Hi. My name is The Great White Shank, and I’m a doofus. Allow me to explain….

Two years ago when I was a Dish Network subscriber, and Major League Baseball’s “MLB Extra Innings” sports package had yet to be made available only to DirecTV subscribers, I purchased the package because the Red Sox games on New England Sports Network (NESN) were blacked out. For me, to be able to watch 2/3 of all the Sox games was worth the $140 subscription price.

Last year, after MLB decided to make “MLBEI” available on satellite only to DirectTV subscribers, I suffered through a year of MLB.tv. It wasn’t all that bad, but watching baseball on a 17″ computer monitor just didn’t cut it for me, so it was decided to make the move to DirecTV.

(Before I go any further here – and this is crucial to the story – you must know we have a HD big-screen TV and a HD receiver for that V. Just keep this in mind as the story unfolds…)

Springtime blooms and the major league baseball season begins to unfold. Like I had with Dish Network, when I ordered DirecTV I also ordered the regional sports channel package so I could get NESN for the pre- and post-game programming they run before and after the Sox games. So far, so good – the DirecTV guy comes, I click on channel 623 for NESN, and voila! I have NESN. I’m a happy guy.

We come to the night of the first Red Sox game of the season (actually it was their third after returning from Japan). Just to be sure, I click 623 and sure enough, I get a screen that says I haven’t purchased the channel. Figuring that’s the screen one would normally get because the game was blacked out, I think nothing of it and get my checkbook out and order the “Extra Innings” package at $170 clams. The next couple of Sox games are all featured on “MLBEI”, so I content myself with the privilege of once again being able to watch most of the Sox on my big-screen TV. And, like that Beatles’ song, I feel fine.

That is, until last Thursday…

To be continued…