Packers-Cowboys: Can't see TV

It’s as if Bud Selig is running the NFL.

The best game of the week, perhaps one of the best games of the season, won’t be available to most viewers across the nation because most cable companies do not include the NFL Network, and the NFL Network is the only place where you can see tonight’s Packers-Cowboys game.

Why the dig at Selig? Because only baseball finds ways to keep its fans from viewing its games.

Until now.

The NFL was always good about televising the big games. Premier match-ups were scheduled for Monday night and the playoffs are staggered in such a way that every game is on everywhere. The league has even gone to a flexible schedule late in the season to move better match-ups to Sunday Night Football.

But there doesn’t seem to be any give on getting the NFL Network as part of cable networks’ premium packages.

The game isn’t available to most viewers in Manatee County unless they have Direct TV.

Is this the NFL’s way of trying to make even more money, or is the league slowly drifting toward the day when all its games will be on cable instead of the major networks?

Too early to tell, there.

All I know is the best game of the year not involving the Patriots and the Colts won’t be on in my house. Oh, sure, I had no problems seeing Miami and Pittsburgh splash around in the rain Monday. Best 3-0 game I had ever seen.

But the game that could decide home field advantage in the NFC playoffs?

Another chance to see Brett Favre shine in prime-time?

Most of us are out of luck.