Know what? I'm outta words. There really isn't much to say anymore.
The owners will do whatever they want. Nothing we say or do will matter. We can impose "economic sanctions." We can boycott games, cancel the MLB channel. At some point, they'll notice it. But not this week. Not soon.
A handful of tiny men owns the game of baseball - the game of our parents, the game of Ruth and Mickey, the game we grew up wishing we could play. They don't care about our feelings. They don't care about our words. Never did, never will. They see the bottom line, nothing more. If they suffer the scorn of critics for a month or two, well, bad press can always be spackled over with money. Besides, they own the media that covers them.
Will the YES men criticize Hal Steinbrenner for his role in this lockout? Don't hold your breath.
So... now they're saying it's Crunch Time for a full 2022 season. The two sides are holding "marathon sessions," something they couldn't do over the last three months.
Know what? I honestly don't care. Outta words.
done done done done done...
ReplyDeleteMore playoffs. DH in the NL. Dumbass pitching clock. No shift.
ReplyDeleteWhat game is this? I don't recognize it anymore.
I’m OK with a certain amount of change, but it’s mostly limited to to the pace of the game. The game needs to be sped up, so anything along those lines has my approval. What can’t be changed is the mind set of a number of players who seem to have lost the grasp of situational hitting, unable to adjust to the shift, all the while bitching about how their swing would be affected. But the meat in my sandwich of discontent are the antics of ownership. The lockout, refusal to bargain in good faith, the disingenuous news conferences, refusal to give an accurate accounting of revenue, unwillingness to spend to compete on the field, making tanking an actual real thing have pushed me beyond my considerable limit. I know my voice is just a tiny squeak in the maelstrom of discourse, but perhaps the voice will join the choir. I will love the beauty of this unique game that I played all through my younger years and even into my middle years until I die. But that game is no longer reflected on its biggest stage. I’m not leaving baseball; but baseball has left me.
ReplyDeleteI stand in total solidarity with the moderators and wonderful, entertaining posters on this blog. Love you all! I want to say more, but I have to conclude with something that would have been unfathomable to me even a few years ago - I just don’t care about MLB anymore.
I just don’t care anymore.
ReplyDeleteFearless leader, you said: "...A handful of tiny men owns the game of baseball..."
Well, in reality, they own BASEBALL TEAMS, not the game of baseball. I would even go so far as to say they don't even own teams: they own a corporate entity that employs baseball players.
Even the players don't own the game. They get paid for a few years to indulge in the game at a high level and then they are gone.
We as fans own the game, and we as fans pay their salaries and contribute to their bottom line. Without fans, they've got nothing.
The whole thing is a confidence game propped up by all the money we as fans generate on their behalf. It is a corporate shell we are buying into based entirely upon nostalgia.
We dole out our money to these hacks based on emotion, nothing more.
It is our money they are fighting over and we don't get a say in the matter. I say let them die. It's time to pull the plug on the MLB ATM. I'm taking my wallet and going home to greener pastures.
We've seen this before, but it bears repeating. At this juncture perhaps the best thing that could happen to MLB is if the 2022 season is cancelled. We would be fooling ourselves to claim that "WE" wouldn't miss it, but perhaps it is time for the great reset. Purge the system, drain the reserves, pinch off the profits. Many of the workers that rely on games for their livelihood would be hurt by this, and that's a shame. That sniggering shitbag of a news conference Manfred held back on March 1st was an eyeopening reminder just how corrupt and insulting this all is. With COVID coverage fading and the war in the Ukraine (aka WW!!!) bursting at the news cycle seams, I see a strange and sad parallelism to it all. Maybe if the MLBPA had their own version of an outspoken and charismatic Volodymyr Zelensky, this would all be a bit more rousing and entertaining. But they don't, and it isn't, and the 2022 season might need to be done.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only professional sports league that has changed it's core foundation, only to make the game worse.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I keep saying, AboveAverage! Kill the squid!
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff everybody, Duque, Dick Allen, and the feeling is mutual, borntorun.
But yes, something big needs to change to get us back to the game. And I don't think it will.
Opening day pushed back to Apr 16. Same day as USFL opener. Please America, watch football. Humiliate MLB.
ReplyDeleteThey have taken the game that I literally played in a sandlot in sneakers and a t-shirt with neighborhood kids and murdered it.
ReplyDelete[If we only had a few kids it was an automatic out to hit to the opposite field and it was "pitcher's hands" for an out instead of 1st. base]
Fuck them all and fuck the stooges that are seen pushing balls through a fence for a Scherzer autograph.
This has literally reached the stage where MLB is like watching anything that features a Kardasian.(Sp.?)
In case I didn't mention it,
FUCK THEM ALL FOR INTENTIONAL MURDER.
This rant was brought to you by Bigalow Tea.