Friday, August 12, 2011
Is the Lakers,Yankees,and Steelers winning in the same year the definition of a boring year in pro sports?
As much as I dislike the Lakers and the Steelers at least they do it in a fair system with a salary cap. The Yankees since the dawn of baseball have found a way to buck the system. From the early 1920's to the 60's the Yankees were buying amatuer players and capitalizing off of other teams financial situations. This is how the Mantle's, Dimaggios and Berra's were signed. In the mid 60's baseball stopped this and introduced the amatuer draft so the Yankees could not buy the talent as youngsters. From 65 to 73 the Yankees struggled financially because they could not put a good product on the field because their advantage was taken away. When George Steinbrenner took the team over from CBS in 1973 it was right about the time that FREE-AGENCY came about. The Yankees now found another way to buck the system. Signing players like Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson to contracts that other teams could not afford thus building 2 more titles and the Yankees were pretty good up until 1986. The Yankees advantages were taken away again in the late 80's when the owners had a secret pack not to sign any other teams free-agents to not inflate salaries. It took about 4-5 years but when the players got wind of this they sued the owners and won a ton of back money. This was the first step of what lead to the strike in 1994. Once the smoke cleared the team with the most money in their pockets could reign supreme and that was the Yankees. I am not saying that money buys titles, but it buys you a greater chance than other teams. It is like having 100 lotto tickets to the poor sap who has 1. Baseball is also insane in the sense where you can trade a star player for guys who never played. In the NBA and NFL there are salary caps and trades must match salaries which hold teams more accountable. The Yankees are a benefit of a flawed system. This is an education to Yankee fans who are celebrating as if this is so rare. Try being a Royals fan or a Pirates fan. I can't knock the Lakers or Steelers because the system is made so every team can be even. If football was run with the baseball system then the Cowboys would go insane and for those of you who hate the Cowboys and like the Yankees remember they represent the same thing. The Knicks would just keep spending until they win, at least with the system in play now the Knicks are held accountable for the bad signings they have made this decade. The Yankees are not held accountable for the Pavano's and Kevin Brown's, they consistantly put a 90 win team up no matter what. Cap baseball and then when the Yankees win the fans can celebrate, until then this is expected and requires no parade or celebration.
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