The Sports Equivalent of New Coke

I don't want to set off a political discussion here.  But speaking in a general way, all specific policies aside, MLB's decision to go big on gambling is one more example of why this country is rapidly going to hell in a hand basket.

It is yet another example of neglecting what has worked well for 150 years, and throwing it in the trash for a quick boost in profits.

You have this business, this product—for this is how MLB's padrones think of it, I'm not expecting them to be actual, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed BASEBALL fans, for cryin' out loud—and it's deteriorating steadily in popularity.

Why?

Because it's too long, it's too slow, it's too expensive and inconvenient, it's too uncomfortable at your places of business.  And because it's now being conducted in ways that are radically different from the ways it generally has been done in the past—ways that have had a remarkably long run of popularity.

Baseball has become the New Coke of sports.

So, what's your answer?  Go back to the original Coke formula?

Why, you go for the quick money fix!  You go for it even though you KNOW that this very "improvement" has nearly capsized your entire business before.

You go for it despite the fact that you know it will only serve to increase the level of human misery in the world, corrupting and drawing more adults—and even kids!—into a painful and ruinous addiction.

Fuck gambling.  Why not hand out free syringes of heroin, or crack pipes at the stadium gates?  "Groove on baseball!"  Why not just attach hoses to each seat so for a low, low package price you can just suck up beer all game long?  (BeerHoze patent pending.)

Why not do anything and everything you can to maximize revenue, right here, right now, without ever addressing what all of your customers are most turned off by?

In America today, the customer isn't always right.  He's a sucker, waiting to be played.