There's always next decade...or the one after that.

A few years ago, well, several years now, I attended a game at Camden Yards commemorating the 20th anniversary of the 1983 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles. This World Series was the last one the Orioles appeared in, and I said aloud, “It’s so sad that a team has been so bad that the only thing it has to celebrate is the 20th anniversary of its last World Series appearance.”

At that time, the Reds were in the midst of only their third consecutive losing season, and we were certain that we were almost there – maybe next year. Though his arm had already fallen off for the season, we still couldn’t envision that Ken Griffey, Jr. in a Reds uniform would always be like that. We had the promise of the Dunnandkearns show. Everything was gonna be all right.

Still, I remember thinking “I sure hope the Reds never get to that point where they go 20 years between World Series appearances.”

So are you going to 1990 20th anniversary night next year?

Baseball will not be returning to the Olympics in 2016

I blame MLB for not getting its ass in gear and pushing for it and not figuring out some way to pause the season so the best in the world could compete.

People don't realize how much baseball not being in the Olympics HURTS the sport. Governments fund the Olympic teams. When a particular sport isn't played in the Olympics, the national team of that country gets no funding. When the team that plays a sport that is not very well known, that funding means everything, because what private sector organization is going to want to fund a niche sport? There's no profit in that!

European baseball was starting to make a name for itself. The European Cup will disappear and all of those leagues could disband. This directly affects the World Baseball Classic, too - where do you think the national teams come from?

Of course, whiners will rejoice at the death of international baseball, because they're pitchers "won't get hurt." (Despite there being no evidence of WBC hurting players.) But what it does is further push baseball into the oblivion of nostalgia and makes it become even more irrelevant than it already is these days. American children don't dream of being Major League Baseball players anymore. MLB needs players from other countries to sustain itself.

You watch. Twenty years from now, baseball is going to be screaming "What did we do wrong?"

Very, very disappointing news.

Your kids are not invincible

NY Times Magazine has an article about Little League pitch counts - or lack thereof - and the sharp increase in the number of kids having Tommy John surgery because coaches and parents refuse to limit the number of pitches their kids throw.

It's sad that kids have such competition these days that the adults tasked with taking care of them would risk their futures and the knife in order to win a meaningless middle school baseball game.

Hal was fired

Recent Reds developments make me wonder if I'll be able to get into Reds baseball next year. I already quit this year.

Hal McCoy was how us folks around Dayton got our news about the Reds in the pre-internet, pre-every game is televised days. Hal McCoy made Reds fans.

Our country is in a sorry state. And the Reds, well, I'm starting to think they'll never play October baseball again. Not with the income chasm in baseball these days. Just a symptom of a greater societal problem.

You know what would make me tune into the Reds again?

If Drew Stubbs, Chris Heisey, and others in the organization were called up to play out the season.

Smash the arbitration clocks. Get these guys up here to see what they can do and see what they can work on so that they can be good to go for next year (or 2011, if that's what we're looking at now with the loss of Volquez.)

I don't know what makes me sadder, the fact that the Reds have turned into the worst team in baseball or the fact that baseball has ceased to interest me.

Thanks Walt. Thanks Dusty. Thanks Bob.

The Rolen trade sux

That's all.