Paul

As a Cards fan and SABR member, I have much respect for the three original New York teams: the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants. IMHO, these are the only franchises with valid claims to being more successful than St. Louis. The Yankees are obviously #1 with their large number of World Series wins, and the three NL teams are pretty close in terms of World Series wins and NL Pennants. What some people don’t realize is that there has always been a large payroll discrepancy between the haves and have nots, even in some fondly remembered “Golden Age”. St. Louis is firmly a mid to small market team, and I accept that. The Cardinals have to get help from unexpected places (Tony Womack in ’04, John Rodriguez and others in ’05, Chris Duncan in ’06) in order to be able to compete. And my response to those who complain about the Yankee payroll is to take a look at teams like the A’s and Twins. You CAN win without a top payroll if you are smart and lucky with player development. Anything I say about the Yankees is just playful ribbing. I don’t hate the Yankees or any other team. I just enjoy watching good baseball teams play good baseball. I look forward to the playoffs this year (and with some luck I’ll be able to attend a few Cards’ playoff games if they can advance past the Pads).

Brett S.

George may have been the first owner to truly monopolize on the dollar, but that argument doesn’t really work anymore as I believe that 6-8 (not sure of exact number?) of the top 10 or 12 team payrolls are NOT in the post season. In addition, we ALL have been lucky to have witnessed epic dry-spells end in the last few years (Red and White Sox) and payrolls only played a part in that magic.

So as much as I understand people’s dislike for George and the Yankees, it really gets old. Here is what every sports fan has to learn to accept (and something that goes back to our innocence we had a kid’s who loved the game…) Sports… ALL professional sports are NOT a game, they are a business. It is NOT meant to be fair, and it all comes down to winning at all costs. Anyone who still looks at professional sports (NFL, MLB, NBS etc.) like it is supposed to be a fair and balanced game is stuck in a bygone era. Money, steroids, mercenary players… whatever – its a Capitalist society and it all comes down to selling tickets and merchandise. The actual game – is just a byproduct of the machine. Fairness doesn’t even enter into the equation anymore (IMO). And as one who has studied this game for years, I’m not sure that it ever really did. I think “fairness” is a fine, moral ideal that people want to embrace, but it has no place in the modern game anymore. It’s simple 21st-century math: Team + Win = Money. (Just my own jaded opinion.) I still LOVE it, but I definitely feel that I understand it for what it is, a business and a team is really a corporation.

And the biggest reality check that I have had to accept in regards to sports is this… Players used to play for the name on the front of their jersey. Today, they play for the name on the back.

LOL. 🙂 Folks tolerate me as well, despite what they conceive as a character flaw for being a Yankees fan. 🙂 Am no band wagon fan of the team, and the first game I attended at Yankee Stadium back in the 1960s, Mickey Mantle hit one out. 🙂

Regards from the Garden State,

Steve

I forgot to add: I had such respect for your opinions, and now I find you are a Yankees fan! j/k One of my best friends is a Yankees fan. I like the guy, despite that fault! 😉

Brett

I’ve got a lot of responses to get to in this thread. Eric, as a lifelong Blues fan (i.e. the team who made the playoffs literally since the day I was born until last season but with no Stanley Cups) I understand the NHL pain. As a fan of basketball (especially college and the Illini) I understand your NBA pain. As a fan of baseball…I can’t totally understand your pain. The Cardinals, despite not winning it all in almost 24 years, have had an almost unprecedented run of playoff appearances (Cough…Braves!..Cough) the last seven years (only missing 2003 to the hated Cubs, Cough…BARTMAN..Cough, sorry Valerie, I have a lot of Cubbie fans as friends, BTW). The Astros had one helluva run these last two weeks (sorry Mike, Astros fans can definitely stand with their heads held high!), but my boys backed in. I had huge expectations in 2004 (NL best 105 wins) and 2005 (NL best 100 wins), so I’m hoping this year that reduced expectations equals better results. Honestly, I as a 27 year-old cannot remember a better or more wide-open MLB playoffs than this one. The Mets should have been obvious NL frontrunners, but Pedro’s gone. Seriosuly, who has a better number one than the Cards in Carpenter in the NL? The Dodgers with Penny have the only possible argument. PEavy is normally good, but he struggles a little this year. The Yanks could have been AL frontrunners (sorry Michael, if I can possibly feel sorry for you Yankees fans), but their pitching is a shambles as well (COugh…no Johnson..Cough), plus they face what I believe to be the best AL team in the Tigers. The Twins could have had an unbeatable one-two punch in Santana and Liriano, but the latter is gone as well for quite some time. And the A’s aren’t chopped liver! Don’t get me started on the NFL. Three fourths of America is nothing short of retarded for considering NFL football their favorite sport…

Congrats on the Dodgers. It’s obviously a franchise with a storied history, and they deserve better.

Eric

I’ve tried cold turkey. Perhaps a twelve step program is the only way to go.

Eric