For those of you able to get it, I thought I'd do a personal review of the highly-touted MLB Network (honestly, though, I just want to talk about anything baseball-related that doesn't have the word "steroid" or "ARod" in it.)

Starting in January was a good thing for MLBN, but it hasn't necessarily been great for us as fans. To their credit, they have found a few jewels to fill their copious amounts of time. However, they are definitely stretching to fill the gaps until the season starts.

The Good

Ken Burns' Baseball. This series is spectacular. It's the first time I've seen it, and I'm already looking for it on DVD. The depth of detail on the sport is breathtaking, as are the images. I also love the actors reading the primary sources, and the narration is first-rate. It's what you'd expect from a Ken Burns series. The guy takes documentaries to a new level.

Hot Stove. Granted, the material for the show gets repetitive. I mean...how many consecutive days can you feature updates on Manny? However, it's a nice way to get introduced to the on-air personalities, and it's a great way for the network to separate the fruit from the chaff. It's great to see Harold Reynolds covering baseball again (keep your hands to yourself, sir), and Matty V. has been a solid host. Barry Larkin has been solid, too. Victor Rojas has really impressed, and Joe Magrane's humor is spot on.

MLB Tonight. I know...I know. This show hasn't even aired yet, but any show that starts at 6pm and doesn't end until the final pitch of the final game of the night has to be a good thing. Plus, their live look-ins will be really interesting, especially if they resist always going to the Yankees, Mets, or Red Sox. I'm hoping this will be a chance to see teams that don't get near enough face time.

The Bad

Prime 9. Maybe it's just me, but I'm just done with countdown shows. I think I got burned out during the whole Y2K thing. Even though the topics are decent, I just feel it creates a sad case of ADHD. Here you've spent the time and effort to line up the best 9 whatever things in baseball, yet we can only spend 2-3 minutes on each of them. Meh.

Home Run Derby. Really? Seriously? This is barely entertaining when it's the All-Star Weekend. You're telling me that you're going to show the whole thing...from previous years? No thanks! I'd rather watch canes' new TV on the messageboard. At least it has a DM sign on it. Then there's the whole sterrrrrrrrr...oops...almost mentioned a bad, four-letter word (roid...for those keeping score at home).

Hot Stove. Yep. It's in both the good and the bad. The bad just happens to be the fact that they cover the same things over and over. The horse is dead already! I think they went to continuous coverage of the Aroid scandal! What's the point of that? It's not like a war where the battlefield is constantly changing. Break the story. Discuss the story. Move on. Period. I can't entirely fault them, however. This has been the slowest offseason I have ever seen. This show is destined to be slow (especially if it's on daily), but this year has been dreadfully so.

The So-So

Baseball's Seasons. This one has some potential...I just haven't been drawn to any of the seasons so far. It has enough time to develop the major moments, games, and milestones, but like I said. It just hasn't caught my attention yet.

All-Time Games. Kicking off the network with Don Larsen's perfect game was pretty sick. What I liked most was the interviews, and...believe it or not...the COMMERCIALS! It was so funny to see those ballplayers pimping things like shaving cream. Otherwise, though, I'm still waiting for the replay of the Rockies--Padres play-in game from two years ago. October 1st, 2007. Otherwise known as Black Monday. That was the day everything went downhill, and we haven't recovered yet. Plus, it'll be fun to just make sure that Holliday still hasn't touched the plate.

Inside the Moments. Again...not terrible...just nothing has jumped out at me on this one. I haven't seen much of it, to be honest.

Well, those are my 2 cents. If you're still reading this, you must not have much of a life. And, by extension, since I wrote it, that tells you how much further down the food chain I am from you. Ciao!