This week’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment aired before Major League Baseball players voted on whether to accept team owners’ latest proposal on terms for a 2020 season.
But most of what Pat Ryan and I discussed holds true. Team owners and players are totally deadlocked on salaries for the season, a sticking point that has stalled any chance at baseball this year. And then, even if the two sides hashed that out, what about the renewed concerns over COVID-19?
The times, they are a-changin’ — in our culture and, therefore, sports. Sports have always been a reflection of the society in which they take place — which is why the “stick to sports” cries have always been absurd.
It’s long overdue, but even the NFL is reading the room and acknowledging systemic racism in all aspects of our lives. Well, at least commissioner Roger Goodell seems to be. The other NFL owners? Not so much. Not as individuals yet. That was the main topic on Asheville’s WISE Sports Radio during my NFL segment with Pat Ryan and Mike Gore.
I hope the WISE Sports Radio listeners in Asheville don’t think that I’m a broken record or automaton repeating the same bleak forecast. But I’ve been pessimistic about a 2020 Major League Baseball season being played since the COVID-19 shutdown. But I initially thought it would be due to health and safety concerns, not team revenues and player salaries.
On Wednesday’s baseball update, Pat Ryan and I responded to the news that MLB team owners rejected the latest proposal from players. And there doesn’t appear to be much urgency for another proposal or negotiation. To me, this just looks even more hopeless.
In the tennis match between Major League Baseball team owners and players, the players’ union volleyed back a counter-proposal for a 2020 season that includes more games on the schedule and prorated salaries. And… the owners are almost certain to turn it down.
So as I said to Pat Ryan on WISE Sports Radio, this doesn’t change my opinion that we won’t have a baseball season this year. The shame is that the stalemate is over money and not COVID-19 safety concerns.
The NFL reacted to outrage over a bad pass interference call in the 2018 NFC Championship Game by making it reviewable under instant replay. But officials reviewed the plays so badly, rarely overturning even an apparent call, that the league has decided to nix it for the 2020 season.
On Thursday’s WISE Sports Radio NFL segment, Pat Ryan and I talk about that rule, the decision not to add a “sky judge” for instant replay this coming season, a left tackle heading for a big payday, the quieter Cleveland Browns, and… my favorite Michigan player in the NFL.
Ian Casselberry 