I’m sitting up in the press box today with my buddy, an ex-umpire who gets paid to evaluate crews who come through NYC. Whenever it looks like an ump blows a call we all stare at him…and he pretty much ignores us and jots down some notes.

One of his jobs is to time breaks between innings to see if the umpires are doing their job in moving the game along. Now, I knew FOX games go long, and he just informed me of one of the many reasons. FOX broadcasts tack an extra 20 seconds onto every commercial break. That only adds up to an extra six minutes a game, but for some reason it feels like forever between half-innings.

Maybe I’m just kevetching…or trying to get even with Fox for insisting upon making Buck and McCarver their top baseball coverage team. Either way you slice it, I’ll take a local broadcast any day.