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From August 23, 2002

What's your reaction to the current baseball labor situation? If they go on strike, will you boycott baseball? Or do you understand that strikes are part of the business? Voice your opinion and tell us!

Good riddance
I hope they go out and stay out. Its all about money, both sides are greedy. It makes me sick that we spend taxpayers dollars to build playgrounds for greedy rich people, and then they have the nerve to threaten to walk out or actually walk out.

I have spent my last dollar on any baseball event. I honestly believe this whole thing could have been stopped long ago if the fans had banded together nationwide and boycotted games for a week or so. You can best believe that owners and players would have seen the writing on the wall when no income was being generated.

I feel more sorry for the working folks that will lose paydays because of the owners and players' greed. No more "Take me out to the ballgame" for this former fan.

Thanks,

Tim M.

Give me a break
The opinion polls want to know whose side I'm on — the players or the owners'? I'm on the side of the fans. The owners and the players have absolutely nothing without their fans. I don't get a minimum salary of $200K, I don't have a waterfront house in Florida, and I pay a lot of hard-earned money to go to games, park at the stadium, eat overpriced food, and buy overpriced fan paraphernalia. Was I threatening to strike? I may not have been a few weeks ago, but I sure am now. Don't they realize that just through what they've done this summer through media sound-bite posturing, they've already and appreciably eroded their standing with their lifeblood fans? Don't the players realize how bad they are making themselves look just by threatening a strike?

If Major League Baseball, owners and players alike, are so childish, short-sighted and self-destructive, to not quietly, professionally and in good-faith resolve their differences, what do they expect of their potentially former fans? If they leave the park like a spoiled, poor-sport kid taking his ball home, they (the owners and players alike) had better not hold out any hope that I'll be there waiting for them when they return. I'll be off to much better places watching minor league, high school, and little league ball.

Chris K., Issaquah

No more road trips
I have attended six Mariners games this year, traveling three times from Alaska. So yes, I am an avid fan, and have spent nearly $3,000 to attend these six games.

Baseball, and especially the players, need to understand the well is dry. Despite a lifelong love for baseball, I will turn my back on the sport if a strike occurs. No more summer afternoons watching games. No more 1,000-mile trips to the stadium. Cold turkey, I will switch to other pastimes.

I believe this sentiment is widespread, and have heard it more often than other expressions. We live in a world full of alternate pastimes. Watching whining athletes complain that $2.4 million each (average) is not enough, is not bringing tears to my eyes. Nor will it bring me back to the stadium or TV screen, if a strike occurs.

Jeff O., Juneau, Alaska

Running out of patience
I believe that I will always be a fan of the Mariners — but I'm not sure how much longer I can be a fan of baseball. Even if a strike is avoided in the next few days my days of habitually digesting the box scores over morning coffee and staying up late to watch the West Coast scores roll in are in serious jeopardy. These guys are having this public argument for their own selfish reasons and if they insult our intelligence with anything different, I will hold the doors open as we all abandon baseball together.

Chris T., Washington D.C.

Gag me
Is it me or does anybody else get nauseous listening to MLB player reps like Tom Glavine whine about owners trying to cap their salaries? When will they be satisfied with what they have? I used to assume baseball owners were fairly intelligent to be as wealthy as they are. Tom Hicks, thank you for dispelling that myth.

Brandt H., Oak Harbor

A strike hurts everyone
I won't pretend that I will permanently give up baseball, but even a short strike would sour my feelings. It took all of 1995, 1996, 1997 before I started paying attention to baseball again after the 1994 strike. I believe a strike would kill the Mariners' best short-term chances for a World Series appearance and I would not be back soon. I don't see either side having enough problems or separation to warrant a stoppage. Neither side seems to care much for the game or fans and I am tired of Selig's "poor suffering billionaire owner" monologues.

If they do it (strike/lockout) then I'll have a lot more spare summer time on my hands for a very long time.

Terry H.

Owning up
While the contracts that the players get have become increasingly obscene, it is the owners (as usual) that are the problem. There will be no agreement because the owners can't agree on how to share the pie. So they, in turn, can't negotiate with the Players Association.

As disgusted as I've been with the owners in general, I do respect the way the Mariner ownership runs its business. I do know if I owned the M's, I would resent having to pay San Diego up to $32 million a year in profit-sharing. With all the money on the table, it's simply unbelievable that there's not a way to make it work.

Jeff S., Bellevue

Fix it or forget it
I will be very happy if a strike leads to really fixing baseball's economics. I mean REALLY fix it. Another band aid solution is possible in order to avoid a strike. This would be a mistake. Fans will come back if this situation is fixed once and for all. Those that don't come back are not really baseball fans.

Gerry H.

Luck is running out
With the NFL and college football seasons just around the corner, I believe MLB owners and players can see the writing on the wall. Would baseball fans, having been put through annual ticket price hikes and yearlong threats of a work stoppage have enough patience to listen to anymore bickering over who gets more money? Some loyal fans may have been forgiving and returned after 1994, but I have a feeling baseball will not be as lucky this time around. This loyal fan for one, will turn off baseball for good if there is another strike.

Ian N., Seattle, WA

Emergency brake
I'm hoping the owners get this one right. If the players don't agree to their terms, let them strike, and then break them. If they're not willing to bring a little sanity to the sport, then I don't care if we ever see any of them again. A brake needs to be applied to their absurdly escalating salaries and the corresponding rise in ticket prices, and the playing field desperately needs to be leveled.

As one color announcer said last week in response to his play-by-play partner's comment that the Yankees were a very good team, "Well, you'd expect that for $140 million." What's the point of having a season if all it takes to win a championship is spending the most money?

Matthew Y., Burbank, California

Trim the fat
I don't care about the Mariners. I care what happens to baseball. Baseball should be declared by Congress as the monopoly that it is, and made to play by the rules like any other business. Let it chill for a year and come back with new leagues, a salary cap, no guaranteed contracts, 20 of the strongest financial teams, and a no-nonsense commissioner given powers to make it work.

Contraction? Yes! That way you won't pay for all the mediocre players who populate the landscape making ridiculous salaries. After 100 years of owners treating players like cattle, and 27 years of players treating the owners like dog droppings, it is time for a new look — a re-invention of baseball where only the best players are involved, and monies are equally shared.