Ten Things About MLB

As you stated in your post, it's all old news that dates back to the early years of MLB.  It all leaves one with the choice to either take it, or leave it.  I think it's as simple as that.

My love of baseball (MLB)in general and the Cubs in particular comes from focusing only on the the game.  When I think of the Cubs, the first things to come to mind are tradition, Chicago centrism, and identification with an institution that snared the affection of four generations of my family.

When I think about baseball objectively, each of the 10 points put forth in the article come to mind and I grow angry with MLB as well as myself for being duped into expending emotional and financial capital over a bunch of money grubbing pigs.

So many posters here have complained over the years about what they view as the team's unwillingness to field a competetive lineup and then exhort the fans to boycott to show they won't accept mediocrity.  Does this not play into the hands of the front office and encourage them to seek new and innovative ways illuminate the balance sheets and scour the four corners of the globe for cheap talent?  Does it not pander to the 10 points in the article?

In order for us to enjoy the game for its entertainment value, we need to stick our heads in the sand.  We need to live in denial.  We need to think of our beloved game in the same way we think about going to a movie or buying a CD or turning on the television or most of whatever it is we do for entertainment.  If we begin to worry about the real inner workings of the business end of anything that entertains us, we're likely to find ourselves without entertainment.  Hell, if we begin to worry about almost anything that goes on in America today, we are likely to find such ugliness, if not worse.

Like I said.  You must decide to take it, or leave it.  Call me cynical, but there just is no future in rightous indignation.  It's a really crappy world out there.

Who cares?  There's not one thing in there that's actually an issue that doesn't plague every other sport (PED, high ticket prices, public stadium subsidies).

... many times. It's really simple. If you are willing to pay to watch a particular game, you should be able to do so, whether your home is across the street from the ballpark in question, or in Nome, Alaska.

Why they don't understand this is completely beyond me. It is, as noted in the article, costing them money, as people have cancelled MLB.TV as a result.

Indeed. As fans of any sport, isn't this an issue with your conscience, supporting such a blatantly greedy, unreasonable group? I understand, as Luigi suggests, that you either choose to take it or leave it, but as a fan of a particular sport, it often isn't so simple. Most of us are not superhumans with the capacity to sit back and enjoy without ever acknowleding or having to come to terms with such avarice.

So who cares? I'm not sure, but we all should care, because how long do you think such rampant, out of control greed is going to last? It is not caring that has gotten our entire country to where we are now (oil dependent, independent business suffering, gap between rich/poor immense, taking your family to a ball game all but a dream for large part of the populace). But yeah, who cares?