Reality Meets Idiocy
In what we refer to as “Organized Baseball” (i.e., the minor league teams currently bound to Major League franchises by a form of indentured servitude), it’s not unusual for teams to focus on things other than winning games. Player development takes precedence over the team’s position in the standings.
The independent leagues are supposed to be different. The Northern League, the Atlantic League, and their brethren aren’t beholden to any Major League team, and are free to do what’s best for their teams (while the players on those teams do their best to land a gig in Organized Baseball, of course).
When one of those independent teams does something goofy (such as, for example, signing Jose Canseco), the team can usually spin it so it appears it’s to help the team win. And if a stunt (such as signing Jose Canseco) helps put some fannies in the seats, all the better.
But when a team is participating in an on-line reality program that allows fans to vote on that day’s starting lineup, can that help the team win? Or will it merely line the owners’ pockets?
That’s what the Northern League’s Schaumburg Flyers are doing this year. This was the same team, you may recall, that wanted to have two fans play the first three innings of a game on the Playstation, and then have the real teams finish the game from there. I didn’t think it possible to make a bigger mockery of the game than that, but I was wrong.
It’s easy for some people to dismiss the Northern League as “just” a low-level independent league that doesn’t matter a lot in the grand scheme of things. Well, maybe it doesn’t matter a lot. But the Northern League has its fans, too, and they deserve that the games be played to win, not subject to the whim of on-line voting. That might work for lousy reality TV, but it has no place in baseball at any level.
The independent leagues are supposed to be different. The Northern League, the Atlantic League, and their brethren aren’t beholden to any Major League team, and are free to do what’s best for their teams (while the players on those teams do their best to land a gig in Organized Baseball, of course).
When one of those independent teams does something goofy (such as, for example, signing Jose Canseco), the team can usually spin it so it appears it’s to help the team win. And if a stunt (such as signing Jose Canseco) helps put some fannies in the seats, all the better.
But when a team is participating in an on-line reality program that allows fans to vote on that day’s starting lineup, can that help the team win? Or will it merely line the owners’ pockets?
That’s what the Northern League’s Schaumburg Flyers are doing this year. This was the same team, you may recall, that wanted to have two fans play the first three innings of a game on the Playstation, and then have the real teams finish the game from there. I didn’t think it possible to make a bigger mockery of the game than that, but I was wrong.
It’s easy for some people to dismiss the Northern League as “just” a low-level independent league that doesn’t matter a lot in the grand scheme of things. Well, maybe it doesn’t matter a lot. But the Northern League has its fans, too, and they deserve that the games be played to win, not subject to the whim of on-line voting. That might work for lousy reality TV, but it has no place in baseball at any level.
posted by Bob at
7:47 PM
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