| I like baseball. I’m in a fantasy baseball league, like to talk about the players and games, and root with my friends for our favorite teams the Mets, Phillies, and even the hated Yankees. If they do decide to strike on August 30th, I don’t think they will come back, and frankly am not ready to give up my baseball fix for 2002. The players are too concerned with the business end of the game. They should just worry about earning the huge paychecks they receive for playing the game. Their Union is much too powerful and is going to instigate and organize a stupid strike, because they don’t like the owners plan for their earnings. They want the “free market” to determine their pay. A bitter me says “fine, let’s see what happens”. Here’s what should happen. If a team can’t afford to pay the players, they should either sell the team to owners who can, or go bankrupt. If they sell to wealthy owners, America’s pastime in just months will look like Japanese baseball. Tonights game Between the Dupont Phillies and the Anheiser-Bush Cardinals is sponsored by Gatorade. General seating (of 500) is sold out, good corporate boxes still available! If the latter is to happen and teams can’t find suitable buyers (and remember, Big Business likes to MAKE MONEY, not LOSE MONEY), they should pack it in. Within months the league of 30 will shrivel to a league of 20. Nice job Mr. Fehr, you fought for 48 jobs and lost 240. Players want owners to foot the free market bill, but don't the fans actually pay most of that freight? However, Mr. Steinbrenner’s $170 million dollar payroll doesn’t come thru the gates, it isn’t mathematically possible. The money he spends comes from other venues. Venues all 30 teams can’t compete with, due to the fact that there is only one Big Apple. The players wouldn't dare indicate that the fans should shell out more, so let’s just say they expect miracles only from the companies they work for. With that in mind, how about this scenario. A wealthy owner decides to buy the Minnesota Twins and move them to a city he chooses. Let’s say Jamestown, North Dakota. The owner is Maktoum al Sadam bin Maktoum Adin. He is going to change his new team name to the Jamestown Jihads. Each game draws 17 people. The average salary though for his teams is a whopping 3.1 million bucks a year, so players are dying to get on that roster. The stadium faces North, and for each home game there is a delay between innings 2, 4, and 6 for prayer. The Jihad uniforms are very baggy, all white, and the cap has been replaced with a towel with the letter J pinned to it. Free market, exploding paychecks, and not a fan to be found. Is there anything wrong with this picture? Maybe it’s not the players fault. Maybe the wealthy owners have priced themselves right out of the game. One can’t expect Steinbrenner or Doubleday or Turner to give in to the other. The only way those people learn their lessons are through the bottom line. Losing is very bad for the bottom line. Imagine if a top 5 payroll team didn’t make the World Series the next five years. THAT would change a few business practices I bet. If that’s the case, we as fans have only one thing to do, and that is “root-root-root” for the little guy. GO TWINS! To start in our new appreciation for the Twins and Reds of the world, let’s celebrate with a little Twin Cities trivia! 1. What was the name of the first Twins stadium? Twins Stadium, Twins-Vikings Stadium, The Metrodome, or Metropolitan Stadium. 2. What now stands on the site of the Twins first stadium? Mall of America, The Twins Corporate Offices, The Metrodome, or a Dairy Farm. 3. Who was the last Twins player to be named rookie of the year? Marty Cordova, Paul Molitor, Kirby Puckett, or Ron Coomer. 4. What team did the former Twins player Paul Molitor play for before joining the Twins? Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, or San Diego Padres. 5. What Twins player, who holds the Metrodome home run record, also is in 2nd place in all time Twins' homeruns? Ron Coomer, Paul Molitor, Kent Krbek, or Kirby Puckett. Feeling better already! If that doesn’t work, football season is just a few weeks away. Eddie Carpenter~Wilmington, Delaware (Send editorials to crwhitey2000@yahoo.com) |
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