When my family lived in Elgin, Illinois, there was rarely a time when I played outside in the backyard when there wasn't a Cubs game on. Harry Carrey was always announcing the games...that's the part I remember, not the actual game.

Because of the last strike (I believe it was 1994, I'm not positive, but hey, it's my diary entry, so I can have half the info and still have an opinion...deal with it), baseball lost a lot of fans and I don't believe it fully recovered from that. Now they are threatening to strike again, a little over a week from now.

What are they threatening to strike over? Money, of course. These people are getting paid millions upon millions of dollars to do what most people would do for the price of a hot dog and a bus ticket. Someone argued with me that they wouldn't have the talent that those in the majors have, but if you get a dozen guys who have the same skill level on each team, wouldn't it be the same as having "the best" playing "the best"?

I really wish baseball was still like it was back in 1961 when Roger Marris and Mickey Mantel were racing like hell to be the first one to break Babe Ruth's home run record. Back then they played baseball to play baseball, not for endorsements or money.

I would say that they are going to have to change the "American past time" to something other than baseball, but, come on, what's more American that doing something for money?