This is why I hate the off-season. It's not that MLB isn't about the almighty dollar every minute of every day, but this time of year there are no pretty swings or improbable double plays to distract me from the dollar signs.
I'm not even thinking of player salaries, numbers so huge they seem imaginary to me. Even yesterday I didn't mind so much when I read that a full player's share of the Cardinals' World Series take is $362,173. How amazing for those guys making the minimum, I thought, to double their salaries for a week's play--not even stopping to calculate how many years of actual work it will take me to gross that much
And later, when I saw that the Cardinals were again giving away cheap satellite radios to encourage people to subscribe to XM in order to hear the games that have always been free, I was able to roll my eyes without rehashing why that move infuriated me so much in the first place. (The Cardinals bought into a radio station and moved the game broadcasts there. Smooth, profitable, move. The catch? The station's signal barely exceeds the shadow of the arch.)
But today I got an email "invitation" to the 2006 WORLD SERIES FILM PREMIERE* & DVD RELEASE CELEBRATION at Powell Symphony Hall. Come see the players! Come watch TV! Come see ballgames you've already seen! Come pay $30 to $75 depending on seat location!
For an organization that last year sold the urinals out of the old, demolished, stadium, I admit this is pretty classy. I bet there's even a red carpet. But seventy-five bucks? Good grief. Capitalism: I get it. If you don't fleece people in the weeks after your championship, when can you fleece people? And is it really a fleecing when the sheep are happy to pay? You got me. All I know is that these maneuvers make me fondly remember the days when the owner was Gussie Busch, a man who could take everyone's money without anyone minding so much. Then again, he sold beer.
I know it's never not been about money, but it makes me crabby when it's so obvious. I prefer to keep my illusions and a few bucks in my pocket. For that to happen, it may already be time to step away from the hot stove.
*FILM premiere? Did they reshoot the ending? Remake Fever Pitch?
I'm not even thinking of player salaries, numbers so huge they seem imaginary to me. Even yesterday I didn't mind so much when I read that a full player's share of the Cardinals' World Series take is $362,173. How amazing for those guys making the minimum, I thought, to double their salaries for a week's play--not even stopping to calculate how many years of actual work it will take me to gross that much
And later, when I saw that the Cardinals were again giving away cheap satellite radios to encourage people to subscribe to XM in order to hear the games that have always been free, I was able to roll my eyes without rehashing why that move infuriated me so much in the first place. (The Cardinals bought into a radio station and moved the game broadcasts there. Smooth, profitable, move. The catch? The station's signal barely exceeds the shadow of the arch.)
But today I got an email "invitation" to the 2006 WORLD SERIES FILM PREMIERE* & DVD RELEASE CELEBRATION at Powell Symphony Hall. Come see the players! Come watch TV! Come see ballgames you've already seen! Come pay $30 to $75 depending on seat location!
For an organization that last year sold the urinals out of the old, demolished, stadium, I admit this is pretty classy. I bet there's even a red carpet. But seventy-five bucks? Good grief. Capitalism: I get it. If you don't fleece people in the weeks after your championship, when can you fleece people? And is it really a fleecing when the sheep are happy to pay? You got me. All I know is that these maneuvers make me fondly remember the days when the owner was Gussie Busch, a man who could take everyone's money without anyone minding so much. Then again, he sold beer.
I know it's never not been about money, but it makes me crabby when it's so obvious. I prefer to keep my illusions and a few bucks in my pocket. For that to happen, it may already be time to step away from the hot stove.
*FILM premiere? Did they reshoot the ending? Remake Fever Pitch?
Cardinals World Series
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