And there's the lockout -- as much a rig-job as anything else in sports...

Here we go...

It's midnight Eastern exiting the 1st, and that means the CBA for MLB is over, with the owners already voting to lock out.

I have, as I've said a number of times, a reader of this blog who is a baseball historian, a close friend, and has a lot of good points...

This friend and I have been talking most of the last several months.

We believe this work stoppage will be ugly, long, and, unlike the last one a quarter-century ago, I think the owners ARE prepared to dig in their heels, even on a court challenge.

They want everything, as my friend has noted to me a couple times today.  They have openly colluded to keep rank-and-file salaries down and any number of other things.

They want to smash the union, after being exposed as not caring about either the major-league players or ESPECIALLY the minor-league ones...

They want to make it honor to play the game, as if the players would pay them for the privilege.

And the players have had, correctly, MORE THAN ENOUGH.

And about three minutes after the deadline, reports that the lockout is already implemented.

It's on.

And I do NOT believe Major League Baseball, as you knew it before this year, is going to survive this.  Doesn't necessarily mean teams will die or anything -- but either the players are going to get smashed or the owners are going to officially be fucked.

Here we go...

And Manfred with BULLSHIT 15 minutes in...

Rob Manfred: "This defensive lockout was necessary because the Players Association’s vision for Major League Baseball would threaten the ability of most teams to be competitive."

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) December 2, 2021

You can't even stand at least two of the teams which ARE competitive, you motherfucking goddamn piece of shit moron!!!

You've been BEGGING for this lockout for YEARS through illegal collusion and other anti-competitive practices.

My anonymous friend came up with an idea:  Good time to get 5-6 teams moved all at once, especially if we lose the entire 2022 season??? 

To what really is no one's surprise:  MLB.com is now a ghost-town history site, largely devoted to the 2021 Hall of Fame voting, etc., and historical backstories.  No current players now prominently shown -- probably as a function of the CBA covering that too.