throwing wood on the fire...

today, in Indianapolis, Major League Baseball convenes its Winter Meetings. A four day stretch of glad handing and misappropriation of funds, along with . Normally, during the meetings, rule changes are discussed. Along with representatives from every team, player agents get together and talk turkey regarding trades, free agency and other transactions. It is all part of what baseball fans refer to as 'the Hot Stove League'...

personally, i don't put much into the meetings—especially being a Met fan. GM Omar Minaya is going to spend the next four days signing his third catcher in a week and try to peddle off Luis Castillo's contract off on some unsuspecting club with an embattled outfielder. Who knows, maybe Omar will finally figure it out, now that his job is on the line, but i could care less. i want my baseball back—baseball before it got all fouled up by this promotional three-ring circus nonsense, they are calling baseball these days. i blame Fox Sports, ESPN, the owners and the players association. Money grubbing whores that make the ladies of the evening some of them are bound to be spending their time with in downtown Indianapolis look absolutely pristine. i think they owe me. I think they owe the baseball fan. Here's mhy list of demands from the winter meetings...

1. An End to interleague play— It is a plague on all of our houses. The Mets play the Yankees 6 times every year. The St. Louis Cardinals play the Kansas City Royals 6 times a every year. Hey, as a Met fan, i'll let it be known—i'm not ducking the Yankees, but there is something inherently wrong with a system that condones uneven scheduling such as this. The San Francisco Giants play the Oakland A's, the AL West's perennial-small market-bottom feeders. The Giants' rivals the LA Dodgers get to play the LA Angels the AL West's perennial division leaders. Where is the justice? Now one cares anymore, the experiment has failed. Ace the interleague and restore some of the great rivalries of the past without sacrificing division play. There was a time when the Mets and Cardinals were big time rivals. The Mets and Cubs too. Why shouldn't the Dodgers and Giants visit New York more than once a season—they are the reason why the Mets even exist!...

2. Adjust the schedule— There should be more day games, there should be double headers that are back to back and scheduled, there shouldn't be such a thing as November baseball! I know, its a money issue, but these fans have withstood all of the steroid bullshit, all the primadonna's and free agency garbage. We are in a recession and no matter what your government promises, even when things get better, they will never be the same. Its time for professional sports to tighten their belt and give a little back. Its all we have, but if you keep fucking with us fans, we will stop showing up, i mean; i hear that the New Jersey Shore show is a riot. Schedule more day games. Do you see the Cubs losing money. They pack their house every single day of the year and the majority of those games are played during the day. Scheduling more double headers would save days and prevent November baseball from occurring, maybe even shave the amount of games down to 154 and...

3. Move the World Baseball Classic to November— i know what i said about November baseball but this isn't the same. It only happens every two years, and you can play it in warm weather climates. World Series ends, take two weeks, start up the WBC. WBC ends, everybody goes home. See you next Spring. Done.

4. Threaten Contraction—There's a dirty word—contraction. Teams like the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates take luxary tax money every winter, and stow it away, never to be seen again. A team that can't make money in today's age of televised sports is not worth the uniform their name is printed upon. Especially in these two cities where, literally, if you build it (a team), they (the fans) will come. These are two great baseball towns. The Pirates won the very first World Series for lamb sakes. Kansas City, along with having the greatest BBQ joint on the planet, came out in droves in the days of George Brett, and they have a beautiful ballpark and the city as a whole is on the rise. Either start spending, or fold up the tent.

On the flip side, there's the idea of enacting a salary cap and floor. The Players Asscociation and players' business representatives would convulse to the point kinipshon under this circumstance, but simply put, you either agree to less money across the board for your players, or you agree to less teams for your players to play for. Its basic AIDA.

5. Let the All-Star game mean nothing— Its an All-Star game—that's it. Who thought it was a good idea for some other team's closer decide where game 7 World Series is played. Its retarded. Put an end to it. If the game is ties, you play rock/paper/scissors or, and how about this—expand the rosters.

too many times in the past the powers that be in Major League Baseball have tinkered with the game to the point of madness. It truly is a simple and beautiful game. As Judge Roughneck and i always used to comment when walking up to old Shea Stadium, with the words 'Baseball is for Kids' emblazoned on the back of the ballpark's scoreboard—'baseball's not for kids, its for us'. it is for us, all of us, how about giving something back to those of us who love it unconditionally...

now get to work, coffee is for closers—bitches...