I’m so happy. :D
Darn, I was hoping to see the death of a second major league sport in L.A… It is the ultimate geek revenge.
I have to admit, I was hoping for a strike. Ever since Arod defended ending the all-star game early because “it was only a game”, i have hoped baseball would strike this year.
It doesn’t help that the indians were dismantled as Dolan begins his long term plans to move the team to New Jersey. He has already started complaining about dwindling attendence and how the city will not get any revenue from the ballpark next year because attendence will be too low. Our great county auditor gave him a deal where at a certain point, he can make more money by having lower attendence. He is the only owner to refuse more money for TV rights because he didn’t want to split the games among pay and cable TV. His family owns Cablevision. Hmmmm…
Lovely, and I am still paying a sin tax for the stadium.
Chet
Here in St. Louis the voters voted down funding a new stadium for the Cardinals. Now the owners are talking about moving across the river to Illinois.
The stupid thing is that Busch Stadium is a very nice stadium. It’s a bit old - nearly 40 years old – but it’s still more than adequate. The owners claim maintenance costs are high due to its age, but of course they want t a new stadium simply to get more luxury boxes.
Ha, here in Seattle they voted down a new stadium, and they ended up building two. The Seahawks move into their new digs this year, the M’s have been in theirs for a few years now.
I was hoping for a strike myself, but not because I have any particular interest in Baseball per se.
I just think that Corporate-Professional-Monopoly-Sport is “evil.” And I don’t been just garden variety “Portal of” type evil.
I mean full blown Spongebob Squarepants “Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy” type evil.
“EEEEEEEEVIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLL!!!”
So meet me at the invisible boatmobile and maybe we can “strike” a blow against those “boo-hoo I’m only making eight hojillion* dollars” types.
-Keith
*Hojillion appears courtesy Penny-Arcade.com
I would love for my city to build a baseball stadium financed almost entirely with taxpayer money and then watch as ticket prices and salries continue to soar. Then, I realize I cannot afford to attend a game because of said ticket prices and increased taxes.
Let them all strike, contract, and/or move to wherever ponies up the most dough. None of it is worth laboring through a 3 1/2 or 4 hour ball game enlogated due to excessive stepping out of the box, stepping off the mound, raising a hand to call time, adjusting equipment, spitting, and scratching. The game now bores me to tears.
Baseball has been replaced by football and will continue it’s slide as long as the powers that be in the union and with the owners keep it business as usual. After today, it seems as though that’s just fine with everyone.
Two words: Salary Cap. Not a cure, but it would have put baseball back on course.
I was hoping for a strike, as every day there’s a game it totally fucks my commute.
Oh yes: ticket prices are completely independent of player salaries.
Fuck baseball.
College Football’s back!
Fuck baseball! Summer’s for auto racing!
–Dave
Jesus H. Christ. I’ve never met such a bunch of malcontents in my whole life. :shock:
Don’t tell me there’s nobody here who’s happy the strike was averted?
At any rate, I’m looking forward to watching the Yanks cruise in the East, and a dogfight to the finish out in the West, featuring the Angels, Mariners, and the second-lowest payroll in the majors IIRC, the Oakland Athletics (who just rang up their 16th victory in a row)…
Bring on the postseason! :D
When you a) get screwed into paying a baseball stadium that the entire city voted against because the city council is a lot of feces chompers and b) every baseball game adds 20 minutes to your commute, you get kind of cranky.
Did anybody else get this via e-mail? I thought it was kinda funny.
Subj: Save Baseball!
A Plea for Help!
Since September 11, 2001, Americans have come together as never before in our generation. We have banded together to overcome
tremendous adversity. We have weathered direct attacks on our own soil, wars overseas, corporate scandal, layoffs, unemployment, stock price plunges, droughts, fires, and a myriad of economic and physical disasters both great and small. But now, we must come together once again to overcome our greatest challenge yet.
Hundreds of Major League Baseball players in our very own nation are living at, just below, or in most cases far above the seven-figure salary level. And as if that weren’t bad enough they could be deprived of their life giving pay for several months, possibly longer, as a result of the upcoming strike situation. But you can help! !
For only $20,835 a month, about $694.50 a day (that’s less than the cost of a large screen projection TV) you can help a MLB player remain economically viable during his time of need. This contribution by no means solves the problem as it barely covers the annual minimum salary, but it’s a start, and every little bit will help!
Although $700 may not seem like a lot of money to you, to a baseball player it could mean the difference between spending the strike golfing in Florida or on a Mediterranean cruise. For you, seven hundred dollars is nothing more than a month’s rent, half a mortgage payment, or a month of medical insurance, but to a baseball player, $700 will partially replace his daily salary.
Your commitment of less than $700 a day will enable a player to buy that home entertainment center, trade in the year-old Lexus for a new Ferrari, or enjoy a weekend in Rio.
HOW WILL I KNOW I’M HELPING?
Each month, you will receive a complete financial report on the player you sponsor. Detailed information about his stocks, bonds, 401(k), real estate, and other investment holdings will be mailed to your home. Plus, upon signing up for this program, you will receive an unsigned photo of the player lounging during the strike on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean (for a signed photo, please include an additional $150). Put the photo on your refrigerator to remind you of other peoples’ suffering.
HOW WILL HE KNOW I’M HELPING?
Your MLB player will be told that he has a SPECIAL FRIEND who just wants to help in a time of need. Although the player won’t
know your name, he will be able to make collect calls to your home via a special operator in case additional funds are needed for unforeseen expenses.
YES, I WANT TO HELP!
I would! like to sponsor a striking MLB player. My preference is checked below:
[ ] Infielder
[ ] Outfielder
[ ] Starting Pitcher
[ ] Ace Pitcher
[ ] Entire team (Please call our 900 number to ask for the cost of a specific team - $10 per minute)
[ ] Alex Rodriguez (Higher cost: $60,000 per day)
Please charge the account listed below $694.50 per day for the player for the duration of the strike. Please send me a picture of the player I have sponsored, along with an Alex Rodriguez 2001 Income Statement and my very own Donald Fehr MLB Players Union pin to wear proudly on my hat (include $80 for hat).
Your Name: _______________________
Telephone Number: _______________________
Account Number: _______________________ Exp.Date:_______
[ ] MasterCard! [ ] Visa [ ] American Express [ ] Discover
Signature: _______________________
Alternate card (when the primary card exceeds its credit limit):
Account Number: _______________________ Exp.Date:_______
[ ] MasterCard [ ] Visa [ ] American Express [ ] Discover
Signature: _______________________
Mail completed form to MLB Players Union or call 1-900-F%*&-THE-FANS now to enroll by phone ($10 per minute).
Disclaimer: Sponsors are not permitted to contact the player they have sponsored, either in person or by other means including, but not limited to, telephone calls, letters, e-mail, or third parties.
Contributions are not tax-deductible.
I was all set to sign up, so I’m glad to hear that they’re not gonna strike. Fortunately, I hadn’t sent my form in yet. :)
Funny, I was under the impression that the city and county approved funding, but the state rejected it, not the voters. Maybe I should start getting the Post instead of the Belleville News-Democrat.
They have shitty comics anyway.
I was definitely happy the strike was averted. However, until the Expos come to Washington to stay, I don’t think I’ll be going ot many major league games – the drive up to Baltimore just kills me!
I share the general disgust with the shenanigans of the players and the owners. Given the truly amazing amounts of money at stake, it doesn’t surprise me though. I wonder if the sport (and football, which similarly sucks) would benefit from a de-commercialization (turn every team into a city or state own franchise, like Green Bay). It might give the game back to the fans, and if players need to live on $500k/yr., well, I guess they’ll just have to find a way.
ASJunk
The way people get upset with the players, not the owners, anytime there’s a strike is way wierd. I mean, look at it:
Owners can collude to cap player salaries because they have an anti-trust exemption.
Ticket prices are set by the supply of available teams and the demand for tickets.
All player salary increases come out of the owners’, not the fans’, pockets.
Basically, without the threat of player strikes the owners can make off with a ridiculously unfair amount of profits. Why do people side with capital in this case, and in this case only?
Because you have dumbfucks like Barry Bonds popping their mouth off about the fans. (and not, IMHO, because of salaries like A-Rod’s…he’s actually played his ass off for a terrible team…)
I’m glad the players didn’t get what they wanted, but part of me was hoping for my dream scenario:
Players strike, and management says “fine, fuck you. It’s not like there aren’t hundreds of other good players dying to play pro ball. We’ll get all new players and pay them a lot less.” Then a year later when the marketing departments have made stars out of some fresh faces, the old players would beg to come back at their old pay, and the management would say “no, screw you, you went on strike. We don’t need you anymore.”
I mean, league minimum is, what, like $200,000 a year?
Damn, they get to play BASEBALL for a living! You know, that game that other people play for FUN? And they get paid almost a quarter of a million a year, MINIMUM, to do it. Fine, go on strike. Go try to find a REAL job in this soft job market. Start doing mind-numbingly boring crap from 9 to 5 for a $1000 paycheck every other week.
Millionaire crybabies.