To put it bluntly, this writer is a huge sports fan.  I watch SportsCenter daily; I follow almost all major sports in this country, and am currently enjoying the Women’s World Cup Soccer Tournament being played in Germany.  What I find interesting is no one…players, coaches, owners, or anyone is the least bit concerned about the large scale ramifications that can come from these lockouts.  While they drive into meetings in their high-priced cars, that none of the rest of us could ever afford to drive, and sit in the fancy offices, and bicker about sums of money that seem unreal and unattainable to so many of us, we as fans….just want to watch the game.  I love seeing these athletes, especially in the younger days before they “made it big” talk about how they love their sport, and would play it forever if they could….even for free!  What a joke…now we have athletes that want 10-year, $150 million plus contracts, for doing something the love….

Does no one remember the baseball strike of the mid-90’s anymore?  Have we become such an instant society that we don’t remember empty ballparks all summer long…”America’s Pastime” was wiped away from us.  Do we not remember when they got over the money disputes and finally came back out to play the game…the game they would play for free?  There was no one in the stands there to watch them.  I find it ironic that NFL and NBA are now willing to purposely risk their futures….as they have forgotten about Major League Baseball Association almost bankrupting itself during that strike and had to fight like hell to get us back in the stands.

Therefore from a big business perspective….aren’t you only standing to lose?  Lost revenue from tickets sales, concession sales, merchandise sales; and that’s just on game day.  What about advertising dollars?  Budweiser, for example, has been a huge sponsor spending millions and millions of dollars to make sure you are drinking their products and your sporting event of choice.  Will these lockouts have a huge impact on Budweiser’s overall sales and volume?  Probably not…they didn’t lock themselves out from making beer to debate over it’s price per bottle….they are still producing and the American public will still support their product.  The bigger impact has to be on the venues themselves, players with endorsement deals, and once again, the gracious owners’ nice plump bonuses.

To me…the irony….they are all sitting up there complaining about money…while revenue is dwindling beneath them, and they don’t even know it.

At least some are trying to have some fun with the looming and no-end-in-site lockout…NFL Players, and strangely enough, the kid from the Twilight movies, make an interesting spoof about getting everyone back to work.  And, for a twist of humor, they use a classic and iconic baseball movie to make the reference.

Enjoy…