A couple things...
1) The first time I finally got to visit New England was in the fall of 2004, when the Pats were reigning SB champs and the Sox were playing that famous ALCS where they came back from 0-3 to beat the Yankers. (We went to the Pats/Dolphins game if you want to look up the exact date.) And even though I was with Pats fans and never actually spent any time in Boston, I still got the distinct sense that the Pats would always be second fiddle to the Sox. Here it's the total opposite - the Brewers could win back-to-back-to-back World Series titles and they would not overtake the Packers in popularity. Anyway, it wouldn't bother me a bit to see this trend reversed; however since the Sox seem so important to Pats fans I don't really vocalize it.
2) Every year at the start of base-ball season I think about starting a thread called "The Official Base-ball Haters' Thread" just to talk about how much I despise MLB. Not the sport itself, mind you, just the major leagues. But as I mentioned above, since the Sox seem to be such a big deal to so many Pats fans I usually hold off. But God, how I hate MLB. Their motto must be "Tonight we're going to party like it's 1919"... they insist on being stuck in the past and refuse to adapt to the 21st Century, lest (God forbid!) they face the stern disapproval of the idiot fans who demand on sticking to tradition to a fault. What's so awful about a replay system to correct such obviously blown calls? What's wrong with fixing a playoff series system that moves slower than molasses in January?? What's the bad part of doing something so games don't take so freakin' long?
What's more, the way the players' union has so much power in that sport is just ridiculous. You'd think Bud Selig was the towel boy, not the commissioner, for God's sake. "Um, excuse me, um, sirs, we were just kinda thinking, maybe, to preserve some shred of integrity, maybe we could test you for steroids?" "Whatever, Buddy, go f*** yourself." "Oh okay, well, sorry to have bothered you." Give me a break. Obviously none of us here are big fans of Roger Goodell, but I loved how when he took over he said "Playing in the NFL isn't a right, it's a privilege." MLB could stand to take this philosophy. "Invasion of privacy" my butt, I've had to piss in a cup for every full-time job I've ever had, you don't see me calling a lawyer about it.
The NFL knows how to honor its traditions while still keeping up with the times, which is one of the things I love about it. And sometimes they make mistakes. The first time they used instant replay they screwed it up, so they took it out for a while, looked at ways to fix it, and brought it back. They balance the "human element" with using technology to get the calls right. Sometimes they still screw it up... but at least they're trying, unlike MLB. Heck, even the NBA tried that "new ball" business a few years ago, it bombed and they went back to the old ball. But at least they tried, which is more than MLB can say. "Nope, can't do that, if we do that someone will say, 'Well that ain't how they did it back in 1923!'" Sheesh!
And by the way, in case you're wondering why I always write "base-ball" instead of "baseball", check out this link:
Who Will Win the Base-Ball Matches? | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
This guy is caught in the past, just like MLB, and he writes it "base-ball", so I figure it fits.
