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Remember baseball, hot dogs and apple pie? We used to say those things were All-American. Today, memories of those things seem to be fading. When I was young, baseball was truly the great American past time. Everyone loved to watch baseball. It didn't matter whether you were young or old, male or female, a jock or a nerd. We all loved baseball. I remember opening days and going to baseball games and watching the World Series.

I loved baseball so much that I named my dog Thurmon Munson after a favorite player. I loved baseball so much that I once dreamed that the New York Yankees won the World Series and presented me with the World Series Trophy because I was their biggest fan. I loved baseball so much that I put up with all my little brothers and sisters so that I could gather in the living room to watch the Oakland A's play in the World Series, even though I was a teenager at the time and the very LAST thing I wanted to do was spend an afternoon in the living room with my little brothers and sisters.

Today, baseball has changed. Sure, there are kids who are still crazy about baseball. But, it's not universal, not like it was back in the day. Once again, profits have won out over community. Today, not ever family of four can afford to buy four tickets to a Major League Baseball game, four hot dogs, four sodas and four ice cream cones. Today, stadiums bear names that are strikingly similar to the names of huge corporate mega conglomerates. Today, baseball games are broadcast on television at inconvenient viewing times in order to get the best advertising revenue. Today, player's negotiate and are traded and strike. Today, baseball is all about business.

I try to forget that when I'm at the ball park. I try to forget that the stadium is being sponsored by a major corporation and that the exorbitant cost of my hot dog is helping boost the profit margin of a company, not a team. I try to forget that the baseball players are not players, after all, but are employees under contract who are being pressured to perform in the name of, you guessed it, profits.

I try to forget that Candlestick Park is now 3Com Park, or that Jack Murphy Stadium is now QualComm Stadium, or that Anaheim Stadium is now Edison International Field. Most of all, I try to forget that Enron Field is now Minute Maid Field, and that the reason Enron Field is now Minute Maid Field is because Minute Maid paid for it to be so. With enough money, you can have anything in this country named after your company. But should you? (I'll tell you what--I'll forever patronize the first corporation who sponsors a baseball team and gives the stadium it's original name back.)

I try to forget all these things when I'm watching a game. I try to just enjoy the game. But, it's hard. Baseball has been forever changed, and I, for one, really miss the way it used to be.