I used to love baseball with a passion. I went to games with friends and family. I collected baseball cards. I played backyard baseball with my brother and cousins.

But then there came a point where I lost interest.

I like to call that 1994.

I've always been a fan of the underdog and for the longest time, I've been a Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals fan. Anybody who knows even a little about baseball knows how much of an underdog those two teams are.

But again, 1994.

That year, I watched on television as Kenny Rogers was throwing a perfect game and thinking this could be the year that the Rangers could win it and get those damn Toronto Blue Jays out of the World Series.

But then they went out on strike the same summer that they brought back Woodstock. I was pissed.

Then they canceled the World Series and I felt dirty as a fan.

You don't cancel the World Series. That's like canceling the Fourth of July. For what's supposed to be America's Pastime, the only thing that even resembles America within baseball is the mudslinging and backbiting. This is baseball, not an election.

Has baseball won me back since 1994? Not really. My interest was rekindled with the home-run record chase by Mark and Sammy but that was fleeting and Barry Bonds' homerun chase was barely in my radar. Things looked real good when the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees. It was a great series plus I was sick of seeing the Yankees in the World Series every year. Things were going good. I was even hoping the Royals and Tigers would be a surprise team like Minnesota.

But then Bud Selig spoke and it all went to shit with one word:

"Contraction"

Baseball has issues. Nobody is going to say otherwise. Competition isn't level, salaries are outrageous and now steroid abuse has come to light as the latest issue.

Baseball is missing something right now that hockey and football have had for a while.

Forward thinking.

If baseball wants to get better, they need to compromise. Without forward thinking though, "compromise" isn't even in their dictionary.

If another strike happens, more fans are going to leave baseball. In fact, Bud Selig says that some teams like the Padres and Royals won't survive another strike. I really find it odd since at one time an owner said it was a mistake for the Athletics to move from Kansas City to Oakland since it was such a good town.

Baseball is 100 plus years old and it's so deep in its own tradition that nothing is going to get better.

Saddest of all, steroid poppers and cheating umpires are going to get into the Hall of Fame before Pete Rose.

That, my friends, is sad.

If only Vince McMahon had started the XBL. I could have given a damn about baseball again.

- Ozzymadeo