No I'm not talking about Budweiser, that would be simply ludicrous cause honestly who doesn't like Budweiser. I'm talking about Mr. Bud Selig. While I have heard that some people think Selig has been invaluable to the league, I certainly disagree. Lets talk about some of Selig's "accomplishments".
First there's interleague play. Some people like it, some people say it's good for the league. I say that it does nothing but ruin the purity of baseball. Baseball was a product of two leagues (AL and NL) competing separately and then their individual champions would meet at the end of the year to determine a supreme ruler of the universe. This represents what baseball should be. Why should the AL and NL play in the regular season? It does nothing but ruin and dilute the great WS match-ups. Not only that but MLB tries to force fake rivalries like Baltimore vs Washington and Boston vs Atlanta. Interleague play is too long and completely unnecessary to the game of baseball...
Second there's the "luxury tax". The luxury tax is a pseudo way to keep teams from spending more money. Guess what? It doesn't work. The Yankees and Red Sox continually raise their payrolls. Wanna know something else? Only 4 teams have EVER had to pay the tax. The Sox and Yanks have certainly paid the tax, the Yankees more so. Also the Angels and the Rangers had to pay the tax a few years back. Not only does the tax not really work, but its not even being paid!!!
Third there's the revenue sharing program. Now revenue sharing is designed so that teams in smaller markets can gain money to spend on players. Only problem is teams aren't using that money to spend on players. Teams like the Devil Rays, Royals, Marlins, and Pirates do nothing but take their money and run. Despite these teams having absolutely terrible records they continue to be the most profitable organizations in baseball. Also the league becomes reliant on the mighty New York Yankees to dump tons and tons of money into the system. I dont know about you but I just dont like to see one team have that much power over the league...
Finally there is the ever increase of ticket sales. Wanna know why ticket sales are up? Because of offense and the long ball. Wanna know why offense is ever increasing? BECAUSE OF STEROIDS!!! Is that good for the game? I think not. Selig has done nothing himself to increase ticket sales in...
One of the biggest problems I had with Selig was his indecisiveness on Bond's all time home run record. The fact that Selig wouldn't even go to the game was an embarrassment. It was almost certainly a move to distance himself from the steroid era. Problem is, he will forever be linked. Might as well take it like a man and be at the game. Combine this with the fact that the Mitchell Report almost undoubtedly solved nothing, and you have a simple case of a man trying to save what little is left of his legacy...
I'm not even going to get into the debacles that were the 1994 players strike and the 2002 All-Star game that ended in a tie. The only good things I can say about the Bud Man is he created the wild card. This has certainly created a lot of good match-ups down the stretch. He also suspended Reds manager Marge Schott, cause man that bitch was crazy...
While I would say the game of baseball and its general popularity have improved during Selig's tenure; it has little to do with what he has done. Largely the use of steroids and the ability for teams like the Red Sox and White Sox to win the world series has been the cause of increased ticket sales...
References:
Luxury Tax:
http://tinyurl.com/2282ps
Revenue Sharing:
http://tinyurl.com/go7wj
Bud and Bonds:
http://tinyurl.com/yu5a7e
Bud and Wiki:
http://tinyurl.com/7hukx
4 comments:
Interleague play is the shit. You say it devalues the ultimate showdown that is the ALCS... I mean World Series. However, I think for the game to be as close to perfect competition as it can be, you can't have teams limited to only ever competing against half of the teams. As a fan, I want to see my team test themselves against as many other teams as possible. I like that interleague play is a limited portion of the year, because ultimately you need to have more contests against the teams you are fighting for wild card and world series spots for and the limited number of games also makes me value them more not to mention it nicely breaks up a gruelingly lenghty season. Also, you complain it creates stupid rivalries, but that's not the league's fault. That is the fault of the increasingly unbearable sports media that over-analyse everything to the point that I want to shoot myself, especially since this analysis is no longer being done by broadcast journalists but by former athletes with shit for brains and the public speaking abilities of a wino with a stutter.
Long live interleague play.
Also, steriods is a fucking mess with no real solution which is why the game should be more about winning a title and less about records than it is now. This is sad to say for me though, because more than any sport, baseball lends itself so perfectly to personal records and achievements.
One interesting Seligism that you forgot was making the All-Star game relevant. The winning team would gain home field advantage in the playoffs. This is one of the few things I would actually say is a good accomplishment, as it encourages managers to actually play the game to win, also making it better for the spectators.
It also allowed for the Red Sox to win the World Series twice, but hey, I ain't complaining.
To the next commish: Valid argument that you want perfect competition. Yet interleague play isn't long enough to achieve that. If you really want a perfect competition we should split up schedules equally. 81 games against NL, 81 games against AL. Also the Red Sox shouldn't play the Yankees 19 times. But that would be foolish in my mind.
I agree steroids are a mess. Which is why the mitchell report had little success. It was simply a dying man's last ditch effort to save his legacy. I say move on, move forward. Develop tests, but forget about what happened in the past. Thats what baseball has done forever so its surprising that they refuse to do that now (ie. black sox scandal, pete rose, etc).
To Scott the Jew: Yeah making the all-star game relevant was indeed a good idea. But dont forget it was only because he allowed the 2002 all-star game to end in a tie. Do the ends justify the means?
Interleague play: keep it. If you get rid of interleague play, it means the Sox have to play the Devil Rays like 22 times. 19 is enough. Hell, 19 is like 16 times too many.
Regarding the All-Star game, I think the whole "This Time It Counts!" bullshit was Re-Tar-Ded. Who gives a fuck if it ended in a tie? It's a friggin exhibition game. I don't even watch the damn game anyway.
As far as Selig is concerned, he's the worst commissioner in sports by far. He's worse than Gary Bettman, who ruined the NHL via overexpansion. Under Selig's wise tutelage, the MLB has seen a player's strike, the league being dominated by big market teams, and the mother of all: the steroid scandal. Selig blows.
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