Buy More Stuff (and watch baseball)

It's too bad Major League Baseball doesn't have enough money. One would think with the ugliness over steriods and players lying under oath about using, or seeing home run records broken by individuals who have anger-management issues and got their physique from a bottle would make MLB want to try to woo the fans back who are disillusioned and angry. But no. In its never-ending quest to make more money, the players now look like race-car drivers with emblems of various companies emblazoned on their sleeves or caps. Strangely, watching Dice-K fumble with the ball like a high school student unable to throw a strike doesn't make me want to hire a company for my hardware and software needs, drink soda, or duplicate my papers on a specific copier. Sure, he was nervous in his hometown, but even if he was bang-on, I would still resent the myriad advertisments on the players' uniforms.

It's no wonder Roger Clemens behaved the way he did, greasing congressmen and senators before he went into his hearing -- it's a model of greed that has been built for him not just by Major League Baseball, but by the entire capitalist establishment that wants to get rich without having to work to hard for the money (think collapse of our economy due to the derivatives trade and hedge funds). However, someone needs to say, "enough". According to Forbes, MLB grossed 4.3 billion (that's 8 zeros). The Boston Globe reports that this is not a practice that will continue when play returns to the US. Players are only wearing the EMC logos for the Japan series. Well, that's reassuring for now, but what about our friends the Oakland A's and their Pepsi sleeves? Will Manny be satisfied with one colour printer from Ricoh, or will he continue to shill with stuff on his clothes until he has all the stuff a boy could want (that he hasn't already bought with his $20 million (that's 7 zeros) salary).