FanHouse Ted Turner

In the early 1990s, the WWF (now WWE) made a concerted effort to combat a public perception that its stars were using steroids, with wrestlers like Hulk Hogan appearing in videos like this to praise the organization's drug testing policies:



But by the mid-90s, the professional wrestling landscape had changed significantly, with Ted Turner offering huge sums of money to lure wrestlers to his promotion, the WCW.

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.

While the real news in the NL East today has more to do with Tom Glavine's disastrous first inning for the Mets -- who now need the Nationals to save them from total and utter collapse -- a time-honored NL East tradition is going by the wayside: TBS will no longer broadcast the Braves.

This robs the Atlanta franchise of a Cubs-like national audience; both teams have built huge fanbases thanks to the readily available games included on most cable systems across the country, and both teams now boast a variety of fans in baseball-bereft areas like Kansas and Iowa.

Why the axe? As cable has evolved, explains the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Tim Tucker, ratings have become increasingly fractured, something that has hurt the Braves just as much as it has hurt network news broadcasts and formulaic sitcoms. The old power is shifting, and no longer will young minds be subjected to Braves baseball against their will. A sad day, unless you're a Mets fan.*

*It's actually still a sad day, because your team is blowing it. But the long-term looks bright!

(HT: CStB)