Steve Breen for December 04, 2021

It was just a game. Then it became a business (quite a long time ago). And that business depends on a stable of “talent” who want a bigger piece of the cash flow. Seems pretty much exactly like “business as usual” to me.

BOTH sides are nothing but prima donnas, the players are overpriced ones, who do not give a dam about the fans!

When was Bowling ever big money?

All major sports are overpriced. Including colleges. And starting to get bad in high schools.

It shouldn’t cost a week’s pay to take your family to a game. The players are overpaid, the owners make obscene money and get government help and tax breaks, and the taxpayers foot the bill for stadiums. I like sports but they shouldn’t be another financial drain on so many communities.

When I was in college I could go get a bleacher seat ticket on game day at Fenway Park for $3 or $4. A beer was $2.50. Parking was outrageous at $5, but there were usually 5 of us in the car so that’s only a buck each. The game, 2 beers and parking was maybe $10. That same experience is probably $80-$100, now.

I follow sports for the unscripted drama of the games. Contracts and salary exceptions and franchising tags give me a headache.

Baseball… “Yawn”.

Tetherball!!! I’d watch that.

Baseball, along with other pro sports, has sold itself out to the gambling business. For all of its history baseball went out of its way to distance itself from gambling. Now baseball not only allows, but encourages betting on games. Televised games are now sponsored by gambling sites, and MLB network posts the odds along with the scores for every game. I guess Pete Rose was just born too soon.

Why I gave up watching major league baseball, a game I used to love. The other sports seems to have taken a lesson from MLB and get their contracts negotiated without the labor drama.

MLB and NFL are high dollar whores in the stable of Broadcast and Cable pimps. Hint: why do they shutdown the games at every opportunity to run incessant commercials and pop up ads to crowd your screen with more ads while the game is in progress? Hint: unlike the past, fans now can’t watch all their favorite team’s games without shelling out for an expensive cable sports package. In our Mammon is King Queen and God culture, players are whores, TV and cable are pimps, owners are made men, commissioners are godfathers, and the fans are suckers. Pay up suckers or watch beach volleyball. $$$ has ruined these national sports.

And I should care because…?

I won’t cry. Corey Seager just signed a 10 year contract for $325 million. That’s the combined salaries of 5416 teachers. If you’re not a teacher fan, substitute your favorite (that’s 3250 cops, 6500 soldiers, 4452 nurses). Now, I understand capitalism, sports and talent. While I’m not a sports fan, but even I’m impressed by watching Steph Curry dominate the court or Buster Posey effortlessly hit a home run (the Giants were robbed by a bad call), but I’m not $325,000,000 impressed.

The things we place value on tells all about America today.

“There is no “I” in "TEAM""

There is rather a lot of “$” in it, though.

Baseball is about as exciting as backwashing my waterpik.

Baseball was the national pastime when it was the only actual nationwide professional sport. But after the AFL and NFL leagues merged, football ruled supreme. It got a huge boost when Joe Namath and the Jets won Superbowl 3. Watching a three hour baseball game just to see a few hits and runs scored is just too boring for most people. Contrast that to football where something actually happens on each snap of the ball. While there are still quite a few rabid baseball fans, their numbers do not compare with those to whom football is more of a religion than a sport. Baseball had its heyday with the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle but nowadays the average person would be challenged to name even a few of baseball’s standouts. As Bob Dillon crooned, “The times, they are a-changin’”.

I lost interest in MLB during their strikes and lockouts in the 1990s. If they decide to cancel next season it won’t matter to me, but it could make a new generation lose interest in MLB…

Baseball has become so boring! It is like watching the grass grow. I stopped watching B-ball years ago!

Now it has become a casino. What could go wrong.

This is absurd. What indicator tells you MLB is on the way out, to join those other passe sports?

The reason MLB is so strong—record players’ contracts, records TV revenues, merchandising, etc.—is because the sport also has the strongest union of any team sport. Owners know the players negotiate from a position of strength, so everybody wins.

By the way, you can’t really include golf among those other dying sports. Golf’s purses are, once again, about to go sky-high. Bowling’s never were, and badminton in the US is restricted to backyard BBQ parties.

Baseball used to be a part-time pastime, played for entertainment. Old baseball cards used to show what jobs these guys used to have between seasons. Not anymore.

As someone who infrequently watches any sports on TV and even more rarely goes to a sporting event live, I won’t notice much at all. Those who love those sports will still love them and watch them, or even play them. The people who rely on those sports to become ridiculously rich, I’m really not concerned about at all.

Check this one, its only his summer home.Mario Lemieux’s $22 million Quebec summer home for salehttps://montreal.ctvnews.ca › mario-lemieux-s-22-million-…— For sale: hockey great Mario Lemieux’s massive 50-room Quebec summer home. The price of the six-year-old chateau-style Mont-Tremblant …

Today’s athletes especially in the NBA, seem to only care about sneaker contracts rather than winning and for the love of the game. That’s why Michael Jordan is a treasured icon forever etched in our lives not just here in America, but all over the world. Because it wasn’t enough for him to play in the NBA. He wanted to beat you! That’s an attitude we very seldom see today.

If you want to see good baseball at a decent price, go watch your local state and city ‘B’ teams. The money stays local for the most part and they do a lot for their communities. During the games they always have special events for the kids.

Oh, well…………..money does talk.