Again, I pick on sports talk radio. Keep in mind the following belief is by no means restricted to the person in question - plenty of people take the same line.
I don't know why I don't name names. I just don't.
In discussing MLB's decision to expand the number of playoff teams, a heated discussion between two colleagues ensued. One took the side it was a ridiculous move thus furthering the pointlessness of what the regular season is about. Which, when you think about, is a valid point. THAT'S the point of a 162 game schedule. To weed out the contenders from the pretenders.
The other thought it a great idea since it makes things more fair for teams; especially those with small budgets. The usual complaint being that it's "unfair" that teams with big budgets can squander money on bad decisions while the smaller ones don't have that kind of luxury or leverage.
Then follows the usual "woe are the Tampa Bay Rays of this world" Old Montreal horse shit.
Fuck the latter opinion.
Yeah sure, it's "unfair" on some level but as anyone who has read Plato's The Republic, our existence is but a search for the optimum government providing truth, justice and fairness for sports teams.
It sucks for Tampa to be efficient with their resources and have to face the behemoth entities known as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees but such is life. It's not like the latter two teams win every title every year.
There will always be "inequities" in life because, well, it's just the way it is. However, to correlate "payroll" with "dominance" is misleading. Payroll, or expressed differently having lotsa cash, doesn't automatically convert into victory. It's but a small factor into the overall activities of any organization.
"We determined that there is very little correlation between the winning percentage of the teams and how much their payroll was. From our regression data the value was 0.1832. This means there is only an 18.32 % correlation between the payroll of one team, and their winning percentage. The slope of the regression line was 0.00130. This data reveals that for every additional million dollars spent on payroll, team winning percentage increases by only .00130 or .13 %. From this data it is clear that paying the players more does not really lead to an increase in winning percentage. Additionally, it is clear that payroll alone is not the sole factor in creating and building a successful baseball team."***
Couldn't have said it better myself. Business is filled with cases with organizations filled with cash but still manage to fail.
The other thing to keep in mind is screw the Tampa's and their fairwearther fans of this world. It's not New York's problem they don't have a loyal and passionate fan base willing to fill the stadium while spending a pretty penny on merchandising.
Which brings me to my next point. What people who take the position of things not being fair don't quite get (or choose to ignore) is the great franchises in sports didn't become powerful evil empires because of money. They did by, you know, being better than everyone else.
By winning, you gain fans. By gaining fans you make more money. With the fan base and money you solidify your brand.
Ferrari offers a similar case.
Back in the 1990s, the hatred against Ferrari in Formula One racing had reached insidious levels pimped out by short sighted douches who failed to grasp that Ferrari was the apex of racing because it earned its way to the top. Forgotten was all the blood, sweat and tears of how Ferrari evolved from obscurity out of the wings of another legendary car manufacturer - Alfa-Romeo - into the most luxurious and recognized sports car entity in automobile history.
It was (and remains) the essence of racing. Get rid of Ferrari and you lose legions of fans across the globe. Funny how those anti-Ferrari voices are silent these days now that Ferrari isn't dominating F1. Thus further proving it's not "just" about money.
Finally, the argument is further put under stress when you look at teams like the Green Bay Packers and St. Louis Cardinals - hardly bastions of "big market" supremacy - have managed to forge iconic identities with winning traditions.
Teams will come and go each winning along the way. What doesn't change is the ability of teams like Ferrari, the Yankees and other teams like them to rise to the top again.
Live with it. Or better yet, be better than them.
***Philip Hawbaker, Mark Kaiser, Daniel Murray, University of Iowa. May 5, 2008. MLB Winning Percentage vs. Team Payroll.
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