Or at least talk about contractions. OK, contraction. Singular. Good thing I didn't try to work "labor" into my headline -- any more of an awkward stretch and my pants would have ripped.
But kudos to Bill Madden of the NY Daily News for broaching an increasingly viable subject: Can the economy get so bad that baseball shrinks by a team or two? (And hat tip to MLB Trade Rumors for the link.) Madden highlights the Marlins and Athletics are prime downsizing candidates now that their respective efforts for new stadia have been grounded like a pair of shiny new corporate jets. You think your business is being hit hard? How about the guys who build baseball parks?
Losing the Marlins would be sad for the 6,000 people who show up at their home games, but for the rest of us, not so much. Losing the A's would be worse, as it's a team with deep, colorful history in three different cities. Their inability to draw good crowds this past decade, even with exciting squads full of marketable stars like Zito, Hudson, Chavez, Mulder, Swisher, Tejada, and so on, is kind of sad. And I don't get it. BART goes right to the park. Tickets are reasonable. There's plenty of parking. Mt. Davis is an eyesore and ruined a perfectly cozy park with a great view of the hills, but come on, it's not that bad. And don't give me the old "we're blue collar and can't afford it" line. I've driven through the Oakland/Berkeley hills, pal. And since 2005 the bluest of collared folks, Milwaukeeans (-ites?), have recognized good young talent and out-attended Oaklanders by an increasing margin.
Oakland fans can bitch all they want about Bonds and the S.F. circus and the superficial appeal of the Giants' shiny new ballpark and the yuppies yapping on their cell phones in luxury boxes, but they haven't shown up where it counts, at the turnstiles. Would you rather have yuppies, or would you rather be contracted?
As you might guess, I've never been one of these Bay-OK fans. I don't dislike the A's, but they're not my second most favorite team just because of convenient geography. (I don't really have a second most favorite team, unless you count whoever's playing the Dodgers.) But I respect what they've done the past decade -- except for the part about not drawing enough fans to keep the team viable -- and I'd love to have Billy Beane run my first most favorite team. So seeing them go away, and not just to Fremont, would make me sad for baseball.
Am I being too harsh? Would an A's-less Bay be diminished? If baseball had to contract two teams, which would you choose?
