I hope if the players do strike that the owners just cut everybody and either bring up the triple A teams or just hold open tryouts. In 5-6 years, you wouldn't even know the difference anymore, and it would send a great message that professional athletes are priveleged to be able to make a living playing sports, and they need to start showing how much they appreciate that. I'd like all of them to be out of work, sitting at home 5-6 years from now, thinking about how they gave the game up so they wouldn't be "limited" to only making tens of millions a year, or have to prove that they aren't using performance enhancers; in hind sight I'd have to believe they'd come to the only possible conclusion, and that is to ask themselves "how stupid were we?" I know that these guys work there a$$es off (most of them) but for Barry Bonds to make a statement that they're "just like any other union" is absolutely ludicrous. Unions that go on strike always make the claim that they are doing it for the workers that come after. That may be true in a lot of cases, but here the worst thing they can do for future ball-players is alienate the group that makes it possible for them to exist; the fans. And to think that these athletes who threaten to strike, who hold out in contract negotiations, who blame everyone except themselves when they underperform, still have the audacity to get on the mic after they win a championship and say "this one's for the fans". I'd trade in all the Sammy Sosa 400-plus foot homers, all the Randy Johnson 100-MPH strikeouts, and all the Alex Rodriguez aerial catches just to see kids playing baseball that just want to play for the love of the game.
My dream is to see an athlete that says to a GM, "You know what? If I were to judge my value against guys of my ability, I'm worth about $15 million a year. But I'm gonna sign for half that because I want you to go out and use that money to get us some other great talent, because I want a championship." Everyone complains that the Yankees are unfair because they "buy" their championships, but nobody puts the blame where it deserves to be, on the players. I would submit to you that if top-notch players really cared about winning for the fans, they would be willing to undergo the "supreme injustice" of playing for a piddling $3-$4 million a year. $60 million is a sh*tload of money!!! There's no reason that an orgainzation should be accused of "not willing to spend anything" when they're shelling out that much cash. I love Sammy Sosa at the beginning of last year, saying "it's all about the team" and "I just want to win", he certainly was singing a very different tune before he locked up his contract in 2000 . . .
Longwinded, but to answer the question, yes I'd come back, I just love it too much. But I would try my best to never buy anything with a player's name on it, and I would do my best to boycott any products they endorse (though in this day and age, I wouldn't be able to buy anything).
