I read a headline that Major League Baseball had decided to move the All-Star Game and the draft out of Atlanta. In the age of COVID, I assumed it had to do with a new viral issue and wanted to learn what I needed to “fear” now. Little did I know the cause was not viral and no vaccine was going to help.
Soon after I bought my 911, I looked into what it would take to get a race card. To me that term meant a license so that I could participate in car races. A neighbor had one and said it took a weekend of training and being observed by an instructor. I was not sure if I wanted to race my car with others who might not be as accommodating as normal traffic, but I wanted to learn. I started down the path and after a suboptimal event, I decided I was not cut out to race cars.
Politics. It is a topic, like religion, we are not supposed to bring up in some situations to avoid conflict. But let’s face it, the country we live in is struggling with big issues and ignoring them will not make our lives better. One of the characteristics I see in political coverage is the creation of a trump card, and it has nothing to do with Donald Trump. It is the idea that when two groups cannot come to agreement on the merits of an issue, one will invariably throw down the “trump” card to make a result from an unreasonable point. This trump card is “the race card”, and it has nothing to do with race cars. Its definition is expanding to include a winning hand to be used by any group at any disadvantage, and apparently anyone can use it for any group they are not a part of.
And now to the heart of my dismay. When I was a kid, I loved baseball. Playing it, watching it, talking about it, collecting cards, destroying cards, all of it. Now baseball is picking sides in an issue where the liars, cheaters, and haters (also known as politicians) have played the trump card to hide the evil that is their path to power in untrustworthy elections.
I believe arguments over the issue focus on the wrong things. Only people who register can vote. If you have registered to vote, then there are options for you to get around every argument that can be made why something needs to help you vote. You just have to want to.
The politicians want the people who do not care enough to register or do not care enough to learn their options to vote for them. It is arrogant and conceited to treat people as stereotypes like they do.
In my mind, MLB is a monopoly given power in our lives because of the money funneled to politicians. MLB makes money because it does not have to compete. MLB pays young players as little as possible. MLB is expensive to go to a game or buy anything from the teams. Even paying for the privilege to watch the games on tv is too much for me. MLB now even owns MiLB and a league for undrafted players (amatuers). Is college next?
MLB has no business getting involved in the politics of an individual state about voting. If I was not already boycotting buying anything from MLB, I would do it now.
Racing cars is not a particularly religious endeavor nor it is any more discriminatory than every other man made institution. Baseball is not a particularly religious endeavor nor it is any more discriminatory than every other man made institution. However, politics is fraught with religious issues and is as discriminatory as those in power can make it as they seek to retain power. Using a race card to win an argument of merit or for anything other than overcoming discrimination is to miss the mark that God put before us to love others as ourselves.
As much as I enjoy watching an Astros win and collecting cards of Astros, I am not sure I do not want a strike or a lock out to wipe out next season and hope the business around the game is destroyed.
Maybe that will allow a rebirth of something honest and sporting in its place. A game of baseball that I can enjoy. Maybe a card depicting the hometown team racing to a championship. That is a race card for me, but it is fantasy. Too much money involved for anything pure.
Baseball is well on its way to losing me totally.