MLB/MLBPA Negotiations

 

I skipped the Super Bowl. Bet you can’t guess why. Other than a complete lack of interest, I mean.

I’ll be relying on Bill O’Reilly to give me an intelligent run-down on his podcast tonight. I rely on Mr. O’Reilly for quite a bit actually. I don’t always agree with him, nor him with me, but he’s a really smart guy with some of the best researchers in existence. I’ll be looking forward to his take on the asinine half-time show, and commercials (if there were any of note), and the viewership numbers. I’d be delighted to find out that the audience numbers are down from years past, but I’m not holding my breath.

There are some things that you’ just can’t figure—Like why the NFL keeps viewers, or how you really can’t underestimate the American voter, or why no one can figure a criminal jury. Imponderables.

The only sports story that I’m looking for is the MLB and MLBPA negotiations. Far as I know the only thing they’ve actually agreed on is a Universal Designated Hitter, which is blasphemy. They’re looking for an even further expansion of playoffs. Yuck. I don’t even like the concept of Division Champions. Neither side seems to see any urgency, so the Spring season and the regular season are both at risk, and I’ll miss baseball, even the way they’ve fouled it up.

This DH thing, though, is terrible. OK. Pitchers don’t hit well, and old stars can extend their years by hitting but not playing the game. But there’s really no reason to stop there. No reason at all. Middle infielders are notoriously horrible hitters, so maybe there should be 3 DH’s per team. But that doesn’t really address the issues of the MLBPA either (and, believe me, they’re the problem, not the owners). They should probably go with tripling the roster, and going with unlimited substitution like in football and basketball, which the MLB seems to want to parrot. Have a HITTING team, a RUNNING team, and a FIELDING team. No real baseball players at all. Just a shit-load of specialists, and pay ALL of them millions of dollars annually.

Get rid of the umpires altogether. Every call made by machine. There’s no humanity in that, but so what?

The beauty of baseball was always that as opposed to other sports, it reflected life. Every field of play is unique. There’s no telling how long a game might go before a winner is declared. Mistakes get made by human error, and everybody lives with the outcome.

That’s life. That, at one time, was baseball.

But back to the NFL and the Super Bowl…...You got no idea how little I care….