Maher’s professional sports commentary, he generally states that the National Football League and Major League Baseball loosely embrace opposite economic philosophies.
In both leagues, the draft gives teams who finished with the worst records in the previous season with first dibs on top prospects. On the surface, both sports seem equally fair, right?
The big difference, however, is money. Football utilizes a “socialist” system of limiting salaries and distributing profits from ticket sales. On the other hand, baseball teams that can offer the fattest salaries land the best sluggers.
Florida Marlins fans are quite familiar with the economy of baseball. We frequently draft young talent, let them hone their skills and build up a fan base, and then trade them away to teams with bigger salaries. It’s supply and demand.
It makes sense that baseball—America’s pastime— would base its draft system on capitalism, America’s other pastime. Let’s face it, as a nation founded upon a revolution, we Americans tend to keep a vice grip on what is ours, whether it’s our money, our freedom, or our guns.
That’s why when President Obama pledged to increase taxes on the wealthy, a good half of our nation cried foul. Actually, we cried “socialist!” It was like the second Red Scare; many cringed at the thought of redistributing their earnings, while others were convinced Obama was the second Joseph Stalin.
In this respect, baseball should be our country’s favorite sport. The richest teams reap the benefits of their wealth while the poorer ones are left to fend for themselves; some of us would do anything for these economic conditions.
But alas, football is our country’s true love. According to sportsmediawatch.net, viewership for the World Series is only a fraction of the Superbowl’s average viewers.
In fact, game four of this past year’s World Series between the Giants and Rangers received fewer viewers than a regular season NFL game on NBC.
What we love so much about football, it seems, is the competition and unpredictable seasons that are created through the economic equality. Why, then, is there such a discrepancy between our real economy and the “sports economy?”
If we approached real life with a football mentality, we’d embrace giving the financial “underdogs” a fighting chance.
To generalize, our government can be simplified down to one big clash between baseball and football advocates. I think President Obama wants to toss the pigskin into the political ring, but if he keeps extending Bush-era tax cuts, we’ll always be a baseball society.
