We're reaching day I Don't Know What territory of the MLB lockout. We're also well past the point that I can care about what is going on. This whole lockout feels like the dead air in between pitches during a game. Nothing is really going on, people are talking without actually saying anything, and Rob Manfred is still totally useless; that last point is something that never changes.
This lockout just proves to me what I felt like I already knew: my life is no longer affected in any way by the MLB. I no longer go out of my way to watch games, I don't emotionally invest in my team; granted my team is the Orioles so why would I invest? I know the players (labor) are fighting the owners for better rights, pay, revenue sharing, etc, which is all well and good, but it doesn't make me miss the games. You'd be more likely to find me imitating Homer Simpson during a game than watching it.
Baseball just isn't exciting anymore. Games move too slow, there are too many commercials in between innings, people don't go to stadiums anymore and there are simply too many games in the season. Why should I care about a team in April, when they're 20 games out of 1st place by June with 80+ games to go. There's no juice to the sport anymore because the owners squeezed out every drop for a bigger payday.
I'm of the mindset that the owners have benefitted in the short term, but will lose a lot of long term revenue because people will tune out and go find something better to do with their time. Honestly, I bet half the people who turn a game on don't even pay attention, they just have it on as background noise while they're doing chores around the house or cooking dinner. Teams don't even have fun jerseys anymore like the old school Astros. Just pick a base color, slap the name on the front, and call it a day. There's no creativity, there's no fun, nothing outside the box.
Take a look at that last sentence and tell me if you weren't trying to figure out if I meant jerseys or the game as a whole. I'll wait.
The great thing as a baseball fan is that if you miss one game, you can always catch the next one. But it's also a curse because it's so easy to say, "nah, I'm just not feeling it today" over and over and over again. I started doing that when I was asking myself if I really wanted to head to Camden Yards downtown to catch a game. Was it really worth the time to get there? Is the length of the game really worth sitting through? Is an $10 Bud Light worth it when I can get a 6-pack for $7?
The answer is easy: no, it's not. So lockout or not, it really won't matter. Baseball can't get out of it's own way and I don't know what solution would be to bring someone like me back. I'll just go watch the PLL instead and have a much more enjoyable experience.
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