JT the Brick: Changes need to happen in baseball, and quickly. If Major League Baseball does not make some brutally tough decisions in the next year or two, the sport could be damaged forever.
Article Source: NBC Sports
from:NBC SportsBaseball must act fast to save game
Seeded on Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:43 PM EST (NBC Sports)
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Hey, JT ----- You, sir, hit the nail ON THE HEAD. The remarks by Donald Fehr demonstrates either his naivite, or his complicity in the shell game that is Major League Baseball. Sure, fans want winners, we all do. But true fans do not want those who seek to win at any cost. Just as much, if not more than winning, the American sports fan wants honest competition where it is a level playing field for all. Integrity and character were once hallmarks of Americans, including it's athletes. Now, it seems that anything goes. It is not only the players. The players union will say and do anything to protect it's members. Owners, too, are to blame. They have lost sight of the national pasttime and see only filled seats, which in turn fill their coffers. Owners greed, unions protectionism and players insatiable desire for recognition, big contracts, and possibly endorsement dollars have driven the athletic part of the sport onto the back burner, maybe off of the stove. A sport of which almost every youngster would die to have a shot, has become a business full of egomaniac players who feel as if they can do anything they want, within the rules or not, and owe their constituents, the fans, NOTHING. Players as a group, seem to have forgotten how they would have given anything for a shot in THE BIG SHOW. Now, they are surly and abrupt, ignoring the slightest requests for autographs from fans, including kids. Instead, they supplement their already scandalous salaries by signing only when they are paid. Sickening. Many players of yesteryear, even "stars" would stop and sign autographs after the game, until every kid was gone. Today? No way. Instead, players act as though they are doing everyone a favor by even acknowledging our existence. Now, especially in view of our economic climate, I believe that baseball (as well as virtually every other sport) is about to go through a transformation that was not even anticipated just a short while ago. With finances as tight as they are, and with the prospect that the economy is going to get worse (perhaps a whole lot worse), fans are going to be very tight with their money. They will only want to spend it on quality. Right now, that does not describe Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball had better wake up, and quickly. A high, hard one is coming in.
Very nice comment DVO. I'd like to see the teams of these players suffer some of the consequences for substance abuse. If a payer knows that if he gets caught that his team then takes a certain amount of loses for games he played in. That way, I bet the team itself, would keep a lot closer I on the problem. Only suspending the individual means another abuser could take his place. And I too am sick of the players attitudes when it comes to autographs and appearances. Multi million dollar contracts aren't enough. They gotta squeeze 10, 20, 50 dollars from some kid that looks up to them as a hero. I've been disgusted for years at MLB for making Little League pay for the privilege of wearing MLB team logos. Little League used to be able to put a Cubs, Yankees, Sox, Pirate, logo on there uniforms and even used the pro team name. It made it much more fun for the kids to wear their favorite teams logo. Now Little League has to pay MLB to do that.
If you still want home runs, lower the mound and juice up the ball in some way. It makes it fair for every one playing, and there wouldn't be any need for the steroids. Picthers ERAs might suffer a little but in my opinion ERA is not the greatest way to judge pitches anyway.