Two more months before the next baseball strike

[WriterDom]

Will you come back?

 

[Azwed]

If they strike again then fuck them both. Another strike will probably be the end of pro baseball in the states at least in its current form.

 

[Shaq]

If they strike again then fuck them both. Another strike will probably be the end of pro baseball in the states at least in its current form.

That's what fans want to say...just so they don't think they are as dependant and unsubstantial as the Union and League are betting...but I think you're wrong...the game will suffer and lose money but the fans will eventually come back...


I still think Baseball sucks...not the game but the lack of a salary cap makes it a two team league...it's not fair hence it's not competitve hence it's not fun...

 

[Azwed]

That's what fans want to say...just so they don't think they are as dependant and unsubstantial as the Union and League are betting...but I think you're wrong...the game will suffer and lose money but the fans will eventually come back...


I still think Baseball sucks...not the game but the lack of a salary cap makes it a two team league...it's not fair hence it's not competitve hence it's not fun...

I agree that they need a cap despereatly but I personaly know a lof die hard fans that won't go back if there is another strike. I mean maybe they will watch to occasional game on TV but they won't go to the major league statdiums and thats where they get the real money from.

 

[Shaq]

I agree that they need a cap despereatly but I personaly know a lof die hard fans that won't go back if there is another strike. I mean maybe they will watch to occasional game on TV but they won't go to the major league statdiums and thats where they get the real money from.

The occasional game on TV is all they need...for every 3 that are lost to just an occasional game 2 are going to snatch the cheap prices on tickets and bring there families....I just don't get the sense from baseball fans that they really will be so fed up they won't come back at all....what else can they say? Admitting they'd still support the MLB would make me feel like shit if I were a fan....


I'm not a fan by the way so please tell me what is the biggest source of conflict between the two sides?

 

[miles]

As stupid as organized baseball is, I don't think they are stupid enough to go on strike this year.

I just can't see it happening given the mood of the country since 9/11. How do you think the Mets and the Yankees would be received, much less the rest of the teams?

 

[Marxist]

It's the entertainment business and a lot of money is at stake, so who am I to judge?


I'm a huge fan of the game, but this shit's gonna happen from time to time just as a matter of leverage.

Don't get your panties in a wad over any of this.

 

[patient1]

After that strike in the 80's I went on counterstrike for years until I didn't recognize a single player. After the big strike, I said I wouldn't even consider watching them again until they made up the world series they owe me, or I have a 10 year old kid that wants me to take them.

I haven't watched a game, or listened to one on the radio, or read about one in the paper, including stats. I haven't bought charter bus tickets to see one either, & I used to do that, too.I gave away my official team clothing , starter jacket, etc. to kids that still cared. When I quit going, so did the people I used to take with me.

If the other fans had made good on their threats like I have, the game would be fan oriented, or it would be extinct.

I'm not stupid enough to care about baseball when the people involved no longer care about me.

 

[Baron]

It's the entertainment business and a lot of money is at stake, so who am I to judge?


I'm a huge fan of the game, but this shit's gonna happen from time to time just as a matter of leverage.

Don't get your panties in a wad over any of this.

No, no, no. There's multinational corporate bullshitism but then there's also REAL multinational corporate bullshitism that can't even put a lawful, fair product on the field.

Compare the NFL to the MLB. In every respect, the NFL comes up superior. Most noticeable is the salary cap, this means a team in "Green Bay" (greater Wisconsin) can field a team equivalent in talent to what the New York Jets can afford. This is fundamentally untrue in baseball, in which George Steinbrenner's NY Yankees, with a total salary of more than $120 million, are going on the field against teams from Oakland and Tampa and Milwaukee with payrolls about a fifth of that. It would be like letting NFL team in the league play half its schedule against NFL Europe. Payroll disparity makes a joke out of this whole league.

Then you factor in recent confirmations of long suspected rumors that steroids are widely in use in baseball. This means all of baseball's historical tradition, home run records and so on, are broken under a cloud of suspicion. As is every bulky catcher and shortstop who's suddenly hitting out thirty a year.

If you dump on this mess the final straw of a strike this year, then yeah, baseball is fucked. Fucked forever.

 

[Marxist]

After that strike in the 80's I went on counterstrike for years until I didn't recognize a single player. After the big strike, I said I wouldn't even consider watching them again until they made up the world series they owe me, or I have a 10 year old kid that wants me to take them.

I haven't watched a game, or listened to one on the radio, or read about one in the paper, including stats. I haven't bought charter bus tickets to see one either, & I used to do that, too.I gave away my official team clothing , starter jacket, etc. to kids that still cared. When I quit going, so did the people I used to take with me.

If the other fans had made good on their threats like I have, the game would be fan oriented, or it would be extinct.

I'm not stupid enough to care about baseball when the people involved no longer care about me.

I think that's a great idea. I'm still indifferent though. I've known it wasn't just a game every since one of my favorite players got traded for no apparent reason (Keith Hernandez to the Mets?) when I was a kid.

It's a business. Pure and simple. If the fans don't buy the product, they've got bigger problems than a strike.

I'm not going to get mad if they strike.
I'm not going to get happy if they settle their differences.
It's a product that I want to continue seeing but if the quality and attention to detail isn't there, I'll start following something else.

 

[Blues]

I think that's a great idea. I'm still indifferent though. I've known it wasn't just a game every since one of my favorite players got traded for no apparent reason (Keith Hernandez to the Mets?) when I was a kid.

I think it may have had something to do with the whole Coke ring issue.

I gave up on baseball after the last strike. The players don't give a damm about the fans, and I refuse to pay to support them, so I don't really care anymore if they go on strike because they don't want drug testing or salary caps.

 

[CoolidgEffect]

After that strike in the 80's I went on counterstrike for years until I didn't recognize a single player. After the big strike, I said I wouldn't even consider watching them again until they made up the world series they owe me, or I have a 10 year old kid that wants me to take them.

I haven't watched a game, or listened to one on the radio, or read about one in the paper, including stats. I haven't bought charter bus tickets to see one either, & I used to do that, too.I gave away my official team clothing , starter jacket, etc. to kids that still cared. When I quit going, so did the people I used to take with me.

If the other fans had made good on their threats like I have, the game would be fan oriented, or it would be extinct.

I'm not stupid enough to care about baseball when the people involved no longer care about me.

I agree with you, but now I have a son that is just starting to get interested in Baseball. I don't want to see him get hurt, but I think this summer will convince him to just be a Basketball fan.

 

[Sillyman]

Let's see. Corporate Robber Barons who take money from the lower class to redistribute to their own pocket, or People who already make more money than Jesus for playing a fucking game. Hmmmm. I say fuck both of them. Hopefully they'll bulldoze the damn stadiums and build a library.

 

[Linedrive]

For those who don't think there will be a strike...reality will check in within 2 months. Sorry to say, I'll compare baseball knowledge with anyone, and this season will run the same course as 1994...a strike before post-season, bet your house on it.

 

[teddybear4play]

Compare the NFL to the MLB. In every respect, the NFL comes up superior. Most noticeable is the salary cap, this means a team in "Green Bay" (greater Wisconsin) can field a team equivalent in talent to what the New York Jets can afford. This is fundamentally untrue in baseball, in which George Steinbrenner's NY Yankees, with a total salary of more than $120 million, are going on the field against teams from Oakland and Tampa and Milwaukee with payrolls about a fifth of that. It would be like letting NFL team in the league play half its schedule against NFL Europe. Payroll disparity makes a joke out of this whole league . . .

If you dump on this mess the final straw of a strike this year, then yeah, baseball is fucked. Fucked forever.

I don't think so. Baseball is dying a slow death already. We all pity those poor fools in Minnesota and Montreal who may be losing their team, but most people don't really have an ounce of sympathy for Detroit, Florida, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Toronto, and some other cities who, for all intents and purposes haven't had a team in years. Very soon the day will come when those franchises have to fold, and middle market teams will be next on the chopping block.

The owners, especially the small-market owners, have to put their ass on the line this time and say, "We're not putting up with it anymore. We're not going to put ourselves out of business so superstars can make $30 million a year and mediocre players can haul down $4 or $5 mil. We're not going to trade our superstars for beans and put out shitty cheap teams just so we can break even."

A strike may cost baseball a lot of fans, but they have the choice of whether or not to go down fighting. But they all have to get on the same page about it, and they need better PR than the players. Or else they'll take the blame for it and lose even more ground.

TB4p

 

[Liontamr]

If they strike before August 12th I swear to god I will make a detour to New York and start knockin heads in a big time way!

I plan on seeing my first big league ball game in Wrigley no less... They better not take that away from me!

 

[SINthysist]

I said fuck 'em after the last strike.

Hate to impose socialism on anybody for any reason, so I am not going to whine about having a small-market club that's not competitive (Because they do dumbass things like bringing the fences in and planting real grass. Power is expensive, speed is cheap. But owners are idiots and fans want to see homers, so move 'em in, juice the ball, hell, juice the players {the next scandal on the horizon for baseball}, feed the fans a for-sure exciting, but losing product...). It seems to me that 90% of the time, the owners seem to think about as far ahead as an incumbent politician...

 

[Joe Adcock]

After that strike in the 80's I went on counterstrike for years until I didn't recognize a single player. After the big strike, I said I wouldn't even consider watching them again until they made up the world series they owe me, or I have a 10 year old kid that wants me to take them.

I haven't watched a game, or listened to one on the radio, or read about one in the paper, including stats. I haven't bought charter bus tickets to see one either, & I used to do that, too.I gave away my official team clothing , starter jacket, etc. to kids that still cared. When I quit going, so did the people I used to take with me.

If the other fans had made good on their threats like I have, the game would be fan oriented, or it would be extinct.

I'm not stupid enough to care about baseball when the people involved no longer care about me.

Well, you missed some great baseball. Hope the other people you denied access to baseball shared your plan to punish the game at the expense of their own enjoyment. I'm sure Bud Selig will be calling to beg you to come back any day now.

 

[SINthysist]

I'm with patient1.

And we have not missed great baseball.

The Little League plays all summer long down at the city park.

Truly great baseball. Not a one of the little ones juiced on steroids and creatine, just Mountain Dew and pogey-bait. The way it's supposed to be...

 

[Weird Harold]

The Little League plays all summer long down at the city park.

Truly great baseball. Not a one of the little ones juiced on steroids and creatine, just Mountain Dew and pogey-bait. The way it's supposed to be...

Not only tht, but damned few of them are making so much money they're too rich to sign autographs.

 

[Joe Adcock]

Professional Baseball and Robber Barons...

...more or less evolved together, and it has always been the plaything of ignorant plutocrats, pursued by talented freaks who ended up ruined for most other aspects of life by the devotion they show to the game. Baseball's most defining qualities are labor strife and scandal -- it is the only major sport to have had its championship series "fixed" by gamblers, and certainly its most important defining feature before 1947 was its institutional racism. Yet, it remains beautiful and geometrically mysterious even when played by cokeheads and steroid freaks. Of course they will lock the players out, and the players will respond by going on strike. It is the very essence of professional baseball to struggle over who deserves the real credit for the game -- the owners, or the players (and managers have a few things to say about it, too). We have had a baseball strike of some duration in each of the previous four decades to this one -- I doubt this one will be any different.

But if you want to have a convulsion, pout and bitch about the abuse to your faith in the game, and punish the plutocrats by denying them your hot dog money, feel fucking free. More beer for me.

 

[SINthysist]

You and the other 200 fans at Royals stadium...

The game is not entertaining enough for our culture. It is a relic. The sound level is so high now at the park that it's like being in a Casino. And it ain't fans cheering...

 

[Joe Adcock]

Funny, the Royals draw 43,000 when they play here at Safeco field.

It's too noisy! It's too hot! The players take drugs! The owners eat shit! You don't get good toys in Crackerjack anymore! The Designated Hitter rule has sapped our bodily essence and made lesbians of our daughters! Wah! WAH! WAAAAAH!!!!

America loves to hate the faults of baseball more than it enjoys the strengths of other sports. And pundits and learned minds have proclaimed its death every season for the past 132 years. But people will still be playing baseball when everyone reading and contributing to this board is a mote of dust in a Korean 4-year-old's bubble tea.

Besides, if Little Boots was willing to pervert the electoral process and jimmy his way into the White House, don't you think he'll find a way to keep the game going? All he has to do is say that our Strategeric Interestesses are served by the nationalization of the game, and he'll just draft them all into the Army and assign them to play ball.

 

[SINthysist]

When the Mariners come to Kaufman Stadium, I guarantee there's not 43,000.

The biggest seller of the year is this weekend with the Cards and even with all the Saint Louie fans coming up, they still had thousands of empty seats. But flyover country is a different place than the left coast...

Good line about the tea though.

 

[patient1]

Funny, the Royals draw 43,000 when they play here at Safeco field.

It's too noisy! It's too hot! The players take drugs! The owners eat shit! You don't get good toys in Crackerjack anymore! The Designated Hitter rule has sapped our bodily essence and made lesbians of our daughters! Wah! WAH! WAAAAAH!!!!

America loves to hate the faults of baseball more than it enjoys the strengths of other sports. And pundits and learned minds have proclaimed its death every season for the past 132 years. But people will still be playing baseball when everyone reading and contributing to this board is a mote of dust in a Korean 4-year-old's bubble tea.

Besides, if Little Boots was willing to pervert the electoral process and jimmy his way into the White House, don't you think he'll find a way to keep the game going? All he has to do is say that our Strategeric Interestesses are served by the nationalization of the game, and he'll just draft them all into the Army and assign them to play ball.

If & when taxpayers own the teams & the players earn army pay, I'll give it another look