Yankee Love

There are a lot of problems I have with baseball (and when I say baseball here, I am referring to Major League Baseball, not necessarily the game itself), and I'm not just talking about the steroid issue; we all know that baseball isn't the only sport that has that problem. (This guy knows what I'm talking about.) The game doesn't translate well to television, they play so many games that each individual contest is pointless, and the World Series always airs on Fox in lieu of the Simpsons (which was a more serious issue when the Simpsons were worth watching).

No, the problem I have with baseball is that I can't turn on sports radio or television, pick up a sports paper, or go to a sports website (excepting this one) without hearing how damned awesome the Yankees are. Of course they're awesome, they have the most money so they can buy the best(looking) players.

Major League Baseball doesn't employ a salary cap or revenue sharing so teams and owners can spend whatever they can afford on their players. The Yankees can spend nearly $75 million more than the second least frugal team and 13 times what the thriftiest team spends. Their payroll is more than the bottom five teams combined, and they have five players that make more individually than the entire roster of the Marlins collectively.

They're basically an All-Star team and as such should never lose and should never be praised for winning. Yet, somehow, people think it's a major accomplishment that they win a whopping 60% of their games while teams in similar circumstances (take USA basketball) get criticized for not completely dominating their competition. It's total crap.

I haven't heard a reasonable justification for the competition-killing lack of a salary cap, though, in all fareness, I usually change the station/turn the page/stick my fingers in my ears and scream whenever baseball comes up. However, every time I've heard an argument defending baseball against its many faults, it's usually a tradition-based defense. I'm all for tradition in sports when it comes to things such as team names and uniforms. But I draw the line when traditions interfere with game structure (are penalty goal kicks in soccer traditional? they suck), season outcome (as is the case with baseball), or are just stupid.

Unfortunately, the powers that be will never agree to revenue sharing or a salary cap. In the interest of competitive fairness (yeah, right), maybe MLB should install some kind of handicapping system. Maybe the rich teams could begin the season several games behind the rest of the teams based on their payroll. Or, for instance, the Yankees could spot the Royals so many runs whenever they play. Make those pretty boys earn their money.