On the gloom of adversity …
Some curse the darkness. That would be me.
Others light a candle. That would be James K. Genden.
Mr. Genden, of Evanston, responded to a recent column of mine in which I cursed Major League Baseball in general and the Chicago Cubs in particular.
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Afflicted most of my life with being a Cubs fan, I looked forward to watching the Cubs in postseason play, which is about as rare a happening as a gerbil speaking Dutch.
I was horror struck to discover postseason baseball right up until the World Series would only be televised on cable TV you have to pay for. I don’t have pay TV. Neither do nearly 20 percent of American households. So, I cursed this TV darkness. America’s pastime indeed!
But Mr. Genden lit a candle.
“When I found out that the MLB and the Cubs were shutting out fans without cable, I contacted the Evanston City Council and persuaded them to make available various community centers for people who wanted to watch the post-season games,” he said in a recent email.
That’s one great candle. Though it still leaves out people with mobility or transportation problems. The ideal – the American – answer is postseason games on free TV, where America’s pastime belongs.
Mr. Genden continues: “But you missed the big part of the story. The Cubs recently announced that in a few years they will put all of their games on a private cable channel. In other words they will completely deny access to all Cubs games to anyone who doesn’t have cable and the right cable subscription.
“Baseball teams like to pretend that they represent the community (until they pack up and go to another more profitable location). But when they cut off fan access to games, they say loud and clear that fans matter to them only to the extent that they are a source of revenue.”
It’s true.
And it’s a shame.
A local baseball team is so much more to fans than a business. It is one of the glues that holds together a community.
And it is sunshine and family outings at the ballpark. It’s playing catch. It’s Ernie Banks. It’s the effortless physicality of being young and remembering playing the game for the sheer fun of it, for the sheer exhilaration of being able to hit, to catch, to run.
Baseball is a part of us. And we are a part of baseball.
So, we kind of thought that in a way we owned baseball.
Sadly, we are learning otherwise.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.