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Past time, too soon?
On Independence Day weekend, consider the cost of MLB exclusivity
It might not be obvious, based on my ongoing critique, but I'm actually kinda into American life.
Don't think me a player hater for revisiting this. Listen: baseball's awesome. I can remember chilling with Prince Fielder, Johnny Damon, and rising Milwaukee Brewers star Seth McClung in South Beach on Super Bowl Weekend '07 and thinking: These cats are living the life. They're among the world's best at the game most men would die to play for a living.
But would every kid want to play it? Today's kids? Ya gotta wonder if tomorrow's youngsters will be into baseball at a level that matches 20th century interest. Never mind that baseball plays out as challengingly deliberate for anyone under 20, the sport has become perversely expensive.
My last Dodger game played out as the same amazing live event I've dug almost all of my life. Cliff Lee was the same beastly hurler he's been all season. Closer Takashi Saito displayed the unpredictability that's given Joe Torre headaches all season. It's a nutty, up-and-down game, and the fans still feel it.
But the expense of going to the ballpark has become damn-near prohibitive. My crew's four seats were worth $160. Parking another $15. Unremarkable food ran $60 and my single large, domestic beer ran $11.50. A bottle of water was $5.75. A week later, I saw Gilberto Gil and Devendra Banhart at the Hollywood Bowl. It unnerved me that beer was relatively cheap at $7.50 and water $3.
Don't think me a player hater for revisiting this. Listen: baseball's awesome. I can remember chilling with Prince Fielder, Johnny Damon, and rising Milwaukee Brewers star Seth McClung in South Beach on Super Bowl Weekend '07 and thinking: These cats are living the life. They're among the world's best at the game most men would die to play for a living.
But would every kid want to play it? Today's kids? Ya gotta wonder if tomorrow's youngsters will be into baseball at a level that matches 20th century interest. Never mind that baseball plays out as challengingly deliberate for anyone under 20, the sport has become perversely expensive.
My last Dodger game played out as the same amazing live event I've dug almost all of my life. Cliff Lee was the same beastly hurler he's been all season. Closer Takashi Saito displayed the unpredictability that's given Joe Torre headaches all season. It's a nutty, up-and-down game, and the fans still feel it.
But the expense of going to the ballpark has become damn-near prohibitive. My crew's four seats were worth $160. Parking another $15. Unremarkable food ran $60 and my single large, domestic beer ran $11.50. A bottle of water was $5.75. A week later, I saw Gilberto Gil and Devendra Banhart at the Hollywood Bowl. It unnerved me that beer was relatively cheap at $7.50 and water $3.
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12:55 EDT, 05.Jul.08