Saturday, December 26, 2009

Letter to the Editor: Buffalo remains in play


Buffalo News (New York)

December 20, 2009 Sunday


Dear Editor,

With all of the hoopla over the New York Yankees winning the 2009 World Series on account of their payroll, as a Yankee fan, I can honestly attest to two things -- It was much more fun when the Yankees won the 1996 World Series as an underdog against the renowned Braves and all professional sports are completely out of control with salaries.

It will be a very interesting offseason in baseball with the low revenue Minnesota Twins attempting to keep their hometown hero, Joe Mauer, around for the long haul. Mauer has stated he'd love to stay in Minnesota, but why hasn't he signed a long term extension at the reported $12.5 million per year? The answer is simple -- Mauer will be a free agent following the 2010 season, and both the Yankees and Red Sox will need a catcher.

The union and the agents will pressure Mauer, the reigning MVP, not to sign with Minnesota and hold out for possibly more money than even Alex Rodriguez could imagine. But again, if Mauer wants to be in Minnesota so passionately, why hasn't he signed?

The system is flawed and the only people to blame are the stupid fans who keep insisting on more. In our abysmal economy somehow 18,000 people make it down to see the Sabres play; the NHL minimum salary is $500,000. Even with horrible teams, the Bills seem to manage more than 50,000 fans to see the NFL minimum player make $310,000. Our stupidity drives up the highest priced players which in turn drives up the minimum salary which in turn drives up ticket prices, apparel prices, etc.

You want to complain about the Yankees, fine, but they are no different than any other major sports team. I adore sports, but I live for the day this market finally crashes.

Erik Zobel
Clarence

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh, he attests. Well, that makes all the difference.