Outstanding Marlins-bashing from Slate

[KamaAina]

SoFla residents, click back now -- you've been warned...

http://slate.msn.com/id/2089661/entry/2090085/

There's no question—at least to me—about for whom to pull in the actual Series. The Florida Marlins—a toy franchise founded 11 minutes ago—are the perfect example of everything that's gone wrong with baseball under that bratwurst Machiavelli, Bud Selig, and the kabuki "fiscal crisis" that has been the presiding dynamic of his tenure at the head of the game. Consider: The Marlins actually won the World Series in 1997, whereupon owner Wayne Huizenga opened a chop shop. He sold off a championship team piecemeal, and Selig let him do it because Huizenga made all the right noises about how he couldn't make any money in a "small market" unless Miami ponied up and gave him a new ballpark. Of course, Huizenga owned both the team and the stadium, and he simply assigned revenue from Marlins games to the latter. Which meant that anything Huizenga said about the financial health of the Marlins possessed all the credibility of Kenny Lay's expense accounts.

Yes! One of the best single paragraphs I've read all year! Couldn't have put it any better myself. But wait! There's more...

Based on his track record in Montreal, Loria wouldn't have gotten past the vetting process to run a Gas 'n' Sip in Dothan, Ala. Nevertheless, this grifter somehow managed to remain in such good standing with Commissioner Bud that, in 2001, as part of the three-rail shot by which Selig's office rigged the sale of the Red Sox (see?), Loria sold the Expos to Major League Baseball itself for $120 million, plus a $38.5 million loan so he could buy the Marlins from their presiding dilettante, John Henry. Henry then used that money to buy his piece of the Red Sox.

Yes, those Red Sox. Now if we could just get Loria to break up his toy franchise to put on a revival of "No, No, Nanette"...

[Bob3]

1. Seems silly to blame the current Marlins for a previous owner's acts .

Sheesh. What is this the sins of the father?

Or is this an attempt to divert attention away from Mr. Steinbrenner who, apple polishing by the tame geek NY sporting press aside, holds the unique distiction of being suspended by baseball twice: once for illegal campaign contributions to Nixon and once for his insane attempt to destroy Dave Winfield. Not to mention that he has stiffed New York City on even the nominal lease he owes the city for Yankee Stadium time and time again - and routinely threatens to move.

In a larger sense what's hurting baseball - like it did in the 50's is the continued domination of the game by just a few teams the Yankees and the Braves being the most obvious examples. While the Marlins have a small payroll - they were the only one in the play offs. The Red Sox; Giants; and Cubs all have huge payrolls. Once a decade flukes like the Marlins notwithstanding big money rules baseball.

And the effect is toxic.

What's the point of following say the Kansas City Royals or the San Diego Padres or Baltimore or the Expos when the best you can hope for is maybe a divison title in a weak group or a wild card slot? And even if - as the Montreal expos do a lot - a team develops real talent they can't keep them. The big money teams simply treat the others as a kind of minor league call it the AAAA league maybe.

Basketball also suffers from this - the only real question lately has been will the Lakers win or not - but since an individual basketball game is a lot more exciting than an individual baseball game (which needs the context of the season to gain drama bit by bit as the days go by)the effect isn't as great.

There are many reasons football is now twice as popular as baseball but one is that the Big Markets don't run the table - the Green Bay Packers for example have won in living memory - and it means a team like say Tampa Bay - not the largest media market in the world - can win it all. I don't expect we will see the Devil Rays in the Playoffs anytime soon.

True there aren't too many dynasties but dynasties give pleasure only to that teams fans and sportswriters who don't have to learn new names all the time.

I expect the ratings of this series to be a little better than last year simply because the Yankees are in it and that draws a bit but this series is really another nail in the coffin of baseball. Too bad too - it's such a wonderfull and beautiful game.

[KamaAina]

2. Bear in mind that Satan, uh, I mean Huizenga, still owns the stadium.

which, the way he has the thing set up, is the main profit center of the operation anyway. It appears as though he just gave up ownership of the actual team so that the "bratwurst Machiavelli" (!) could compensate Loria for Les Expos.

It'd be MUCH cooler for these two major Repukes to dispense with the baseball and just fight it out at the edge of a cliff, like in a Godzilla movie, don't you think?