Batgirl recently had the immense pleasure of flying on a US Air commuter jet--she forgets the company name and that's probably for the best--and when she lowered her tray table she found it was covered in a giant commercial for some stupid A&E show about auto racing, or chick mechanics, or chick auto racers, or something...Batgirl doesn't remember, which goes to show you how stupid the whole thing is because any advertisement where somebody doesn't remember what you're advertising afterwards is pretty much a giant failure.

The point is, we know advertising is everywhere, we know we can't escape it, we know baseball sold its soul ages and ages ago, but somehow it doesn't make this any less asinine.

Yes, it was announced last week that all games at US Cellular Field will now start at 7:11, so that every time you look at your ticket stub, you are reminded of that glorious company and all the wonders it brings to America. Baseball, apple pie, and totally disgusting corporate sell outs. Now, I'm not actually blaming Soxia for this because really it could have been any team, the only real shock is that all of MLB didn't adopt the new start time, change "homers" to "Big Gulps," and make the players microwave Dinty Moore buckets every time they get to a base.

But, really. Just because someone offers you a great opportunity to look like an ass doesn't mean you have to take it. This whole thing is absolutely ridiculous. $500,000 a year for this embarrassment?That's what your corporate soul is worth? $500K? Isn't that like only a week of Jim Thome? What do you really get these days for $500K, baseball-wise--like a Punto and a fourth? That doesn't even add up to one full size baseball player.

This is, of course, the Slurpee wave of the future; 7-Eleven is going to try to spread its nonsense across the game, and soon when we look at our tickets we will remember how utterly for sale every aspect of our baseball experience is and think, "Goodness, I need an antacid. Anyone know where there's a convenience store around here?"