Revenue Sharing (Guest Opinion Piece)
Hours before it was to begin, the baseball strike was averted (click on link for specifics), which did not surprise a lot of people. It is true that some were fatalistic about the whole thing, thinking that it was bound to happen, but it turned out that the issues just were not great enough, the differences worthy enough especially given the times (economy, 9/11 approaching), for a strike to truly be feasible or at least worth it. What exactly were the issues? Many of them like worldwide player drafts were ultimately quite trivial (important, yes, but trivial as a reason to strike). Others, like steroid testing, had to be settled given the controversies made public of late. This left revenue sharing and the luxury tax as the main issues with the latter (seen by players as a backhanded salary cap) of special note. Which left the fans (and the thousands of people whose livilihood relied on major league baseball, such as suppliers, cleaning crews, local businesses, and many more) saying: millionaires are whining about a bit of money? What a bunch of assholes!
This is an acceptable sentiment in my eyes, even if some believe the players might have a case. Let's say that the owners, using a fair distribution of the profits of the game, are cheating the players out of some of their piece of the pie. This would be in a way unjust, even if the league minimum is about two hundred thousand, and the average over a million. Nonetheless, they have no right to cry poverty, and this just means we should hate both the owners and players for wasting our time and energy on seriously worrying about a baseball strike because people who play baseball for a living want to make three million instead of two point five. And for the few owners particularly touched by the luxury tax, which taxes payrolls over a certain (not that low) number to add to the revenue sharing pool, a little balancing of the playing field is not a horrible idea. A football type cap system that would encourage some top teams to spread the wealth (players) around more has some charm to it.
And note, after all this trouble discussing revenue sharing, it is still NOT GUARANTEED TO GO TO THE PLAYERS. So rich owners (the Twins are owned by a billionaire) can get the money, and not spend it on players. This is obscene, even more than the possibility the new steroid tests might just be token, and not prevent players from taking them in Spring Training or even other times (after all, are they kicked out of the game, if caught? don't think so). Nice to know there will be no contraction until 2006 ... until one thinks that hmm, if planned right, it might be a good idea. What personally troubles me is that revenue sharing can ironically benefit poorly managed teams. After all, various teams such as the Red Sox (the Yanks remember had a long dry run before 1995), Cubs, and Dodgers are run by people who have the money to get talent, but have failed to do so, while even some smaller market teams like Kansas City need not be THAT bad. Rewarding these people with more money rubs me the wrong way, even if revenue sharing overall has merit.
Athletes often leave a lot to be desired this much is clear, as does sports in general. Still, there is something to be said for the integrity of the game, which is more important in sports than the misdeeds of those who play it. Gambling is a major threat to the integrity of the game of baseball; it was the cause of a major scandal and led to a simple rule -- bet on the sport, and you are out. Pete Rose gambled; he voluntarily signed a resignation instead of letting the evidence out there, but the evidence is there. He wants to come back and get into the hall of fame, many of his fans want him to, and his record suggests he deserves to get there. Still, he does not want to admit he did anything wrong; he continues to stonewall and show the integrity of the sport no respect. Until he does, and many feel admitting what most know anyhow is all he has to do, he does not deserve to be in the 'hall of fame' -- infamy does not belong there.
I took this photo at the 8/24/01 home Cubs (team on the field) game vs the Cardinals. Click photo to enlarge the thumbnail. Note the rooftop viewers in the background (they appear to be the backrow of the bleachers at one point) and the EL train on the other side. The outfield fence ivy is clear as is the angle I had to view the field (unless I look around the pole) from my "limited view" seats ... that is the home plate was blocked.