1. Shouldn't TV broadcasts be in the service of the viewer?

Digital will change the nature of how we get our broadcast TV, but not how much we want to pay for it. But then TV is about advertising dollars and sponsorship rights, not viewer pleasure.

ESPN, for example, will carry all Bowl Championship Series games from 2011 to 2014, reducing by at least 16 million the number of households that now get such games for free from over-the-air network broadcasts. The cost: $125 million from ESPN each year, and likely untold "dear subscriber" notes from your cable provider explaining that ESPN is being moved to a new tier, which you can get for only a few dollars more than you're paying now.

2. Isn't a game a game, no matter the opponents?

Not if there's a buck to be made. We now have premium games, silver/gold/platinum games and other variable pricing structures teams use in a growing scheme to extract more dollars from fans' pockets. The Buffalo Sabres, for instance, charge between $78 and $233 for platinum Toronto and Montreal games at HSBC Arena; between $58 and $173 for gold games against Eastern Conference teams; between $32 and $132 for silver and bronze games.

According to the Sabres Web site, "Individual game ticket prices are based upon the Sabres innovative, Variable Pricing System, which is a program where each game is designated by different classifications. Each classification is determined by the opponent, time of the year, day of the week, rivalries and games against all-star players."

So, no, a game is not just a game anymore.

The truly disturbing thing is that teams are asking fans to rate their favorite opponents, then using the results to suggest fans say they will pay more to see these four or six or 10 teams. And fans are still paying, in effect setting their own out-of-sight market for ticket prices.

We'd just watch on TV, but that's been covered in No. 1.

3. Shouldn't an athlete play, or retire, or perhaps come out of retirement?

When did it become status quo for athletes to hold franchises hostage by taking months off, well into the start of the next season, before deciding whether to return for the season at hand?

Mats Sundin has general managers throughout the NHL running circles around each other for the right to bid on the guy's services for this season - which is nearly one-third over. Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer pulled the same trick on Anaheim a year ago.

Play, or go away.

4. Why are coaches and athletes who give the news media a hard time the first in line for TV broadcast jobs when they retire from sports?

Think T.O., Chad Ocho Cinco or one of the other hard cases in today's NFL won't wind up on TV in a few years? Think they'll belong there?

5. If no one's on performance-enhancing drugs, no one needs to take performance-enhancing drugs to keep pace.

Seems simple. Why's it so difficult?

6. Who's worth the kind of money being offered today?

No one.