The world of sports is changing around us.  ESPN reports (I use the term loosely) constantly.  The major media outlets are accused of pandering.  If you want the real story on anything you have to go to the internet and the blogs.  But then of course they are accused of being based on conjecture and inherently critical and negative.  I for one don’t find anything terribly surprising about this.

Case in point, the recent Yankee spending spree this off season.  Sports outlets are cranking out their lists of winners in losers in all this.  I’m left a bit out of sorts in this whole situation because everyone is playing in the mud, there are no real winners.  It’s only a matter of time before they start posting their “What’s Wrong with Baseball” stories. Read the full story

By Stephen Turk

As a fan, I have no problem extolling the importance of the fan in sports.  It is the most important role.  The fan is the heralder, the bookkeeper, the archivist, and the backbone to the whole system.  But in today’s world of sports, with huge contracts, expensive tickets and merchandise, and greed all around, there is much talk about the average fan being priced out of their pastime.

So let’s look at the institution of free-agency in baseball, arguably a big piece of the inflating contracts bubble. Read the full story