Cry Me a River

Hats off to MLB owners.  Ordinarily, I wouldn’t take the side of multimillionaires, but I’ll make an exception this one time.

 

The owners keep floating ideas for starting the 2020 season, and, how to put this, their chief concerns don’t appear to be health-related.  No, it’s money.  The owners want players to share their pain.  The players have already agreed to pro-rated salaries, but that’s not enough pain for the other side.

 

The owners want further concessions because in all likelihood games will be played without fans in attendance.  OK, I get that, but why keep throwing variations on a salary cap at the players?  That dog won’t hunt, guys.  Try a joint committee of representatives from ownership and the players’ association to hammer out an equitable agreement.  And keep in mind that owners will be able to deduct their losses come tax time. 

 

So spare me Tom Ricketts crying poor, as I saw him do on TV last night.  Here’s somebody whose family owns a team valued north of $3 billion.  Hey, Tom, if things are so tight for you and your siblings, use the team as collateral and get a loan.  Otherwise, stick a sock in it, and prove you want to get the season started.

 

Baseball is lucky, sort of.  No one really cares what the NBA and NHL do.  Resume the season; jump right into an expanded playoff scheme.  Whatever.  Winter sports don’t carry much cache once the thermometer hits eighty and above.  What both sides in baseball need to keep in mind, though, is that football rules whatever the temperature.  The longer owners and players squabble, the sooner training camps open, with the attendant flood of coverage.

The clock is ticking, guys.