It’s time to take back our game. Baseball has dicked around long enough with our hearts.
When baseball resumes, keep your money in your pockets. Hold baseball owners and players accountable for their indifference to you by refusing to line their pockets with your cash.
For the history of our national pastime, owners have assumed that fans would continue to show up, and show up, and show up, no matter the inane crap they pulled during negotiations with players. There have been strikes, lockouts, cheating, intentionally lengthened games, and other tactics to maximize profits at the expense of players and fans.
The difference between the fans and players is that we have no collective seat at the table – no standing during talks. Our feelings are of no interest. We are allowed to fund teams and players contracts by buying tickets, beer, hotdogs, jersey, and hats, but our beliefs about the game are beyond the interests of the principles.
During the COVID-19 delay, the owners are kicking the can down the road to save money. The players want to make as much money as they can by playing ASAP. Fans wait patiently to be allowed to watch games that may never happen.
I put out the above twitter poll yesterday that asked who we blame for the unpleasantness that has led us the potential for the first year without professional baseball since 1868. I added “fans” as a response for my own amusement, but when 3.2% responded that fans are the cause of this impasse, I began to think.
You know what? Those 3.2% got it exactly right.
In a scene during The Right Stuff, astronaut Gus Grissom says about the U.S space program, “No bucks – no Buck Rogers!” That works for baseball too. Without fans’ eyeballs and dollars, baseball would only be played in parks by children. As long as fans sit idly by as owners and players squabble about our money, this idiocy will continue.
It might just be time to do something else with out time and other sports to support. Granted, owners in the NBA and NFL are also billionaires, and players are also millionaires, but they seem to have a much better grasp on how they might trick us into believing we are important. Baseball is unique in its overt obliviousness to fans’ presence, let alone concern.
As long as we spend our cash on their product without critical thought, baseball will refuse to acknowledge fans as anything but necessary nuisances.
Flipping the script will require one of two things –
- an organized revolt, or
- individuals simultaneously so off put they refuse to spend
The organized revolt will never happen. As pissed as I am at baseball, I have much better things to do with my time than march in protest outside Wrigley Field or Great American Ballpark. The bizarre wing nuts who would show up would bring more harm to our cause through their presence than to fortify it. Let’s forget about protests.
So it’s up to a significant number of individuals to hit the tipping point together, and refuse to buy tickets and swag. I love an afternoon at Wrigley Field as much as anyone and more than most, but until the spiritual foundation of the game reaches the same level of import to owners and players as the financial, I’m out.
There are front offices – like the Reds and Cardinals – who value fans at a much higher level than the Cubs, but a stand is a stand. And I haven’t heard Reds owner Bob Castellini or Cards owner Bill DeWitt Jr. apologize, so to hell with them too.
As a guy who spent more than $20,000 on Cubs season tickets, I know what it’s like to write that big ass check and then refuse after being treated with indifference. It’s liberating and fun. I highly encourage it.
It’s time to reassert our position at the table as the source of revenue to the owners and players who refuse to consider us seriously as partners.
If Major League Baseball is played in 2020, it will be in mostly empty stadiums as we continue to try to stop the spread of COVID-19. Maybe next year they will be mostly empty because we decide to spend our money on something that makes us feel better than going to a ballgame.
Players strike. Owners lockout. The time has come for us to boycott.
Maybe you come up with catchy thing for Twitter like #baseballbacktofans or some such and see about traction
Hello,
Feeling the same way about all sports, I’m done watching, buying jersey, until you get rid of all the players who supported BLM, antifa, the field or court is not the place to express your political views, until you are gone we should refuse to watch these ball chasing clowns, take back our american sports!
Done permanently. Second chance was last year. This is for good…been a sports fan my whole life, my son serves in the military as have a lot of friends and family… and I’ll stand for them and turn the channel for disrespect of our country. Forever! Say goodbye to multimillion dollar contracts.
MLB decided to take “The Low Road” when it placed itself with the radical left and pulled the rug (All Star game) from Atlanta. Georgia took the high road; Biden, Delta and MLB went low. As a baseball fan who wants to bring back free elections I decided to boycott MLB and will not attend or watch a MLB game in 2021. I hope many America loving patriots join me in taking a stand on MLB’s egregious act.
Don, it’s time (long overdue) to boycott any and all sports who are more interested in entering the political arena than focusing on the fans of their arenas! I cancelled my MLB package. No baseball, football, basketball, etc. Until these rich boys can stop playing politics and play the games they are overpaid to play. Done!
I have already canceled my baseball package and I will not be tuning into games this year. I went to spring training in Florida this year, i expect it to be my last. #solongbaseball #lakehereicome
A fans opinion will never matter until they stop supporting the teams with their cash. You better believe the fans opinion will matter once it effects their wallets. Nobody will dare to bring politics or religion or race into the sports arena if they stopped getting paid. Ask these Billionaire and millionaires to give up their salary or income for love of the game or for their platform cause and they will be silent …..then we can enjoy the game for the game.
I am done with baseball. Stencils of a racist domestic terrorist organization on the mounds is the last straw. Greedy players making millions claiming to be “oppressed.” Ridiculous. Already done with NFL and NBA. Thank God for the NHL – the only sport left with any common sense.
There is nothing more annoying than watching people making millions complain about people like us who are “oppressing” them while we work for everything we have. They have lost all common sense and perspective on life.
MLB has decided to kneel to the Marxist mob even as our cities burn! I’m out! Standing for social injustice is one thing but BLM stands for sis,trans,anti family and Marxism.What is MLB saying? Maybe they should check with their people in Venezuela and ask them how baseball is doing there!
Agreed 100% I am done with all as well, including NASCAR!
Done with all pro sports. Wealth and privilege seems to corrupt. Better things to do in life than watch little children cry and whine about things they do not understand. Most work hard to buy sports tickets. Money better spent on improving the quality of my life, not theirs.
Nothing worse than watching people making hundreds of thousands of dollars more than you in one game than you do in years complain about how oppressed they are and how you are oppressing them.
I’ve been a passionate sports fan since I was a child. Born and raised in NY and living in FL now I’ve stayed true to my home teams. I stopped watching the NFL when the kneeling started. When the NBA allowed an entire team to not to the White House after a Championship, bye bye NBA, and now it’s bye bye Baseball. BLM on uniforms and bases? Knees? Enough is enough. Not a dime or minute from me until it’s gone. I won’t even wear my Yankees Gear. I cry when they’ve won, and I’ve cried when they’ve lost. MLB TV can kiss my ass, FANS LIVES & ENJOYMENT MATTERS!!! The fans consist of all races, nationality, creeds, religions, etc where’s my Latin Lives Matter, or Americans Lives Matter? As long as BLM and Polictics continue to use Sports and Hollywood to promote their views and beliefs I will not watch sports or award shows. I just stopped watching my greatest love of any team, the Yankees over this. I swore to and I have cancelled MLB TV because I MATTER!!
Yes I agree 100 percent. They already had a viewership issue and if this is how they plan on changing it they’re in for a surprise.
I joined the ESPN opening day game late in the 5th inning, then I saw the replay of the kneeling (albeit, before the anthem), yet I cannot stomach BLM or what it stands for (which is NOT what the average Joe and the CNBC/CNN/NBC/NYT idiots say it stands for), and I turned the game off.
Boycott MLB until this perversion of the truth is taken out of our national past-time!
America’s past time? You take a knee, you disrespect America. You disrespect America, you disrespect me. I’ve been a MLB fan scenes 1961. I’m over MLB. They will never receive another dime from me.
No more will I tolerate kneeling
Goodbye NASCAR NBA MLB and NFL
Thank goodness for hockey
You are correct about the Cincinnati Reds. Bob Castellini is an honorable guy and a big sports fan. Sadly, Cincinnati is now a leftist town run by corrupt Democrats! MLB is trashing its image as the National sport by throwing in with Marxism? I’m a huge baseball fan but I am done with them also! All of sports are committing suicide by turning their backs on the fan base and instead are supporting overpaid cry babies! It won’t end well for them.
I’m done with major league baseball. I’m a long time St. Louis Cardinals fan. What has happened in St. Louis has set race relations back 50 years. I don’t want to see the name of that organization. I watched and went to games to see baseball and not to be lectured. I just saw the picture of the felon kneeling on the neck of a two year old and invoking their name. Tragic. Hateful. Violent.
I was so looking forward to finally watching baseball but no longer after displaying the devisive BLM banner… not now, not ever… until this reverse racism stops. What were you all thinking?? This is not going to end well. All Lives Matter! Our Men in Blue Matter. Might as well stop playing the national anthem andand raising our red white and blue.
I have been a fan since the four twenty game winning pitchers in one season (Baltimore Orioles). Good bye MLB soy boys! Stop being pussies and stand up against Marixst BLM.
Baseball has effectively ruined itself! The only way I will ever watch or go to a game again is if MLB apologizes to us “The Silent Majority”! and that isn’t going to happen. Hope you idiot’s had fun ruining something that so many of us Loved!
I live and breathe baseball and I practically grew up at Dodger Stadium. I have been to most of the MLB stadiums and my family throws an obscene amount of money at games and sports memorabilia every year following the Dodgers around the country. Last summer was a nice, long trip following the Dodgers to Colorado, Philly the year before that, Chicago the year before that and so on.
However, all of that has changed. For the first time in my life, I haven’t watched a single game or followed any MLB news, whatsoever. I just read an article that said those boycotting the game are not the fans baseball needs anyway. We’ll just have to wait and see about that when the reasons come in.
You can dress kneeling for the flag up anyway you’d like. But it it is nothing more than an intentional act of disrespect for this great country and those brave souls who have fought to defend it. If it wasn’t about the flag, they would kneel during the stretch.
I absolutely love the game and, admittedly, will miss it. But I love my country more than a silly game. And with that….MLB – Y’er Out!
I don’t need any of these professional sports to enjoy life. I 100% will not support any so called professional in America that disrespects the flag. Their athletic abilities are a moog point compared with the existance of the American flag. Done with you all.
I have already decided there will be no pro sports watched or supported by my house and am encouraging everyone I know to do the same. These over paid princesses need to show some respect for the country that has allowed them these outrageous salaries and lifestyles while the average American is barely scrapping by if that. The vocal majority of them have no respect for the veterans who fought for, and still protect this countries freedoms and the law enforcement officers who make the efforts to keep us safe. Anyone who says Kap was not disrespecting the flag and this country has not read all of his comments and posts. Like coach Ditka said, if you don’t like this country, GET OUT!
Not only baseball, but also the NFL, NBA, and NHL have all gone the same route of
telling us we’re racists if we don’t agree with what they’re doing. I’m a 67 year old
Canadian who has watched pro hockey since the early ’60s. I’m done with it now,
and if the pro leagues ultimately go bankrupt I won’t shed a tear.
Today, Aug 27, 2020 the NHL has postponed the playoff games for 2 days (so far) to protest the shooting of a felony sexual predator being served a warrant. While #MeToo is a joke, I’ll bet they’re proud of our boys of winter. They are now my boys of Days Gone By. I’m done with all pro sports. Lesser sports leagues take note. Don’t go down the same path. Fans have spoken.
I’m done with all pro sports and I encourage others to do the same. Spend more time with family, take up a hobby or tackle a project you’ve been putting off. Life is way to short to patronize billionaires and millionaires who REALLY don’t give a royal rat’s ass about you. And just remember, THEY turned their backs on YOU. Stay safe and stay sane.
I’ve been a MLB and NHL fan my entire life. I rarely miss a game and buy tons of merchandise, but I’m done with it all. I think the 4 month break made it that much easier to decide not to go back. I found better things to do with my time and I’m glad.
I agree with every person who has posted a reply. I’m a 59 yr. old fan who saw the lone Dodger, an overpaid knucklehead, who claimed a few years back that his dad was a veteran who fought for our country and he wouldn’t disrespect him by kneeling. But now he’s “educated.” What a mook!! Screw all professional sports who allow AND encourage kneeling during our country’s national anthem. Protest on your time, not our country’s and veterans time. And BLM is Marxist trash Kick them and the Blues out of our government this November.
Done with all sports and Hollywood. When a coach has to apologize to his team for wearing a T-shirt from a conservative news source, that’s it for me. Spoiled athletes and actors can kiss my cash goodbye. I have better things to do…like watching paint dry.
I would love to see the professional sports catastrophic revenue drop just to gloat because they have ticked off way too many fans who are walking away and taking their hard earned cash with them. I will be satisfied with watching youth sports from now on. Defund Pro Sports!
I feel like many of you. I grew up with baseball, it has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. When Covid hit I was amazed at how scared the ball players to play a sport in which you rarely come close each other. I was disappointed that when we needed a distraction from the pandemic the ball players cried like scared children. Then the season started and I saw all of the team with their BLM shirts. Now they refuse to play when a criminal, who sexually assaults women gets shot while resisting arrest and grabbing for a knife.
BOYCOTT ALL SPORTS!
Prove that athletes are as dumb as actors.
Okay, in all sincerity, people supporting all these
riots, hiding, and kneeling during the NATIONAL ANTHEM…
They should be forced to research AND write a 1000 word paper on Rick Monday…
They MUST include his stats, and what he did on April 25, 1976…Maybe then they would realize what a TRUE AMERICAN looks like in pro-sports…
Just in case y’all don’t know, he didn’t get in the hall of fame for protesting American Flag & anthem OR being a GREAT ball player…
I was 6 when I watched this, 44 years later… still vivid!!! (Yet I have no memory of my 6th birthday)
I am the author
No question, it is time to boycott the mlb, nfl ,nba and wnba .
I would like to take a knee for the huge income gap between “the oppressed” and those kneeing for them on the baseball fields so I decided to stop contributing to the disparity by not supporting MLB in any way
Are baseball players still kneeling? I haven’t watched, just wondering
Add MLB to the list of NBA and NFL that I will no longer support, watch or attend a game.
Time to wake up normal tax paying citizens and raise your voice to the idiots attempting to control you.
Add MLB to the list of NBA and NFL that I will no longer support, watch or attend a game.
Time to wake up normal tax paying citizens and raise your voice to the idiots attempting to control you.
IT TIME FOR BASBALL FANS TO BOYCOTT OVER PAY PLAYERS TICKET PRICES KEEP GOING UP ITS TIME TO STOP GOING TO BASEBALL GAMES
Stop spending money on all levels for MLB. I’m going to start backing the Indianapolis Indians with my cash.
it’s 2022 and i’m still boycotting, and don’t miss the MLB product one bit. Soccer has easily passed by MLB for me. Congrats MLB, 1994, 1998, 2001, and 2017… I’m out. For life!