Professional Sports Are Nothing But A Big Loser

When I was a kid there was nothing greater than returning home on an early Saturday afternoon with a fistful of baseball cards and sorting them while watching Saturday Afternoon Baseball. Then, when the game was over it was off to the baseball diamond where we spent countless hours playing and trying to imitate our favorite player. Even in my adult life I continued to be a sports fanatic, often planning family activities around baseball, hockey and football games. But after spending most of my life addicted to sports I have come to realize that sports for the avid watcher is a loser.

Somewhere along the way, the sports players and franchises have robbed me to the point where I do not care for their product anymore. I cannot think of any other activity where a business can charge as much as they want for simple items and the mindless consumers swarm over it. A hockey jersey is $160, a beer at a baseball game is almost $8, just a soft drink is $5 and a hot dog is $4!!!! I cannot even afford baseball cards anymore!!

Every major professional sports team raids the wallets of the fans while promising nothing and delivering mostly nothing in return. Am I guaranteed a victory for my $200 night out? Do I get a discount if my favorite star has a bad night or if the team gets hammered by an inferior opponent? Now that the Blues are the worst team in hockey are the hot dogs and beer any cheaper?

Sports franchises not only sell losing but they sell it at a premium. In fact, let’s look at how many championships the St. Louis sports teams have won since 1975 (the year I started watching): Hockey (0), Baseball (1), Football (1). In thirty years, out of an estimated tens of thousands of dollars spent on jerseys, caps, shirts, shoes, cards, tickets and food, I got two championships.

I cannot think of any other activity where so much money is spent on a lost cause. But yet the fans return every year to throw their money at losing franchises that continue to sell mediocrity in support of players that clearly don’t care. Any other business would be bankrupt but not sports’ franchises; they continue to sell a losing product to a supportive fan base. Can you imagine promoting a business where you would get thousands of investors to give you millions of dollars year after year with no return at all? I think they would put you in jail for it but yet this is what sport teams do every year. How is this possible?

This is not all about wins and loses; where sports really hurts the average person is the price of inflation for everyday products. When "Player A" gets his $100 million contract, not only the fans pay for that but the entire community pays for it. Let me explain. Because of "Player A's" $100 million dollar contract, the advertisers of baseball pay outrageous fortunes to advertise on billboards, television and radio and they pass along the price of those ads to the consumer. Not only the advertised products are increased but everything around the product is now increased, making life more expensive for everybody.

The worst impact on society are these billion dollar television contracts given to baseball and football. This cost is passed on to not only the advertisers of the sports programming but the advertisers of the entire television network. This cost is then passed along to all consumers not just the sports viewers. Sports is the primary reason cable and satellite television prices have risen so high during the past decade and will continue to rise.

In my youth, watching a game was a great way to learn the sport because the announcers provided insights into the manager’s strategy and focused on good player’s technique. Now during every break, every second possible is spent on commercials; no more time for learning There are pop up ads all over the screen during the play, logos all over the players’ jerseys and billboards crammed in every inch of the stadium. It’s disgusting!!!

For my money sports are a big loser!! The only thing sports are good for is teaching youth’s good team work and life lessons but keep your kids away from the professionals. If we can stop this senseless addiction to sports maybe the price will finally come down to an affordable level; a level that will not hurt the entire community.

If the movie studios continue on their evil ways, they will be the next big loser. If I pay to see a film I should not have to sit through commericals; I do not pay to watch commercials. They even put commercials on the DVDs, and you cannot skip them. I have also noticed the commericals within the films are more blantant than ever before. The idiotic thing about this is that no one ever complains. Come on people!!!!