It’s on! But I am still pissed…I want an apology for putting us through this crap! Dicks!
cloakmanor: you hit the nail on the head as to why my interest in baseball is in it’s waning stages. And I had learned to actually enjoy baseball from Ko. I love sports. I love athletics. However, it’s the “striving to excel” in sports that draw me to it. But man, when it starts to become “too easy” (sorry, lack of a better word), than the sport begins to lose it’s lustre. And what type of challenge does that present to the athletes participating? Well, for one thing, they can then turn their attention to other things, like bickering about their oh so woefully dull wages.
I wonder…what would our country be like if our military had a union? Teachers have unions but they get paid squat and still have to put up with arses telling them that the teacher should pass their child because if not he won’t be eligible to start at tackle this Friday night and the scouts are supposed to be there watching. Wouldn’t it be great if your taxes were actually used to procure the services of teachers that were at the “top of their game” or were voted “MVT” and were good role models for our children. The only way to get our/my point across would be to STOP BUYING THEIR CRAP! When the well runs dry and they actually have to fill out an application for a job they might realize the error of their ways. Don’t forget Joe Schmukatelly who actually works at the stadium for a living sweeping floors, etc. who would be the most harmed by these prima doo-doo’s going on strike. Fookeirs! I blow my nose in their general di-rection!
While I don’t agree with you 100%, I do agree with you on a number of points and respect your opinion.
I think that the PR was on the side of the owners this time, I think we were being duped into siding with them. Nobody forced Tom Hicks to pay 100 million dollars more than the next highest offer yet he is crying poverty. There are owners that can’t properly run a ball club. Oakland has a good ownership yet they are called a “small market” team. KC, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Chicago WhtSox have incompetent owners who now with revenue sharing may not use that money to invest back into their teams. Plus it’s not the players who set ticket or food prices. Don’t get me wrong, I was not siding at all with the players, but I was not willing to side with the owners.
Truthfully though, I am glad the strike was avoided.
To TnickT…Thanks for the reply. I don’t side with either for a huge variety of reasons. While it is true that the owners set the ticket prices players salaries nonetheless make a difference in ticket and concession prices. I’ve observed these changes dating back to 1989 and as salaries skyrocketed, so to did the ticket and concession prices.
Now the owners (imo) dreadful attempt at running baseball has contributed, ironically, a good deal tosalary hikes in the past decade for reasons already stated in previous posts. I think their incompetence is related mainly to their outlook on baseball as a business ONLY. This institution is quite unlike any other “business” however and they need to address it in this fashion. Also their inability to band together against the players union had enabled the union to gain tremendouns power. So much so that the players can almost dictate owner policy to a certain degree. Quite honestly I’d find it difficult to have my employee dictating to me the w’s on how to operate my business; much less ones who’s sole purpose is to bleed me dry.
Whether or not the owners are losing money though is irrelevant imo. It’s human nature to withhold some effort if life is too comfortable. Having read so much on baseball history has certainly opend my eyes to this. I see far too less hustle on the field than their should be (another reason for the obsurdity of strikes even being an issue). If a person gets too used to “getting what they want” they can behave like children and forget reality. It’s interesting how in reality none of us truelly grow completely out of this.
Next, it’s unfortunate that this society has become so hedonistic that we’re willing to pay our hard earned paychecks on millionaires more interested in their next Rolls Royce or mansion than kicking the tails of their on-field opponents.
Lastly, after hearing the details of the deal I’m not so convinced the owners achieved a “victory”. Four years from now this situation, perhaps, may once again, become an issue.