A rant I would usually save for the show....

I would usually save a rant like this for my Sunday show "The Sports Nerds" but a recent conversation with a VERY good friend of mine inspired me to put this down in writing instead. The discussion surrounded a subject of a previous post I made last week regarding refusing to embrace Major League Baseball and the Cleveland "Guardians" until ownership, the Dolans, sell the team. This friend called me out because I refuse to root for said Guardians, while at the same time refuse to disown the Cleveland Browns because of the Deshaun Watson signing. We discussed Baker Mayfield and his appearance on the YNK Podcast today, where he aired his grievances toward Cleveland Ownership and front office peeps while at the same time not taking much blame for his bad play and refusal to sit once it was discovered he was injured to the point where it was a detriment to the team and their chances of winning. The appearance on the podcast only makes it more difficult for a team to potentially offer a fair trade to the Browns for him, and maybe, just maybe that was on purpose to try and "stick it" to the Browns for how he feels he was treated. I feel he should have kept his comments to himself and not aired them in public, saving them for when he actually sat down with a potential suitor of his services as a QB.

I was called a hypocrite by my friend because of my steadfast support of the Cleveland Browns franchise, despite the Watson signing... to this, I told them, yes I can be accused of being a hypocrite, but I will wear that badge with honor or disgrace, whichever direction my co-hosts and friends take me, but I will not give up my fandom of a franchise that I have loved since I was a boy, nor will I allow others to guilt me or convince me to move on to a different team. I have lived and died with this team for over 50 years with the exception of 1996-1999 (For Eliot) when there was no franchise in Cleveland, and I will continue to do so until I take my last breath... Ask @jongolson what he would do if Josh Allen was not the Bills' QB and they went out and signed Watson, he would be hard-pressed to disown the Bills, after rooting for them for most of his 45+ years on this planet... I have no shame... In my mind the NFL is king. I have loved the Browns all my life and the fact that ownership signed a sexual predator does not change the love for a franchise I have carried all my life and will until the day I die. If the Browns win The Super Bowl with Watson as their quarterback, it will taste like SHIT, but I'll sit down to dinner and eat either way.

But I digress... so as not to go down an NFL rabbit hole, let me get back to the topic at hand, Major League Baseball. My distaste for MLB began in 1994 when a strike/lockout canceled the season (sorry Expos Fans) then in the mid 90's when Atlanta AND the Marlins beat the INDIANS in the World Series (REALLY JOSE MESA????). Then... it soured, even more, when the regional sports networks took over the broadcast rights to MLB teams and thus blackouts affected those of us that wanted to see their favorite teams play but couldn't because the games weren't sellouts. the same used to be the case in the NFL, if a home game didn't sell out on Sunday, then that market, every TV within 75 miles, would not be able to see their home team play that weekend as punishment. The NFL eventually removed that rule, but MLB AND the NHL still have those rules in place. Bally Sports Network, formally FOX sports networks have a monopoly on broadcast rights for all games in the MLB, NHL, and NBA, thus locking out the local fans from watching the games unless they purchased their package on the local cable providers. This package caused cable TV rates to skyrocket, sometimes to over $200/month just to be able to watch their favorite team play home games in their market. I can't watch the Tampa Bay Lightning here in Lakeland because the cable package I have does not include Bally's, and there are very FEW streaming services out there that offer that package... The reason behind it is because of the cost that Bally charges for services to carry their stations, and ownership of the pro sports teams don't care because of the money they are all getting from Bally's so they have no incentive to change how the games are broadcast.

This is what I want for MLB specifically... a salary cap so that small-market teams can compete with the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and any other team that is willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to put a roster together. The removal of blackouts... similar to the NFL, which discontinued them a long time ago, and now all teams share pretty much equally in TV/Radio Revenue across the board (unless you're the owner of the Washington Commanders). The dissection of Bally as the "sole" provider of regional sports broadcasting, to allow the option of local affiliates to broadcast the games and allow free access on the web to stream whatever game you want to watch. Equal revenue sharing among all franchises would allow this to happen because they would not be fighting or struggling for revenue and fans. the games would grow into a model similar to the NFL and the money would roll in for all teams and parody would prevail. Sounds good in theory, but the powers that be wont allow it to happen because they worship the almighty dollar and as of right now, Bally is providing them with $$$ to broadcast their games to those that are willing to pay exorbitant prices to their local cable company in order to watch the games.

This is my dream for MLB< NHL< and NBA, but it doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon...

Thanks for coming to my "Ted Talk"

Join me and my cohosts @jongolson, Ken Costlow, and Eliot "Big E" Lomba each and every Sunday night at 7:30 PM Eastern time for The Sports Nerds! 90 minutes of sports talk, trash talk, and laughs as we discuss the week in sports.

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