A Post About Baseball

I am, admittedly, a new sports fan. I used to like the teams my family likes by default, but I couldn’t be bothered to learn the game or to truly care about it. That is changing rapidly. The past few years have found me slowly being sucked into the fanatic world of sports team loyalty that I observed in my family. It started with hockey the year the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup; I remember my dad and me watching a live feed of the game online and jumping around like maniacs when they actually won. It progressed with baseball and actually going to some Rays games (I went to a game their inaugural season in 1998, back when they were still in purple and green; so do not even try to call me a band wagoner) and learning more about the players. It finally bled into football when I acquiesced to the fact that I was born to cheer for the Buffalo Bills no matter how terrible they might play. And now, I not only enjoy when my team wins, but I enjoy just watching the games. Indoctrination at its best, religious nuts should take a hint from my family. So, now, I actually have opinions about sports and leagues and teams! Here’s a big ‘un:

I hate the Yankees. As in, actually hate them. They are everything that is wrong with professional baseball (in the same way that the Patriots are everything that’s wrong with professional football, but that’s another post.) I can’t pinpoint the root of my issue with the team, but I can give a few reasons why they are awful (not at actually PLAYING baseball, obviously.)

1.       No names – The Yankees’ uniforms do not have the player’s name on them (I re-wrote that sentence 4 times trying to word it properly and I still don’t think I succeeded.) Maybe you’re thinking to yourself “Well, neither do the Red Sox or the SF Giants.” You would be correct, but the Red Sox and the Giants do have their names on their away game jerseys. The Spankees are the only team that thinks that they’re so goddamn important that everyone everywhere should know who they are and that pisses me off.

2.       Money – This is the real kicker for me. If you can bear with me for all these numbers (which I will attempt to put into some sort of chart) that would be great because I did some research for this one.

	New York Yankees	Tampa Bay Rays
Team Salary	$196,854,630	$41,932,171
Highest Paid Player	A.Rod - $32,000,000	J. Damon - $5,250,000
‘Big Name’ Player	D. Jeter - $14,729,365	E. Longoria - $2,500,000
Highest Paid Pitcher	C. Sabathia – 24,285,714	J. Shields – 4,250,000

The irony of the fact that my team’s highest paid player used to be a Yankee is not lost on me, but I digress. I know that the argument can be made that the Yankees are better ball players therefore they deserve to make more, but seriously? What makes a good ball player? I’d say that not only does skill play a huge part, but I would argue that an actual love of the game would be something fans would like to see in their team’s players. Anyone will love anything for 32 million dollars. I’m not trying to say I know anything about A.Rod as a person, I’m just trying to make a point(although, now that I just spent 2 hours trying to compile baseball statistics and googling what the stats meant; I’m not 100% sure what that point was.)

All I’m saying is that no one needs to be paid $323,232.32 PER GAME; certainly not if (in one of the games I researched) that person is going to go to bat 4 times and strike out 3 times. That’s like me being paid $323,232.32 per day to tell guests “Sorry you’re toilet is overflowing, I could fix it, but I’m in the middle of an intense Solitaire game right now.” If someone is paying you $323,232.32 to do a job, you could at least do it right. I know, I know, they’ve won the World Series 800 times. I honestly don’t care. That’s not the point I’m making. The point is that the discrepancy in pay for these players is absurd…and that if someone is gonna make that much, it should be someone I like.

My apologies for rambling about sports. I know everyone likes a different team or a different sport (as evidenced by the fact that we had the Gators playing terrible football on the TV yesterday instead of the Game 2 of the ALDS; there is no justice in Gator Country) this is just my opinion and I assume if you’re reading this blog, you’re looking for my opinion, as stated way up there ^^

P.S. Yes I did just write a random post without referencing the fact that I haven’t posted in forever, but I went to Vegas for my parents’ 25^th Anniversary. Sorry. It’s OK to be jealous.