Not many in Bluff Diver Nation get the pleasure of dealing with drunken idiots on a daily basis as I do. In fact, most Bluff Divers are these drunken idiots. But nevertheless, every week some total knob-job comes into the bar and attempts to argue sports with yours truly. They will say asinine things like, “the NFL is not fixed,” “turn off this baseball crap I think the Pens preseason game is on,” “Journey is the greatest band of all time,” and “The Pirates should have kept Nate McClouth.” Most of the time I shrug this off as drunken Yinzers being drunken Yinzers and placate there idiocy, but recently I nearly fist fought a patron who tried to argue with me that there is parity in every professional sport except baseball because there is no salary cap. Clearly sir you are a moron. This one got me fired up.
Let’s face it, teams like the Pittsbrugh Pirates stinking for the better part of twenty years has more to do with the fact that they are horribly run organizations than any financial disparity in Major League Baseball. Don’t believe me? Think the Sox and Yankees are the pariah of the sporting world and Major League Baseball is so botched up?…well let’s look at some numbers:
Since 2000 (not including the 2009 season), MLB has had 8 different World Series champions and 0 repeat champions. The NBA has had 5 champions, the NFL 6. The NFL and NBA have both had repeat champs. MLB has had 14 different teams in the World Series. The NBA Finals has seen 10 different teams. The NFL has had 13 different teams make it to the Super Bowl. Want a smaller sample, from 2005-2008, 20 different teams in MLB have made the playoffs. Want a larger sample, since the Wild Card era began, all but 4 teams have made the playoffs? Can you guess the four? Let me help you out: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Montreal/Washington, and the Toronto Blue Jays. Yes, three of these are considered “small market/low payroll” teams but look at the teams that have made the playoffs (some winning championships)in this same time frame: Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Oakland, Minnesota, Florida, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Cleveland, San Diego, Detroit, and Arizona. Keep in mind that these stats reign true despite the fact that MLB, BY FAR, boasts the lowest percentage of its teams making the postseason.
MEMO TO YOU IDIOTS: BASEBALL PARITY IS NOT ONLY A REALITY BUT MAY EVEN USURP THE SO-CALLED GREAT PARITY IN THE NFL. Believe it or not, the same teams in the NFL are always good (Steelers, Patriots, Colts, Eagles, etc.), and for the most part the same teams are always bad. Most of you ‘burghers ignore this because you happen to live in a city whose team is always good. Try moving to Cleveland, or Oakland, or Detroit, or Houston, or Kansas City, or D.C. and ask them how they feel about their teams and parity in the NFL. And when someone says, “in football you can stink one year and be good the next and that doesn’t happen in baseball,” they are smoking crack. Its a heck of a lot easiear to improve a 40-man roster than it is to turn around an entire football team. Teams go from worst to first, or at least from worst to competitive, FAR MORE OFTEN in baseball than in football. Look it up. Its true folks. You can have a horrible team in baseball rebound from one year to the next just like you can in football. Just asked the folks in Miami or Tampa or Atlanta or Milwaukee, they will tell you!
And what is this myth about the necessity of parity in sports for the league and the sport to be successful anyways? What about college sports? Everybody seems to love when traditional powers are good. I am a much bigger fan of all college sports (except in baseball) than I am of pro sports. Many of you might feel the same way. Aren’t these big schools analogous to “big market” teams in pro sports? Don’t schools like Texas, Penn State, Alabama, Florida, etc. in football and Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCONN, etc. in basketball have way more money, better facilities, traditions, and exposure than smaller and less prominent teams that compete at the same level? Aren’t they naturally given a competitive advantage since there is no set draft that favors lower teams getting better players like in pro sports? Yet there seems to be no hoopla, no ballyhoo, no fa chey chey, about the lack of parity in college sports, except of course from Boise State and Utah. And while upsets in the NCAA basketball tourney are what makes that event great, very rarely do we see George Masons make it to the Final Four consitently, let alone win it all.
What does this all mean, Thorton? Well, I for one believe the NFL thrives only due to the amount of legal and illegal gambling that surrounds it. Just point to Roger Goodell trying to mandate that teams report if they are going to sit their players after clinching byes in the playoffs and you will see a glaring example of the connection between the two. Go ahead and watch the Steelers/Chargers game from last year, check the point spread, and then get back to me if you disagree. While some games can be exciting, the vast are by and large boring penalty fests that are ridiculously commercial laden and have less actual game action than all other sports (per a Sports Illustrated study on the subject), about 12 minutes of real action per game. The antichrist-network , ESPN, has shoved the NFL and NBA down our throat in an attempt to knock baseball as much as possible (see their steroid scandal coverage in baseball versus rampant steroid use in the NFL-which really began with the 70’s stiillers-that constantly gets swept under the rug ). Keep in mind EVERY major network and media conglomerate has a vested interest in the success of the NFL and attempts to gonzo the NFL down our throat as well. The same cannot be said for any other sport. Parity in the NFL is one of the many myths that The Man wants you to buy in to. Not being able to compete in baseball as a small market is a similar myth, and should not be a crutch for small market teams to lean their mediocrity upon!
The point of all of this? Don’t believe what they tell you…Baseball is still America’s sport: accessible and affordable to all, representative of all races, continents, countries, and creeds. It is a pastime not based on blackout drunk tailgates, bar fights, gambling, brute violence, and guns in the locker room but one of fathers and sons, enjoying beers on a warm summer day with some buds, patience, grace, excitement, and grit. It is still America’s pastime ….and it is only a couple of months away!
