Don't do us any favors

They tell me that after 60 games last year, the eventual World Champion Washington Nationals were 27-33. Zowie!

The mighty, mighty Seattle Mariners, after 15 games, were 13-2. They didn't quite maintain the momentum, losing 94 games on the year. You don't say.

These little nuggets of baseball lore are supposed to get me pumped for the 2020 MLB season. Because, the story goes, in a shortened season, "Anything can happen." You gotta love sports cliches, right?

The logic is pretty simple: The good teams only need a minor slump to have their season ruined, and a lousy team only needs a run of good luck to have a shot at the post-season. Wa-hoo! Count me in for playoff tickets!

Has anyone heard that old cliche, "Stick a fork in 'em ... 'cause they're done"? Because, pertaining to pro sports in 2020, the truth is, I don't care. After listening to the MLB owners and players go back and forth for the last three months arguing over – what else? – money, I think they have turned off enough fans that MLB would be much better off if they had canceled the season entirely and hoped that maybe – just maybe – fans will have forgotten about the 2020 disaster when spring training 2021 rolls around.

I hear friends now espouse joy in watching kids play little league ball. Personally, I'm not sure I relish a game which has 27 walks by the middle of the second inning, and a score of 22-11 by the end of the 3rd. Then again, it probably wouldn't have been so painful if it hadn't been me pitching in that one. And, in my defense, the umpire had a really tight strike zone that day, too. But you get my point.

Besides, baseball? We don't need no stinking baseball. We have the NFL to entertain us in the upcoming months. Of course, last I checked, the NFL owners and players were squabbling over really import stuff, like how many pre-season games they would play. First it was four, then it was two, and now the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) is talking about either one, or even zero pre-season games. "Player's safety," they say.

But what about Browns fans' sanity? Seriously, Browns receivers can't even run the right routes with six weeks of training camp and four exhibition games. Think of those yo-yo's with no exhibition games. Do you remember going to the circus and seeing the clowns riding tiny bikes around in circles and running into each other? Now, throw Browns jerseys on them and you have a good idea of how I envision Browns games looking for the first six or eight weeks this season. See where I'm going here? The NFL won't be doing us any favors by playing the 2020 season.

Frankly, I think the NBA had the right idea in taking their games to Disney World to finish the NBA season. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong park. They should have taken their game to California – Disneyland – because there, my friends, is a special place where the millionaire owners and millionaire players can get together and pretend that their fans still care.

Fantasyland

Jeff Bing

Lifelong Westlake resident who dabbles in writing whenever the real world permits. My forte is humor and horror...What a combo!

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Volume 12, Issue 13, Posted 10:01 AM, 07.07.2020