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I, like most of
SportCenter’s
audience, have been hearing
a lot about the upcoming player’s
strike
on August 30th. I’ve
been a baseball fan who has followed his
Orioles nearly since birth
but when I attempt to reflect on the upcoming event, I can’t help
but think “who cares?”

Really, who cares? Why should I care about the players? Why
should I care about the freakishly rich owners? Why should I care
about the sanctity of the “game”? It’s just a game, after all.
There’s a little bat, a ball or two, and some pieces of rubber
to run around on. I flip on the T.V. and there they are, playing
backyard ball on center stage, swinging the little stick and hitting
the little ball.

This little game that wants to be called America’s pasttime
has some major things wrong with it this time of year.
September begins the time of fan apathy. The hopes of early
summer are already gone for most of the league and, by relation, most
of the fans. I suppose the fans from New York may mourn the loss of
World Series but should the rest of us? We knew the
Yankees
would likely win it anyway – we knew it last year (beautiful loss, by the
way) and we know it will likely happen again and again in the years
to come. The playoffs in baseball are just a synonym for getting the
richest teams together to have a party of sorts. The difference
between the haves and have nots in baseball is the equivalent of a
homeless man peering into the window of a coffee shop. The rest
of the league stares at the glorious play of the few from the
sidelines.

But that may be the least of baseball’s problems. Football, a model
of modern sports, is back. There couldn’t be a more serious
competitor for average sports fan. Who will win the Super Bowl
this year? I don’t know. I really don’t. Everyone who thought
the Patriots would win it last year put your hands up.
(Those of you in Boston can put them down. We all know you didn’t really
believe it even after it happened.)
Talk about parity and talk about intrigue. Oh, and people get to
tackle each other, hard. Can it get any better?

Baseball, if you go through with the strike, just get it right this time
around (here’s a enlightening
suggestion
to start with). If you want to sacrifice the present for the future, do it.
Throw the baby out with the bath water. Wipe the slate clean and
begin anew. For heaven’s sake, look to other
sports in the US and implement a salary cap.
This would be the third strike in the last ten years.
By your own accounting your number of chances is up.
This time figure out something both sides can live with
before baseball fans figure out that they can live without you.
But get it right. Just get it right.

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