Police in riot gear guard the dugouts, preparing for the worst with German shepherds at heel. This is Philadelphia in 1980, after all.
It’s the bottom of the ninth. Two strikes. Two out. Bases loaded.
Human rocket Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals hugs the plate, curiously dressed in full powder blue, a color fancied by baseball teams and wedding parties of the era.
His nemesis this evening is Phillies closer Tug McGraw, whose fame will later be shadowed by that of his son, country singer Tim McGraw. The screwball artist fires a pitch letter-high, but Wilson can only flail. Kansas City’s insurgency is repelled. The Phillies win their first World Series since forming during the Chester A. Arthur presidency.
A record 54 million people tune into the game that night. It will be perhaps the last time baseball can legitimately call itself America’s national pastime.
This story was reprinted with permission of Voice Media Group in this week’s issue. Click here to continue reading.
This article appears in May 1-7, 2013.
It would have been nice if the entire story could have been posted here.
Well, the article is a good read, all about baseball and the ridiculous TV contract fees that the consumers end up paying for. I used to be a really big sports fan until I realized saving up my money to support my local sports team is basically stupid. I’m all for supporting Cleveland, I try to support any local business or restaurant any chance I get, but I draw the line when I feel I am being gouged because the system is broken. If you’re paying someone my yearly salary for them to throw a ball for one inning every now and then, something’s wrong with this picture. And when that millionaire who makes all that money has the nerve to yell at me or “call me out” for not dropping what takes me 5 hours to earn so I can “support him” and watch him earn all that money, well, that tends to piss me off slightly. Athletes are not heroes, and they are far from even people that we should be looking up to. They reap the benefits of a broken system, one that has allowed them for too long to get whatever they want and collect more and more money. Yes, some of them do good, but they do no more good than the average person does when you consider the resources that they have at their disposal (and that they are contractually obligated to do some PR “good works”). You can raise my cable or whatever else costs you want, it will get to the point where I’m done with it, and I’ll just walk. I now go to maybe 3 games per year (that’s Cavs, Indians, Browns, Monsters combined) just because I disagree with the ridiculous amount of money being thrown around and how much cash I have to drop just to get in the door. See, I don’t like it, so I choose not to waste my money on it.
it’s really freaking expensive to be a sports fan nowadays