First off, congrats to the Yanks. After their 1-0 loss the other night, I 
held no hope for Atlanta in Game 6 because they never seem to score for Mad 
Dog, even against the dogs of the NL. I really can't comment on Game 6 
because I was programming some NBA stuff while it was going on and got caught 
up in what I was doing.
I'd like to take the time to congratulate Torre because he did a hell of a 
job this year despite all the turmoil. Oh, you can say that it was all the 
players that Steinbummer bought but the truth is, he pulled all the right 
strings to make it happen (Don't forget, the guys that were doing a lot of 
the damage were either homegrown products or guys that no one wanted). I know 
his past failures didn't make some people confident that he could do it but 
he wasn't the master of his own destruction in most cases (Atlanta killed 
what chances he had when they traded Butler and Jacoby to Cleveland and the 
Cardinals chose profits over production; something that they eschewed when 
they got LaRussa).
Can they repeat? Hell, just enjoy it Yankee fans and worry about that next 
year. It took the Braves 30 years to win their first and the Yanks were 
without a title since 1978. Enjoy the moment and forget about repeat until 
next season is well under way because it may be a long time before another 
title comes along.
                                    ****
Now that the Series is over, will baseball get its head out of its rectum and 
sign the damn agreement? Don't let the low ratings for the Series make you 
believe that baseball is on its death bed, because it isn't but it will be if 
the owners force the players to strike again. Fox's ratings for the NFL have 
never been as good as what CBS pulled in and that's because of the make up of 
its affiliates. They've upgraded their affiliates over the years but it will 
be some time before it reaches the status that CBS had. Despite the fact that 
CBS is taking a hit because of its aging audience and loss of the NFL, 
they're still ahead of Fox and they're actually ahead of ABC for the season 
(The season to date ratings are: NBC 11.1, CBS 10.4, ABC 9.9 and Fox 7.3. Fox 
DID place third last week ahead of CBS because of the World Series).
Regular season ratings for Fox's baseball coverage were down from TBN but 
you'd be a fool to try to directly compare afternoon vs night time ratings. 
Yes, it was down from what CBS got the last time that it aired weekend 
baseball, however, it takes time to get people to change back to what they 
did before because it's been years since people had weekend baseball on a 
regular basis. I do think that Fox should move the games to 3 p.m. and 
continue to keep the broadcasts coming on a regular basis. I know that I 
missed several games because I was doing things at noon and would get back in 
time to see the tail end of the game and I would have watched them regularly 
if they had started at 3. The games that I DID see were enjoyable and Fox did 
as good a job as CBS ever did and they were ahead of CBS in a lot of areas. 
Baseball can only kill the progress that is being made by forcing the players 
to take action.
Anyway, back to the first statement. This deal could have been signed months 
ago and many have speculated that Selig has had the votes needed to make the 
deal but has been trying to get more concessions, especially on the issue of 
giving back the players the days missed due to the strike. Some of the owners 
that were going to be affected took steps to pre-empt the possibility of 
losing their players but the really mean-spirited ones have pressed the 
others to keep up the pressure. They don't care about baseball, their fellow 
owners and they care even less about the fans than many of the other owners; 
all they want is to shove the players' faces into the dirt for total victory. 
There are clubs that stand to get $5 mil next year when the deal is signed 
and if the rumors are correct, could find themselves sharing equally in all 
revenues, like the NFL, in 5 years. The players have given them everything 
that they've wanted but like good little Reaganites, the owners want to bust 
the union. If they force the players into another strike, it might be the 
last nail in their anti-trust coffin. I wonder how smug those owners will be 
if they have to operate under the same rules as the other leagues. The NFL 
found out how powerful the players can be when they freed themselves from the 
bonds of anti-trust (and if ML players are smart, they'll go through Judge 
Doty's court in Minnesota, where the NFL has been kicked around like a dog).
The last time I saw owners act this stupid was then the owners of the USFL, 
over the objections of the late John Bassett, followed the advice of Donald 
Trump and put all their eggs into an anti-trust basket. Their $3 victory rang 
hollow against the $150 mil debt that they racked up when they suspended play 
for a season and fought the NFL in court.
--- TrekEd 1.00
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