NBC's Bob Costas, on the state of the game as teams prepare
to return to the field Tuesday night and Wednesaday: "What
happened last year and the beginning of this year didn't happen
in isolation. It's a symptom of all the wrong-headedness that's
been going on for years and years. The players used to have the
moral and intellectual highground, now you can barely distinguish
them in terms of attitude and wrong-headedness from the owners.
And the problem is the same people in a position to run or
influence the game are still there" ("Sports Reporters," ESPN,
4/23). "NBC Nightly News" also previewed MLB's return. Mets
President Fred Wilpon: "We have injured this game and this
industry and we have to rebuild it" (NBC, 4/23).
RICH TEAM, POOR TEAM: SITV's Tim Kurkjian examined the
small-market/big-market controversy in a piece titled, "To Have
and Have Not." Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner proposed
keeping expansion cities "open for teams to transfer. If that's
a warning to the fans in some of these towns, then let it be a
warning" (ABC, 4/22).
HOW TO BE FAN-FRIENDLY: The Giants will offer fans at each
game a "Croix de Candlestick" button, which says: "I survived
the big one -- Aug. 12, 1994-April 25, 1995" (S.F. CHRONICLE,
4/21)....Phillie Gregg Jeffries says he may buy tickets to give
"ordinary families" in the upper deck seat upgrades (Jayson
Stark, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/23).
BACKING BUD: Steinbrenner said Dodgers Owner Peter
O'Malley's position against Bud Selig staying on as full-time
commissioner is a lonely one. Steinbrenner: "I don't think
anyone, no, I know there isn't anyone who feels that way" (Tom
Keegan, N.Y. POST, 4/24).
