saintfan

I just wanted to say my piece. I needed somewhere to vent, and frankly this is as good a place as any. While I'm a Saints fan tried and true, I'd like to take a minute and vent about my other love in sports...Baseball.

Consider I've been a fan since my mother tricked me into signing up for pee wee league when I was 7 (she told me we were going for ice cream). I was pretty good. I could hit and I could catch. Most kids played 3 innings and sat the other 3 so everyone could play. I was good enough to play all six. Hey, coach needed me.

Back in Leesville we got cable TV in 1978, and I've been an Atlanta Braves fan ever since. I remember Glen Hubbard, Tony Torasco, Claudell Washington, Craig McMurtry et all. I remember when a 50 win season was an accomplishment!
My parents drove me all the way from Leesville, La to Fulton County during my 14th summer (1983 as I recall) just to see the Braves play. Heck, my uncle helped build Fulton County Stadium after all. It was sort of like a homecoming. I remember wondering how Chief Nockahoma managed to live through that fire dance he did on the mound before every game. I got his autograph. He signed the team photo.

The early 90's brought the Braves the kind of success I hope the Saints will have one day. I watched game 7 of the NLCS with my mom and younger brother, and we all cried when Sid Bream, dual knee braces and all, scored from second on Frank Cabrerra's soft single past short. Barry Bonds always has had a weak throwing arm. BRAVES WIN!!! BRAVES WIN!!! Skip Carey went nuts. I'm not sure he was sober. What a moment. I'll never forget it.

...and I'll never forget the year the players went on strike and cost us all the World Series. I bought an "official" world series ball out of an add in the USA Today to remember it by. I gave the ball to my brother. It has "World Series 1995" stamped on it in Red Ink. I rekon there's some irony in that.

Well, here we go again. Frankly I'm sick to death of it. I know there are issues I'll never understand. I'll never make that kind of money so I'll just never understand. My bottom line in all this is how in the world can these men, owners and players, not come to terms on how to parse out billions of dollars? Can the owners not see they are their own worst enemies? Can the players not see that they have the sweetest deal imaginable? Alex Rodriguez is making a quarter of a BILLION dollars to play BASEBALL. Players riding the pine make 300 THOUSAND dollars! Can someone please tell my why they would STRIKE??? I shake my head and throw up my hands at their ignorance and/or lack of appreciation. Should the players care that the owners are even more rich than they are. Uh, excuse me, but they OWN the teams.

Ultimately, I've decided that, if they strike, I will never, ever, under no circumstances will I ever allow myself to attend another Major League Baseball Game. Oh, I'll watch the Braves on TV because I'm an addict and I'm smart enough to know I'll need my "fix", but I'll NEVER give another dime of my hard-earned money to those spoiled, rich, "insert your own expletive here" players and owners. Never another cap. Never another Jersey. Never will I buy another item stamped with a players name or the letters MLB. I'll take my 100 bucks and treat my family to some quality AA or AAA baseball over in Ft. Worth or maybe back in Shreveport. It'll cost about 50 bucks for me to get us all in, and I can take the rest and treat 'em to dinner or maybe spend a little time in one of those Shreveport Casinos. Minus the Casino I'll probably have money left over. With that I can start saving for a trip to New Orleans and some Saints tickets.

You know, there's nothing like a game of catch in the back yard...nothing in the world that makes me feel that good. I'll be damned if I let MLB ruin that for me. I wouldn't trade that feeling for all their money.