OK, now I see. So people that own a sports franchise should be slammed for making money even though that's the point of any business? So owners should just not maximize their profits? Every big business on the planet does what they have to do to max out profits but in sports the owners are perceived as evil for trying to get the most bang for their buck.

I am not defending the owners. They are just as bad as the players. They all are greedy ****s.

The owners aren't evil for trying to make money. They're completely full of shit, though, for sending out their errand boy Manfred out to argue that they're not making loads of money off owning these teams.

So the MLB was going to raise the pre-arb pool from 5M to just 10M, and the players were originally asking for 115M. I don't think that's fair to say they weren't asking for enough when it's 115% more than the MLB's lousy 5M increase. I know the MLBPA backed off the proposal for super 2 status qualifications, but do we know where they had supposedly settled on the pre-arb pool number? Or is that still one of the hang ups?

I personally don't like watching people strike out. I just hate it. If the ball was constantly in play it would be much more entertaining. But it's just a boring sport, it is what it is. We wouldn't like it if it wasn't America's past time when this nation started to be a world power. The only reason any of us like baseball is because our parents watched it.

Parents never watched baseball. I started watching it when I was 13 or 14 because I loved to play.

You are just so dumb that it's pointless to have a discussion with you.

respectfully disagree.

I love watching baseball because I played the sport for quite some time, and can appreciate a 9-8 game full of home runs, as well as a 1-0 pitcher's duel.

A strikeout is somewhat equivalent to watching a D-lineman stuff a run for -1 yard (you hate to see it happen to you, but love to see it when it's your team doing the stuffing).

Not true. Maybe I'm speaking for just myself, but I love baseball. Played it since I was 5. Played catch with the old man and my best friend in the front yard. I can still hear the sound of that loud pop when a hard thrown ball hit the mit in the sweet spot. I had a 'foolish' childhood dream to play pro ball, eventually realized my potential wasn't good enough, and when I watch games now, it is somewhat of a satisfaction of someone living out my dream. I still get goosebumps when I drive through a small town and see the glow of the lights in the distance. There, some kid isn't satisfied until his uniform is dirty. The smells, the sounds, the feel of hitting the ball, the chatter in the dugout, the feeling of wearing the uniform, all of it. I loved it all.

So I watch baseball because I loved to play it, and I enjoy watching it. Even in today's style, I get satisfaction in admiring a nasty slider or changeup that buckles a hitter at the knees. There's more strikeouts today, but I still find things to admire about the game. And someday, they will make some changes to the rules to 'add more excitement'. I won't like it at first, but I'll still watch. And I'll find new things to admire.

I won't deny, it's lost a lot of popularity, and to the younger generation it's probably 'boring'. But I watch it because I love the game.

I think a lot of people are baseball fans because they played it as a kid.

In small town rural America, especially before the late 1990's, the only option for kids to play organized sports was little league. Basketball and football weren't nearly as accessible and in most cases, didn't even exist for kids younger than junior high.

Baseball was the defacto kids game everywhere I ever lived.

Nailed it. Football will always be my favorite, but baseball was different for the reason you are saying. I was wearing a uniform at the age of 5. That didn't happen in football or basketball until I was in the 7th grade.

I figured the emergence of traveling baseball over the years would have led to a bigger audience, but it really hasn't. It may have hurt it. It may have caused too big of a gap between the better players and the average players turning the average players away too soon.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Before delivering &quot;best and final offer,&quot; 30 MLB owners gathered on a Zoom call, per 3 sources.<br><br>4 voted no, because they thought it was too generous (!).<br><br>More will vote no if CBT over $220. So, a DOA offer was too high for some owners.<br><br>Details:<a href="https://t.co/KFx9WaBdjW">https://t.co/KFx9WaBdjW</a></p>&mdash; Andy Martino (@martinonyc) <a href="https://twitter.com/martinonyc/status/1499497290972684291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Angels, Diamondbacks, Reds and Tigers owners opposed MLB luxury tax increase to $220 million. MLB also proposed including player meal money in calculation of luxury tax, which irked players. <a href="https://t.co/gBKrqAx9wV">https://t.co/gBKrqAx9wV</a></p>&mdash; Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1499624274298126338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Back yard baseball games with all the kids in the neighborhood were ****ing lit!

I couldn't care less about what you think about anything. CP is a message board. Not real life for anyone.

The problem was that we could always find at least three guys to go play some form of football.

Baseball takes at least 5 or 6 along with a bucket of baseballs and a damn big open space.

The logistics were just a lot tougher

That’s why we played wiffle ball! 2 on 2. Small yard worked. “Ghosty” runners. Nobody wanted to go retrieve the ball when we fouled it into the old lady’s yard next door. Man she was mean.