For about a decade now, we have continued to hear about Major League Baseball’s labor woes. It seems Baseball Commissioner/Antichrist Bud Selig’s sagging mug has been on the television weekly complaining that teams are losing money, contraction must occur and that the Expos are better off in Reykjavik than Montreal.
At the same time, baseball union head/talking head Donald Fehr has been on TV trying to justify the salary structure that allows Texas Rangers’ shortstop Alex Rodriguez to make a ridiculous $25 million a year.
We are tired.
By this point the arguments on either side are as interesting as a 2002 Colgate Football media guide.
San Diego Padres owner John Moores said that he would prefer a yearlong work stoppage to a bad deal and that 10 other owners would support his position.
In response, we say “Shut up.”
The Player’s Union has rejected the owners’ reasonable proposal for a revenue “price-floor” so that teams cannot spend less than a certain amount on players per year to counterbalance the proposed luxury tax. The union rejected the payroll floor proposal because they cannot support a salary cap or a salary floor, as they are contrary to the free-market principle.
To the Player’s Union, we again say, “Shut up.”
We don’t care if the owners are right; we don’t care if the players are right. We don’t care if baseball needs a luxury tax or revenue sharing. We’re just tired of hearing about millionaires and billionaires fighting over more millions and billions.
There is not much in sports more exciting than postseason baseball. The games are always close, the pitching is always dominant and the strategy is always thick. The chances for unlikely heroism and failure are unparalleled. Games in the postseason are quicker as well; with better pitching there are less of the football-like 17-13 scores and five-hour games that are common at Coors Field.
This time of year, every year, we should be thinking about the World Series past and the one upcoming, not if there is going to be a World Series. It is better for fans to wonder whether the Braves are going to choke again in the playoffs than whether Kansas City Royals’ owner David Glass is going to choke Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner over his comments in the newspaper.
After the strike of 1994-5, baseball needed Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s homerun duel to rejuvenate interest in the sport. Now, however, Big Mac is retired and Slammin’ Sammy’s on steroids. A strike and a World Series cancellation so soon after the last one could close the casket on baseball’s popularity in this country. It would be a shame, especially for fans who love the game and stadium workers who rely on the Major Leagues’ revenue for their livelihood, not their third Mercedes.
To quote the late-R & B singer Aaliyah, “We Need a Resolution.” This time, though, the resolution has to be lasting.
As for now, we are tired of writing about this topic.
