Oakland A's headed to Las Vegas

Gary Bettman sniggers snarkishly.

 

Manfred hates the sport he oversees. That's his superpower as a dogcrap commissioner.

 

Bettman is awful and has presided over some terrible shit, but he might not be worse than Manfred. I don't think Bettman likes hockey, but as Octave notes, Manfred openly hates baseball. And Bettman, as smug a little prick as he is, seems to have a little bit of self-awareness when he revels in the booing he gets at big events. Manfred is the classic awful Trump-like guy who can't understand why everyone's so mean and unfair to him.

 

Jay Monahan would like a word.

 

Manfred is just pissed Monahan sold out to the Saudis before he could.

 

I don't know who that is and goggled him. Golf is not an endangered species like baseball, although it should be.

 

Invoking 9/11 families as a reason to take a stand then doing an about face to earn more money and avoid legal fees makes you a pretty crappy human.

 

Am reading the A's may remain in Oakland for at least one more year, or possibly until the Vegas stadium is ready? I think the St. Louis browns drew 80K fans one year. Several seasons of lame-duck A's could draw less than that. I wouldn't spend a dime to support that owner. I'm shocked Raiders fans from Oakland (dumped twice) and Los Angeles (dumped once) still keep their allegiance to that back-stabbing franchise.

 

The A’s still have one more year on the lease and they need time to build.

Football is different for whatever reason. People just have an affinity that transcends actual location. It has a regional affiliation but it is also national. You can still see every team in some way through out the season.

Baseball is more regionalized and is more dependent on a local fan base. Cubs, Cardinals, Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers notwithstanding, there just isn’t the national appetite for seeing every team.

 

People in Baltimore were not fans of the Indy Colts. People in Cleveland were not fans of the Baltimore Ravens. People in Houston were not fans of the Tennessee Titans. I don't think many San Diegans are still Chargers fans, and the Rams alienated two fan bases with their antics.

Had the Bills moved, as was rumored, I sure as shit wasn't gonna be a fan of the Austin or San Antonio Bills. Nah, I think Raiders fans are just stupid.

 

Plain and simple, the Browns just sucked. I'm seeing something like when the Braves played a lame duck season in Milwaukee before moving to the ATL. County Stadium went from the place to be to a ghost town.

The thing that gets me about the Raiders is, as a lifelong Northern Californian, they left fans here twice and they stay loyal!

 

I agree that Manfred has Trumpist personality traits, and those help make him a jerk. But I'm willing to give him credit for one thing: the new rules creating the pitch clock and limiting tosses to first base. They have helped make the sport better. They have shaved 30 needless minutes from the average game.
Again, I'm not a fan. And his overt advocacy of Vegas is disturbing. But somebody did something right to implement these rules.
Speaking of rules, I do hate the man-on-second-to-start-extras.