IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

                                               

Before you go off on me for writing about baseball in January, I have to ask you to stick with me. There is a bigger point to the story and it’s all about money. As a kid growing up in central Minnesota, I was a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Keep in mind that this was before the Twins came to Minnesota and the Dodgers left Flatbush for the west coast. Over fifty years later I can still name the starting line up for the Dodgers. Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanula and Gil Hodges to name a few. They were my hero’s and I could bet when the season was over, they would be back in Ebbet’s field the next spring playing for the Dodgers.

Then came the players association and then the agents and then came the end of baseball as we once knew it. It is true for all of the teams and for sports in general that today it’s a whole new ball game no pun intended. Players are signing contracts for more money in one year then it cost to build Ebbet’s field. There is no allegiance to any club, they’re all out, for who will pay them the most. In effect they and their agents have dehumanized professional sports. 

What is lost? Let’s look at some of the effects. Let’s start at the grass roots level. Colleges who invest in recruits for collegiate teams with scholarships, be it basketball, baseball or football, more often than not are going to lose that player to the professionals after one or two good seasons. Education and a degree are not the reason they were there, but they knew that. Once in the big leagues they will have to tough it out on a few hundred thousand a year and a signing bonus that would set most people up for life and then if they hit it big. They will play for the club for a few years and then become a free agent, and then, there off to the races. You say, “Yes but few make it to the majors.” I say yes,” but had they stayed in college they would have a four-year degree to fall back on and the college would have been compensated for that.”

There are some clubs with lucrative markets for television and broadcasting rights who are going to end up with most of the talent. Some of the players will stay with those clubs but It’s not allegiance to the clubs, its allegiance to the money they pay them. The rest of the clubs serve as a farm system of sorts for these clubs. So, if you’re a Yankee fan or a Dodger fan you might have someone to cheer for, for more than a season or two. Right now, the Yankees are in the process of trying to sign Gerrit Cole for a reported 324 Million for 9 years. Think about that.

I once went to a Twins game and spent good money on a jersey of my favorite player and they traded him two weeks later because he was going to be a free agent and they couldn’t afford him. That was the last jersey I will ever buy. I have some 10-dollar ticket stubs, from the Twins, for good seats I sat in back in the late sixties. You can’t get a hot dog and a soda for that kind of money now days at Target Field, let alone a decent seat. Not blaming the club, they have to do something to stay in the game because they will never have the money to compete with New York and L.A and most of us have already seen that beautiful ballpark paid for by taxpayers. 

Most of the clubs are losing money and they are propped up by rich owners who aren’t really losing  money because they will make it all up when they sell the club for much more money than they paid for it, to some other city that will offer them incentives, no other business could dream of getting and oh yes, another new ball park.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

                                               

It’s November and always about this time of the year, I think about my Christmas letter. I haven’t forgotten about Thanksgiving but then it’s a one-day shot and Christmas is a whole season. In fact, it goes even deeper than that. I have always felt that a meaningful Christmas letter should have three things. The past, the present and yes, the future. I hope that in these next few paragraphs I can achieve that.

The past has become the major part of Christmas for me. That’s because its

happened almost eighty times and that’s a lot to talk about. It’s not only my childhood, but also my children’s childhoods, and now their children’s and grandchildren’s. I don’t think in our wildest dreams, my wife and I ever thought our family would grow this big and wonderful. If there were one more wish I could have, it would be that she would be here to enjoy it with us once more, even if it was for just one day, and that is because she epitomized the spirit of Christmas.

They say Christmas is for the little ones and yes, for the gift part of it that may be true. But Christmas is also a time to remember, through memories that go far past the memories of those little ones. Memory’s of sad Christmas’s, memories of glad Christmas’s, they’re all there in the mix but not to be graded or rated because they were always no matter the circumstances-- meaningful Christmas’s.

I’m a dreamer of sorts. I always have been, always will be. If I had a chance to have the most meaningful Christmas yet I would somehow magically be able to spend a moment in time with everyone that has come into my life over the years. Every dollar I have made, every accolade about me that has been uttered, every piece of tangible personal property that I own, pales in comparison to the friends and family members that have been in my life and been part of my life over all of these years. I fully realize that without them I would be nothing.

Christmas in the desert southwest where I am now, takes some getting used to from a Minnesota boy. Songs like Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman lose their luster in the sandy desert but yet when I as a Christian man go back to that very first Christmas in Bethlehem, I’m betting the streets were void of snow and ice. So, when I hang some lights on my Bougainville bush instead of a spruce tree, the effects are the same and so is the end result. A happy colorful Christmas.

For Pat and I this Christmas, our friends and families are paramount no doubt, but this Christmas will also be about two old companions trying to celebrate the birth of our lord which means so much to both of us and the love and respect we have for each other and have grown to enjoy. So Merry Christmas and may the reason for this season bless you all richly and make it the best one ever. 

 Mike

WRITING AND ESSAY

                                                            

To write an essay, a column, on any subject and have it make an impact in someone’s life requires two things. A well written truthful piece and a receptive audience. In all of my years of writing I have tried to find the words that would make an impact, while still trying to make a statement. The English language is a cornucopia of meaningful words and there are so many ways to use them but so many times it is that one perfect word or a set of words that sets the scene. I am far from being an English major but I have taken great pride in having a good vocabulary. As for a receptive audience, you may cause some of the fence dwellers to cross over if your honest and articulate well but all to often there are those whose minds are made up. Too some of these people, the truth be dammed. 

In the movie “A few good men,” Jack Nicholson told his adversary Tom Cruise, when Cruise asked him for the truth, “You can’t handle the truth.” That in my estimation is where this country is at today. In a year or so voters will be asked to make a decision as to who will lead this country for four more years. They need to make that decision based on the truth but that elusive truth is not being told because it would be a death kneel for most candidates. Tell us the truth about the national debt, about social security and climate change. Not what will get you elected but what needs to be changed and what will happen if it isn’t. From the Bible comes these few words. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32. If you follow this you might not get elected but you won’t carry the moniker of being a liar either.

One thing that is a big problem is the deniers who just keep shaking their heads and saying it isn’t so. It used to be that to deny something meant you had to have proof to the contrary. It seems that is no longer necessary; just a shake of the head and the words “believe me” is enough. When I was a kid growing up, I got in trouble once and my father said let me hear your side of the story. I told him my side and it was a lie and he knew it. He told me, “Screwing up like you did is forgivable. Almost expected at your age. I’m not going to punish you for that but I am going to punish you for lying to me.” I never lied to my dad again. Why is it in politics that the party faithful put up with things they know are lies? They know it’s lies because they’re not that stupid. Yet they refuse to acknowledge it as lies or not the truth. You can say “no comment” if you don’t want to be part of it or you can say I know that’s not right but I still believe in him or her. Yet so many elect to lie too and agree with them because they want to be supportive.

I have a good memory and when it comes to remembering the truth it’s not hard because it never changes. But lie’s change all the time and one lie leads to another and you better be writing them down because most of the time you will never remember them.