In the realm of bad ideas, there are some benchmarks: the Ugandan Space Project, the US Metric Campaign, Crystal Pepsi, "Waterworld" and, of course, Quayle 2000. The impending baseball strike may yet eclipse all of these. Bickering between the owners and players has gone into the bottom of the ninth and the hopes of millions of Americans are riding on their decisions.
Today, baseball players and team owners will either reach a contract agreement or the players will go on strike. The topics under dispute deal primarily with the distribution of the sport's profits; the players, of course, want more trickling down to them, and the owners want to retain as much as possible. Any other time, this would perhaps have been merely a glitch in the season, but coming two weeks before the anniversary of Sept. 11, the disagreement serves only to remind the American population that the baseball industry is, in the end, just that-an industry.
Baseball is flawed. Players and owners are forgetting why baseball became our nation's pastime. When teams enter spring training and more than half can say they have no chance of competing for a World Series, something is wrong with the system. When teams claim that they are losing money and struggling to keep their team afloat, something is wrong with the system.
Under the current plan, teams receive money regardless of their performance and poorly run clubs can thrive. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, for example, claimed that his daughter's Milwaukee Brewers were a successful franchise since they were making money under his system, even though they were entrenched in their tenth consecutive losing season.
While the players and owners believe they are fighting for valid concerns, in the face of the tragedy our nation endured almost one year ago, such troubles seem petty and the strife, childish. The baseball industry is in danger of forfeiting its position in the culture of Americana; if a strike occurs, football season is waiting in the wings to come and claim the position of America's beloved pro-sport.
If they choose to strike, a strike should last no more than 10 days, if for no other reason than it is unacceptable for MLB to be bickering over money on Sept. 11. Baseball cannot take that kind of hit and expect fans to welcome the game back. After basking in the glow of patriotism only a year ago, players and owners need to realize that they have a responsibility to the American people to be playing at this particular time this year.
The coming anniversary, coupled with the start of football season, should force the two sides to take a look at themselves and realize that a solution is attainable. The solution needs to put the onus of winning back on the players and general managers, where ability and talent are important. When money is the center of the debate, everyone is a loser.
