Thoughts on a chilly Saturday afternoon

[fanofclendennon]

So you scroll down the Mets PSD forum to see posters give their opinions on whether we should sign Bourne, do we want to sign Bourne, should we have signed Upton, should we have signed Marcum, are the Mets cheap, will they ever spend money to compete, is this all part of the rebuilding process, part of a plan, etc.

And the conversations are always good, especially as we head toward Ps and Cs and actual baseball, or at least a semblance of actual baseball.

And yet, I find myself wondering, have baseball and other professional sports been reduced to rooting for your millionaires to be better than the other team's millionaires?

Because when you break it all down, that's what it's become. I was upset last year when the Marlins, not the Mets, paid Jose Reyes $106 million. I was upset that the Blue Jays, not the Mets, gave RA Dickey, what, $21 million? I wanted the Mets to give Scott Hairston $8 million and i was upset when the Cubs signed him for $6 million.

So the conversation really becomes are our millionaires better than theirs?

The Mets of course are doing their best to sign the cheapest millionaires baseball will afford them, having signed all of one free agent this year, Shawn Marcum. He's slated to be our 5th starter but unless im mistaken he'll be our most expensive starter not named Johan Santana who might not even be starting anymore for all anyone knows.

So we root for the young players but as soon as they become good, they too will be entitled to lots and lots of millions of dollars. YAY! Unless our owners, who also have lots and lots and lots and lots of millions of dollars, although perhaps not as many millions as we would like them to have, don't pay these good young players as much as another team is willing to pay them.

We hope that we end up paying for another team's star player as soon as we can, provided we think said player will help our team win a championship. And if said player becomes available and our owners don't pay him, we'll be upset because we let another team get a better millionaire we did.

Sorry but i can't help but think it's all a bit perverted and it is our passions that enable this perversion.

Like I said, just a few thoughts on a chilly Saturday afternoon. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[rdg515]

Baseball changed forever due to free agency, arbitration and paid for by cable TV...meaning all of us...and inflated by George Steinbrenner whose Yankees have had the highest payroll in sports since 1993. No need to cry over millionaires...if they didn't get public money to build their palaces and TV money the owners wouldn't be paying the players millions to be mediocre or worse.

[fanofclendennon]

Baseball changed forever due to free agency, arbitration and paid for by cable TV...meaning all of us...and inflated by George Steinbrenner whose Yankees have had the highest payroll in sports since 1993. No need to cry over millionaires...if they didn't get public money to build their palaces and TV money the owners wouldn't be paying the players millions to be mediocre or worse.

You don't say!

[jomota]

To me, the single biggest example of how the game has changed is the arguments that pop up about what "hat" a player should wear when going into the HOF.

Great players should never be changing teams, but in the mega money age there are teams that sometimes cannot afford to keep their players. That weakens the game as a whole.

The MLBPA has way too much power. Case in point: Management agreed to allow interpreters to visit the mound with the manager to talk to Japanese/Korean pitchers, but they need union approval. Interleague play-needs union approval. Things that have zero affect on the players require their approval. Union approval means give them something which means a higher cost to fans.

Way to much $$$$ in the sports. It's become like Hollywood with "WAGS" and "cribs" and "rides." The big difference for a lot of us is you can see Hollywood's product for $10 with free parking, sit in comfort and be home in 15 minutes. And I guess you can grope you companion in the dark for free.

Sports has become so expensive and inconvenient to attend that they need to be something special to get fans to attend. That means winning and gimmicks. It needs to be "a place to be seen" to draw the numbers needed to be profitable. Not everyone can win so they spend a ton in an effort to do so and it feeds on itself.

Players should make a lot of $$$$. They are special. David Wright is one of 30 people in the world that can play 3B at the MLB level. However the amounts being paid are a little silly. What the game needs is a good lockout for about a year, maybe two, and break the union to bring things down to a more reasonable level.

[Claymation]

It's an odd way to view MLB. And for the record I'm glad they traded Dickey for the return they received. Baseball is a young man's game. And all they did was trade Dickey at his highest value.

And compared to the previous days it was balmy yesterday at 27° F.

[Marty Mcfly]

I don't see your point. This is what pro sports have always been about.

[fanofclendennon]

I don't see your point. This is what pro sports have always been about.

Yes it has been.

I guess my point is that one day i woke up and found myself not just rooting for my team to win but for my team to spend untold millions of dollars so my team might have a better chance of winning.

That's leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

[Marty Mcfly]

Yes it has been.

I guess my point is that one day i woke up and found myself not just rooting for my team to win but for my team to spend untold millions of dollars so my team might have a better chance of winning.

That's leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

You've always been doing that though.

[tonyroos]

When I was a kid, you rooted for your team no matter how bad they playedd. Players stayed on one team until they retired. I feel bad for kids today, because they can't idolize a player due to the fact he will be gone in 3 years to another team.

[Marty Mcfly]

When I was a kid, you rooted for your team no matter how bad they playedd. Players stayed on one team until they retired. I feel bad for kids today, because they can't idolize a player due to the fact he will be gone in 3 years to another team.

Which is why when you get a David Wright, you keep a David Wright.

[tonyroos]

Which is why when you get a David Wright, you keep a David Wright.

Amen to that!!

[jomota]

It's an odd way to view MLB. And for the record I'm glad they traded 6
Dickey for the return they received. Baseball is a young man's game. And all they did was trade Dickey at his highest value.

And compared to the previous days it was balmy yesterday at 27° F.

70 degrees in Tampa. Raking leaves in my T shirt.

[fanofclendennon]

You've always been doing that though.

Maybe as I'm getting older, it strikes me as something less than moral when i find myself arguing passionately why it is necessary for my favorite team to pay someone $8 million.

Why do i feel this way now but i didn't last year? I dunno, maybe a stronger sense of my own mortality?

[milominderbinde]

Nothing about being a fan of a Professional sports team has ever made sense. If you apply rational thought to it you wouldnt care which team of capetbagging pros beats the other. Don't bother trying.

[jomota]

Maybe as I'm getting older, it strikes me as something less than moral when i find myself arguing passionately why it is necessary for my favorite team to pay someone $8 million.

Why do i feel this way now but i didn't last year? I dunno, maybe a stronger sense of my own mortality?

I try to tune out the $$$$ issues and just pay attention to the game between the lines. Unless it makes headlines like Wright, I have no real idea who is making what and how much longer they have on their deals. I rarely read the contract crap in the newspapers and glance at on PSD because you can't avoid it. I pay as much attention to salaries as I do to FIP.

The game is entertainment. Like a movie. Anyone see "Lincoln"? Great movie.

Anyone know how much Daniel Day Lewis was paid? Anyone care?

Anyone care if he is coming back for a sequel? (that was a test)