What is so important about this date?
It's the day baseball will stop unless the owners' and players' agree to terms on the new collective agreement.
As of today they are the Atlantic Ocean away from each other.
EVERYTHING comes to a halt.
Question.
If this happens, and if it is for a long time, what does this do to your fandom?
3 comments:
On the surface, I would like to think that I would move on and the lack of baseball wouldn't be a big deal. However, the truth is that I would miss it to a certain degree. As I have gotten older, I do find myself less invested in all sports (including MLB), but I don't think I could simply leave it behind.
MLB's popularity has certainly waned in the past 30 years and an ugly work stoppage wouldn't be a smart move for the future of the game, but I also never underestimate greed and I think there will be a protracted labor dispute.
To answer your question specifically, it doesn't do anything more to my fandom than a lot of the other crap that is being instituted. (more later)
As a 50+ year baseball fan, I cannot break myself from the basic love of the game.
As a 50+ year fan of the Mets, there is no way to switch alliances, and I will always at least follow what the Mets are doing throughout the year, both when they are playing and during the off season when they are trying to build the team for next year.
If they suddenly didn't play for a long time, I'll just follow the PGA tour a bit and go on building ramps the same way I did this summer. I just won't be tethered to the computer at night. Assuming they return at some point, I'll pick up right where I left off.
Now back to my first statement. I wonder why I even still am a fan with what they are trying to do to the game. The runner on second base in extra innings is sacrilege. Pitching clocks are wrong. Getting away from fundamental baseball and making it a game of all or nothing is frustrating and disillusioning. I have no problem watching a guy hit a home run, but I have a ton of issues with a guy not changing his approach when there are runners on second and third. The strikeouts and my perception (I don't know if I am right or not) that there are more GIDP than ever lead me to pull my hair out.
So back to the open thread. Your statement that EVERYTHING comes to a halt. Perhaps this is another full article, but I am lost as to what that really means between December 2 and Feb 15. Obviously without a contract, there would be no Spring Training or regular season start, but does that mean that things like the General Manager's meetings will be called off? Free Agency creeps to a crawl?
No trades? Mack's Mets won't take sabbatical without a CBA will it?
I surprise myself in having gotten away from watching pro and college football and college and almost all pro basketball. It could happen in baseball, too, if I get away from it long enough, I imagine. That has to be owners’ fear. Fans disconnecting, and staying disconnected for a long time or forever. Tread carefully.
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