MetroStyles
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- May 4, 2006
- Messages
- 14,586
- Reaction score
- 30
Would you rather that your favorite sports team win at all costs, or that it keep it's core players despite perhaps not giving them their best chance to win (i.e. for sentimental reasons)? This is more of an issue in baseball and maybe basketball than in the NFL where good players tend to move around less and stay put.
Example: The NY Mets have home-grown players in David Wright and Jose Reyes. Many detractors say that they should trade these guys for some blue chip prospects.
From a pure baseball perspective, it might make sense (I don't hold an opinion on that, it depends on what they get back). But from a fan perspective, I am appalled at the notion. What is the point of cheering on a team if you are only cheering on the jersey/the owner? To me sports are about players and memories, and I don't want a team that is made up of random mercenaries that shuffle around every year just to win. Hell, even the Yankees have Jeter/Rivera/Pettitte, and the better Yankees of the 90s/00s had a bunch of other home-grown players.
I am surprised when I hear fans clamoring for homegrown talent to be traded away in the hopes of potentially becoming incrementally better in the wins column. I mean, I get the logic, but sports isn't about logic. There is no logical reason to watch sports. It is an emotional past time - you get attached to your team and you root for it to win for no apparent reason at all except your emotional ties to the team.
For that reason, I'd rather lose a few more games and keep the core players at home (as long as they are performing relatively well) than to trade them away. I kind of dig the old days when players spent entire careers with one team. Way more fun to watch and root for.
Again, I think this applies most to baseball, less to basketball, and least to football (where it just is not as relevant).
Example: The NY Mets have home-grown players in David Wright and Jose Reyes. Many detractors say that they should trade these guys for some blue chip prospects.
From a pure baseball perspective, it might make sense (I don't hold an opinion on that, it depends on what they get back). But from a fan perspective, I am appalled at the notion. What is the point of cheering on a team if you are only cheering on the jersey/the owner? To me sports are about players and memories, and I don't want a team that is made up of random mercenaries that shuffle around every year just to win. Hell, even the Yankees have Jeter/Rivera/Pettitte, and the better Yankees of the 90s/00s had a bunch of other home-grown players.
I am surprised when I hear fans clamoring for homegrown talent to be traded away in the hopes of potentially becoming incrementally better in the wins column. I mean, I get the logic, but sports isn't about logic. There is no logical reason to watch sports. It is an emotional past time - you get attached to your team and you root for it to win for no apparent reason at all except your emotional ties to the team.
For that reason, I'd rather lose a few more games and keep the core players at home (as long as they are performing relatively well) than to trade them away. I kind of dig the old days when players spent entire careers with one team. Way more fun to watch and root for.
Again, I think this applies most to baseball, less to basketball, and least to football (where it just is not as relevant).