Is it just me? I haven't watched a game this year. I grew up with this game, yet now find my zest and zeal for the game to be foundering. No, let me correct myself; I've lost all interest.

I don't know whether it was the politics, the constant looming specter of some group striking, the collusion, the corruption, the lies spouted by Reich Marshall Selig, or the $6 hot dogs and $7 beers.

I cannot stomach anything related to baseball anymore. It is the lost sport. In 20 years, at this pace, it will trail 3 sports in popularity in this country - football, basketball and soccer (blech!). Sorry hockey fans...Global warming is your greatest foe in that arena.

I just finished up a fantastic vacation, and had no access to TV for several NBA games. And the only thought I had regarding the absence of TV was that I was sad to be missing the playoffs. And today it dawned on me that I have another trip scheduled for early-mid October. And then it sunk in.

The old "me" would never have scheduled a vacation for early fall. God Lord, No! How could I? But now it causes me no concern.

What has happened in the sport to drive me away? And has anyone else felt this separation grow?

I share your sentiments, up to a point. I have loved baseball all my life (35 years) and when I got to be around 18 or 20, I realized there was another aspect of baseball that attracted me, other than the play and sport itself, and that of course was the massive baskets, tight bubble butts, baseball caps, and occasional sightings of players without shirts on. Then, when the internet arrived, so did horny photos of baseball players, such as those found on this board. No, my love baseball has not diminished... if anything, it has grown. But the spectre of potential strikes, the money-centered nature of the business now, and yes, the $9 hot dogs and $14 beers, does cast a bad shadow on everything.

Last night I went to the Braves-Expos (what is an "expo," anyway?) game here in Atlanta. I spent $43 on a relatively small amount of food and drink; spent $16 for my ticket; spent $9 to park; and in a tangential sort of way spent $35 at a bar because watching Chipper and Javy and Rafael got me all hot and bothered and horny and I had to visit one of the backrooms of one of Atlanta's more notorious bars.. so the evening cost me either $68 or $103 depending on how you look at it. And I do this as often as three times a week, and rarely less than once a week.

I wish there would be less emphasis on money issues and labor issues and contract issues, and more emphasis on things like grand slam homeruns, and record breaking, and seeing humpy fans at the games without shirts on, and seeing things such as Rafael adjusting himself on national TV. Those things are priceless, but yes, it is all being seirously overshadowed now. But no, I have not lost my love of baseball.... not yet, anyway.

I actually have the opposite thing happening, I have finally started watching the game a little. I never really enjoyed any part of the sport until I came here and started learning about players and listening to Ump tell about the rules and all the differet peoples opinions on the players. Seems like the Braves are always on my TV in the evenings, so last night I actually watched part of the game, until I had to leave to go play hockey (which can and will overcome global warming ) Baseball isn't so bad, Just watching Javy and Chipper alone is worth the time.

Can’t say I have lost my love for watching the game either. I will admit though that I probably watch a lot less now then I did 10 years ago. Given I live approx a 15 minute walk from the ballpark here in Oakland one would expect me to be frequenting it more often unfortunatley I am a die hard Tigers fan and they only come out here for four games (which I have already purchased my tickets—Yippee). I still catch myself turning into a game or two each week on the boob tube but nothing like watching the approx. 160 tigers game I used to watch – oh well, maybe I will just get a dish and start watching those oh so loveable tigers once again.

Baseball has been my sport my whole life. I have always played it in one aspect or another and play in a gay league now. I can't imagine a time where my love for the game will go away.

However, I do understand your point. With all the millions of dollars being tossed around, the labor issues at hand, the spector of a gay baseball player and now the steroid issue, it does seem the focus is going a way from the game.

I try to enjoy the game for the athleticism, the talent and skill, but also for the mental aspect of the game. For no other sport relies on more strategy than baseball. From what the pitcher will throw, to where the player will hit, player defense, hit and run, pinch hitters, the bullpen...etc It is as much a challenge in the mind as it is in the field and that is what I enjoy most.

I went to the Dodger v. Brewers game on Tuesday with some friends. Lucky for us, we got a table in the Stadium Club. Why lucky for us? Because they had all the TV's tuned to the Lakers game! So, after the Cow Towner's won, we went to our seats. What a difference--it was dead in the ballpark. Fine, it was the Brewers, but still. If it wasn't for the guy with the blue fuzzy wig a section over who was screaming his head off, there would have been no sign of life at all.

I was asked if I would follow baseball if there was a strike this year. My answer was a firm and swift: NO. I will not go to a game or watch on TV or read about it in the sports page. It will be as good as dead for me. I still remember how devastated I was in 1972 when, at the age of 12, the first strike happened. Now that I've grown up, it's not such an Apocolyptic event but the strike in 1994 really put a stake in the heart of my love for baseball. A strike this year would finish it off. I still think it's the perfect sport but all the crap surrounding it--from spoiled/surly/slacker players to the high cost of going to a game to the horrible people running the game to the steroids issue (where's the * for Caminiti's MVP season?) to the competitive imbalance and on and on has really done a number on my enthusiasm.

The players and the owners have slowly killed off the game and I won't shed a tear for them if it's the number 4 sport in the US in 10 years. A plague on all of them.

BTW, I think the Expos got their name from the fact that Montreal had hosted the 1967 (I think) World EXPOsition.

I went to Camden Yards last night. It's the fourth time this year I've been there. (Side note: Mariners catcher Dan Wilson....mmmmmmm.... ) My goal is to see every AL team at least once, and I'll be there for at least 2 of the 3 interleague games when the Phillies are here. Depending on circumstances, I may see the other NL teams that show up here as well.

Part of this is that I still love baseball, even the DH-infested American League version. And there are very few places better than Camden Yards when it comes to watching a game. And part of this is that the apt. building I'm at here is a 15-minute walk from the stadium so it's very convenient.

But MLB is killing itself with the contraction debacle, the impending shutdown (barring the greatest miracle in sports history), and now the steroids issue as well. If the minor leagues can survive whatever happens to the major league affiliates, that's what will keep the sport alive.

And by the way, soccer will not surpass baseball unless the USA men's team starts winning World Cups. It's just not popular enough. Kids love to play it but when they grow up they lose interest. Link to article: U.S. needs to kick it up a notch

my love for baseball is still alive and kickin'!

a third strike woulda been deh-vastating, though!

I noticed when I was filling out my All Star ballot this year. I used to know who the league leaders were in all the major stat categories, I used to know who was having a great season and who was having a poor one.

Now, there are some top players (Adam Dunn, for example) that I know absolutely nothing about.

My interest is waning and it doesn't help that the Blue Jays suck. I'm not sure what would increase my interest in the game.

My waning interest in MLB has been a direct inverse function of the amount of money Steinbrenner has spent to buy the best team in baseball. Don't get me wrong -- this ain't exactly "I hate the Yankees" -- until MLB solves the imbalance, with the richest franchise getting the top players, it is a snoozefest. Sure, Arizona won the Series last year, the ALCS v. Seattle was a classic, and the Red Sox are actually leading the East (but we all know that won't last!!)

... and ... it doesn't help me that my Brew Crew is owned by la famiglia Selig -- and haven't done anything in 20-odd years.

In a word, no. I don't stay home to watch games on TV -- what else was there to do when I was eleven? -- but it's still the only major team sport not played by physical freaks (steroids aside, and soccer and hockey aside cuz they're foreign). With cable, I probably watch parts of 300 or 400 games a year, plus 10-15 in person. (On expenses, I take the train and almost never eat ballpark food.)

If there's another stoppage, I'll still be a fan. I'm an adult who knows it *always* has been a business (albeit one where the players had no rights til 30 years ago).

And Adam Dunn's only a sprout, you'll know him by July!

bud selig as commissioner, rent-a-club world series winners, athletes who make 2 million dollars a year charging for autographs, strikes, steriods, an utter void when it comes to player loyalty, lockouts, all-star ballot stuffing, looming contraction, and of course, $6 hot dogs and $12 beers.....what's to love?

I've been a baseball man nearly my whole life, but like you, AU Tiger, I've been feeling that enthusiasm for Major League Baseball ebbing away, and I can attribute this to what has become, for me, the single-most "spectacular" feature of this spectator sport: greed. I can no longer watch a game without being reminded of this factor, and how it has affected nearly every aspect of the sport's presentation. Greed is a very tedious --and wearying-- human aspiration to witness on a regular basis, and there are plenty of other more "serious" issues to be bored and dismayed by, in this woeful world. As an example of territorial greed, consider the conflict now escalating between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, which has the potential for culminating in nuclear warfare. How's that for athletic competition? But it all seems to boil-down to the same problem: supposed "adults" throwing monstrous tantrums. Both baseball and Kashmir will receive my prayers for an amicable reolution, but neither of them deserves my entertainment dollar...! (end of sermon.)

Baseball was my favorite sport for years, but I have to admit that over the last five years, I've become far more of an NFL fan, and now root more the Rams and the Jets. The last strike, in 1994, really pissed me off, and I went for a few years barely watching baseball. I can remember 1981 vividly, but was still a teenager then; in 1994, I was an adult and had little sympathy for the owners or the rich players. And they've both only gotten richer!

The basketball lockout had the same effect; I haven't been to an NBA game since them, though I am following the Nets and hope they meet either the Lakers or the Kings in the finals (the Nets in the finals--incredible!). If there's a strike this year, I will not watch baseball for years.

Pro football, the World Cup and MLS, tennis, golf, and many other sports will fill the bill. Several of my favorite players (Clemens, Bonds, Johnson, etc.) are nearing the ends of their careers, so there'll be little (other than the eternal hope that after things resume the St. Louis Cardinals win their 10th World Series, or the Yankees win their 26th) to keep me watching. Even though Carlos Delgado, Pedro M., Jose Lima, Albert Pujols...well, even though they'll be back on the field.

I'm with Bill W here. I love the game - the spectacle, the strategy, the execution, the history, the intellect - I absolutely love it. Always have. But I know it's a business. A poorly-run business. I'd be very upset by a strike, just as I was in 1994. But I'd be there rooting as soon as play started again.

To me i love baseball because I love the game itself. Damn if I stopped being interested in games because of expensive beer, over paid players, and ticket prices that are ridiculous then id never go to see any sport at all. Every freaking league has strikes, every game is expensive to go see. basketball? hell i like playing it but all i need to do is watch the last 10 minutes of the 4th quarter. With baseball what you still have is each team playing 162 games a year. yeah if they strike this year i will be pissed off. But thats sports. You cant put it all on baseball.

My interest in baseball has decreased slightly this year. First, I haven't been able to see many Yankee games on TV because of the infantile squabble between the Yankees and Cablevision. Also, a possible strike looming doesn't help either.

Even though I am a MFY Schmankee fan, I am troubled by the financial disparity between the teams. It doesn't seem to be nearly as bad in the other sports. I would support salary caps, both maximum and minimum, or some other remedy. However, I just don't see the owners and the players going for it anytime soon.