring to go.  Shocking that a week in Las Vegas can do that for you.

It's a good thing too with the baseball season officially underway and the Cavaliers heading to the playoffs, it could be a very exciting time in for the area - at least for a little bit.

Yes, there's a healthy bit of skepticism in that last statement.  Why?  Because I grew up in Northeast Ohio.  Skepticism is part of being a sports fan in this town.

While in Vegas I camped out at the ESPNZone for a couple of evenings to keep up on Cleveland area sporting events.  It was an excuse to eat things that I have no business eating and down a couple of frosty brews.  We could use an ESPNZone in this area, near the Gateway area as part Downtown Cleveland's revitalization right next to the House of Blues.  Not like I have a spot picked out or anything like that.  But that's another topic for another time.

I was able to see some of the Tribe's action in their "home opener" against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and part of the Cavs' thumping of the New Jersey Nets.  But let's deal with the Cavs first shall we?

Yes, they've looked fantastic during their last couple of outings - especially the other night against the Atlanta Hawks, yet I'm concerned.  Why?  Because unless the Cavs win out and da Bulls drop one of their last two, LeBron James and company will be the No. 5 seed.  What's the difference?  Let's see, who would you rather have in the opening rounds of the playoffs - New Jersey or the defending champion Miami Heat who now have Dwyane Wade back?  Yeah, I thought so.  During the times that I subbed for Cavs beat writer Brian Windhorst, the Cavs' lack of fire about losses frustrated.  In interview after interview local beat writers heard "it will work itself out."

Yes, it has.  Into a situation where the Cavs are fighting for a playoff position that they should have had locked up.  I was speaking with another media type guy today and we counted the number of games this team through away to sub-part teams such as the Charlotte Bobcats and New York Knicks.  If they end up in that fifth position they have no one but themselves to blame.

As for the Indians, right now you have to marvel at the fact that they sit atop the American League's Central Division standings. Given snowouts, home games in Milwaukee (where they outdrew the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks) they deserve mad props and so far, in a season where expectations are once again high, they look good.  Ace C.C. Sabathia is 3-0 after last night.  Grady Sizemore looks like an All-Star.  The best part of this?  It's April, the month the team is known for thinking they're still in spring training.  It could be a very fun summer.

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.