Right, we were trying to prove that Yankees players make ridiculous salaries. And yet they didn't win.
If you think that there is something "wrong" with baseball simply because of the size of player salaries, then your problem is with the mechanics of supply and demand, not the sport. Or your problem is with the fanaticism of a fan base that will riot in the streets for a victory and has a willingness to pay sufficient sums in sufficient numbers to incentivize teams paying large salaries to attract the highest-performing players.
My problem is not with baseball so much as it is with nationally-broadcasted, commercialized spectator sports in general; I see them as the Coliseum of our time. People define themselves as fans of a particular team and become so wrapped up in its failures and successes, so intimately knowledgeable in the histories and statistics of the players... to the exclusion of knowledge that would better benefit their chances of survival and success. They obsess over these petty games and are mesmerized by the bright lights, ignoring dire flaws and issues in our society and world.
Certainly recreation and some distraction from the daily grind is a healthy release, but a lifestyle of sports-fanaticism is, to me, a simian throwback and a social construct surrounding a might-as-well-be-arbitrary subject that everyone can know and talk about when there's little else fit for idle banter.
That being said (and my having said it), I have surrendered and come to enjoy watching baseball. Going to games is a socially accepted (or at least tolerated) outlet for antics and immaturity (e.g. last night the riot police let one last person climb up the signpost at the intersection of Brookline St. and Yawkey Way outside Fenway Park before pushing the crowd farther down the street). Watching games provides one with conversation pieces with which to socialize with individuals from all walks of life around the nation (e.g. when I was in Louisiana this past week, when I mentioned I was from Boston, even though I had little in common with most people I met, we could still have lively discussions on sports until we could segue into other topics). Following a team provides fans with a collective sense of local or regional identity. After last night's win, I am "proud" to be a Bostonian (even if just for college) because I can jocularly rub our victory in everyone else's faces and there's a sense of national achievement/recognition for a team that supposedly represents our city, nevermind where the players are from and nevermind that I've never paid for tickets to a game or purchased memorabilia.
I enjoy baseball for the wildness, the banter, and the sense of belonging. The sport brings people together and, even if it's a shallow happiness, brings enjoyment and entertainment to a great many. Most individuals in that great many are willing to exchange their money for this entertainment, and so it is not surprising to me that on the national level, baseball is a high-grossing sport and compensates its players accordingly.
Even though the Rockies did not win the Series, they have achieved national notoriety for making it as far as they did and defeating many other teams boasting highly-talented (and compensated) individuals.
Cordially,
Lord Tiberius Grismath
1473 for '1337' posts.
ad hominem