Does baseball need a salary cap?
February 8th, 2010 | 
Author: November 6, 2007
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TEAM LOYALTY?
I’m a big sports fan. I enjoy all the major sports, especially football and baseball. Lately though, baseball especially, has begun to leave me cold.
I’m a NY Yankees fan, have been ever since I was old enough to understand the game.
This season has made me rethink the importance of being a loyal fan. I have stuck with the team through thick and thin. I’m lucky though, the Yankees are a majority-of-the-time winning baseball team.
Other baseball die hards aren’t as lucky as me. Take the Milwaukee Brewers for example; their all time winning percentage is close to .460. The Yankees, on the other hand, is closer to .600.
This year, more than any in the past has made me realize sports in general isn’t as important as I thought it was. I am a loyal fan and when I see players sign for a team for MILLIONS, I would hope they would be loyal too. Not so. Yes, I think you know who I’m talking about; A-Flop. 25 million a year wasn’t good enough?!
Nope. He wants more. Never mind he never accomplished what he set out to do as a Yankee; win a world title. Never mind he’s deserting the rest of his teamates that he supposedly bonded with. Forget the fans who finally began to embrace him. They don’t matter to him. Their cheers and support and requests for a curtain call after an impressive home run doesn’t seem to mean anything to him. What matters to him, and yes many other baseball free agents, is money. The almighty dollar. Long gone are the days of the franchise player. Oh, there are a few left. I truely believe Derek Jeter will never leave the team and will retire as one of the best players in baseball history, as a Yankee.
There’s nothing wrong with making more money. But when you make in one year what most fifty people make in a lifetime one’s thoughts turn to the word greed. Greed seems to have taken over professional sports, from management charging outrageous ticket prices to the players who keep asking for more, greed is an ugly word.
When I see players leave a team it makes me sad and angry. It’s like a family member just up and left home because the Johnsons next door are serving lobster for dinner instead of the prime rib they’re used to eating..
I have finally realized those players don’t really give a damn about us loyal fans. They could care less that we sometimes get so upset over a crutial loss that we can’t eat for days. That’s an exaggeration, I know, but fans become attached to a team. We like to feel we’re a part of the team. We like to think of ourselves as the tenth player when at a baseball game. It’s like family. We don’t desert family.
During football season I root for the NY Giants. For years they were consistant losers. If they were a restaurant you wouldn’t go back. I didn’t leave them though, I am a fan.
A-Flop deserted us and more importantly, his teamates. That kind of non-caring, to-hell-with-loyalty attitude just leaves me cold. Why should I care? Why should I root for a team and the players when there’s a good chance in a few years those players will say screw you all’ and leave for more money?
Maybe I should adopt that attitude and stop watching sports and start reading a good book.
Michael Castelli
167 Hilltop Drive
Hurley, NY
845-339-757845-532-6341
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