FanHouse TBS

Now that TBS' coverage of the Divisional Series has ended, I think it's safe to say they did a decent job of covering all the games. Yes, there were a few things about TBS's coverage that I wasn't a fan of. That little 9-foot marker they put over at first base to measure a runner's lead off of the bag? Yeah, that was stupid and pointless. Frank Thomas as a studio analyst left a bit to be desired, and don't even get me started on Dick Stockton and his crazy hair.

Still, TBS must have been doing something right, because the ratings for this years divisional round games are better than they were last year.

Fox, like other broadcast networks, reach more than 113 million U.S. households who own TVs. Cablecaster TBS is accessible in only about 90 million households and doesn't even have the potential reach cablecaster ESPN had on its playoff coverage last year. ESPN also put its game coverage on local over-the-air TV in the cities of participating teams.

So, with less accessibility into TV households, TBS' first-round coverage would logically have lower TV ratings than the first-round coverage on Fox and ESPN last year. That was made even more likely considering that viewer interest, in any sport, usually builds the longer that playoff series last - and TBS had three of its four first-round series end in sweeps.

Funny thing, though. TBS finished its first-round games averaging 3.8% of U.S. households - up 18% from last year's first-round games on Fox and ESPN.

Baseball on TBS isn't over forever -- after all, they have a solid slate of playoff games coming up this week -- but Braves regular-season broadcasts are gone forever, and plenty of people are unhappy with the decision. After all, TBS' national reach built up lots of Braves fans not from Georgia or the South, and those looking for their team will now have to resort to more expensive methods like MLB's Extra Innings.

The dream also ended for Braves broadcaster Skip Caray, and he gave a fond farewell in Atlanta's last TBS game last night:

"The people all over the country who send you Christmas cards every year; the people who when dad passed, 5,000 of them sent notes or condolence cards; when I lost my brother the people all over the country who sent condolence cards as well - how do you thank those people and how do you say goodbye to those people? I don't know, but I'm trying to do it.

"You all must know how we feel and how I feel about you. You brought me back five years ago when they tried to bury me on television. The executives didn't [bring me back]; you did.

"... To all you people who have watched the Braves for these 30 years ... thank you. We appreciate you more than you will ever know. ... When we first came on the air on TBS, which was then WTCG, the big TV shows were M*A*S*H, Dallas, Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days and Charlie's Angels. We outlasted them all. The only one that beat us was 60 Minutes."

Somewhere, Mike Wallace (aggressively pictured at right) is cackling with glee, twisting and poking his Ted Turner voodoo doll, looking every bit the tanned-leather evil demon he appears on Sunday nights. And somewhere in Kansas, or South Dakota, or wherever, Braves fans are being welcomed to the life most of us already know: as slaves to MLB.com.