TheWiseOldFart

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart I was a typical young man in 20 th century America. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I loved baseball, basketball, and football. A few years later, I became interested in Hockey, and I played intramural soccer in high school. I am writing this because I feel a little sorry for younger fans today. I grew up in Los Angeles. One of the greatest times in my younger years was in 1958. I was 12 years old and the Brooklyn Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles. I went to my first game the following year. In 1960, I was even more excited when the Minneapolis Lakers moved to my hometown. With these teams came two players I admired and emulated: Sandy Koufax and Jerry West. I was a pitcher on my baseball team, and a point guard on my basketball team. I loved football, but I was very ‘skinny,’ and chose not to get broken in half. My mother was unaware that I listened to the Dodger games, when I was supposed to be asleep, on my transistor radio. I began to keep score, under th...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   I loved all three professional sports when I was young. I was a huge fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. As rule changes, and even the lack of change became realities, I no longer had any interest in professional baseball or basketball, and in 2023 I am losing my interest in the NFL. First and last, as it is for everything else in America, the primary reason: money. All major professional sports have placed profits ahead of the games. No average working man can afford to attend any of the games on a regular basis. I will also discuss free agency, television profits, and salaries which are beyond ridiculous. America is a money cult, not a nation of people. If you are not rich, you can only dream about the American way of life promised in books and movies. The second reason which caused me to lose interest in other sports is free agency. The greed of athletes destroyed the “team concept” forever. The Monday Ni...