We'll be back to contend in 2024

[*bengalfan74*]

(12-26-2022, 11:13 AM)samhain Wrote: Yeah, it sucks.  

Even youth baseball is an inhumane pressure cooker of insane parents and travel coaches that all think they're the bastard sons of Billy Martin and General Patton.  I don't know how kids even enjoy that stuff anymore.  Neighborhood baseball like we played really isn't a thing.  The fun aspect of it is basically dead on any real organized level.  It's a money machine for camps, coaches, and tournaments, all selling the idea of college scholarships and MLB careers to extremely naive parents.  You could pay for your kid's college with the cumulative amount that some of these people spend on lessons and 365 day a year travel.  

Even a kid that loves it can't compete if he doesn't have parents that can financially support him through lessons that run thousands over time and grind them down to the nub.  The ones that can either make it or hate baseball before they hit high school.

The competitive balance in the league will kill it.  300 mil payrolls vs 50-70 mil payrolls is like the Cowboys of the 90's ripping through they league with a roster that was only limited by Jerry Jones' pocketbook.  You wound up with a nation full of Cowboys bandwagoners and a bunch of other teams, mainly Buffalo, cycling though to get pounded in the Super Bowl.  Then the salary cap came along, the Cowboys drifted back to league average, and other teams had a shot based more on the actual football acumen of the front office, a department in which Jerry was sorely lacking.  

And what happened?  The league became a juggernaut of advertising money and must-see TV on a level of no other sport in this country.  Everyone thought they had a chance, because they kind of did in the grand scheme.  I love seeing the NFL crush other leagues in earnings and viewing.  It's the only remotely level playing field in terms of financial structure, and it rakes in cash.   I want players to get paid, but the day thy get the upper hand on owners is the day the league starts to die.

A work buddy of mine has his two young boys in baseball. He's buying them $200 hand made gloves. $300+ dollar bats. Playing in this league, that leauge like 8 months a year. They're like 9 and 11. I told him he's nucking futs.

I've told him several times you're taking all the fun out of it for the kids. They're going to be burnt out before they reach H.S. But i guess he has Johnny Bench and Pete Rose dreams for them ?