Selig's cheer has a hollow ring.(Bud Selig; baseball seems headed for another strike in 2001)(Brief Article)

Other than the fact that franchises are dying, ticket prices are up 13 percent, kids don't care, adults are nauseous over salaries, another labor war looms, the same teams win every year and the sacred American holiday known as Opening Day was set in Puerto Rico and sponsored by Radio,Shack, I wholeheartedly agree with Bud Selig.

Baseball never has been better.

"The renaissance continues to be powerful," he says, over and over, sounding so much like a car salesman that you remember an old tidbit. He was a car salesman.

Bud Lite is fooling no one except himself. Rarely has the sport been in a more perilous position, with a ticking bomb set to explode October 31. More than six years after a devastating work stoppage, baseball has learned nothing from its dreadful mistakes of ego and greed. The game lurches toward another ugly showdown between the owners and players with no apparent regard for the consequences of a strike or lockout.

Simply, baseball as we know it would crash and burn to ashes. Anything short of a long-term labor settlement means the game has no future.

"The fans would walk away," says Mark McGwire, a rare sensible voice. "And I wouldn't blame them."

The public views these foolish rich men with zero tolerance and sizable disdain. Either they figure out how to divide a multi-billion-dollar pie, or we find something better to do between April and October If they don't get it by now, they don't deserve our minds, souls and dollars.