FanPost

the mighty MOX

i am still mulling the cards' departure from KMOX. of course i hate the idea; change is always hard, and the MOX has been a good and comfortable home for all of us since we were kids; hell, since our parents were kids. it's like we're losing a grandparent or something.

but the cynical side of me sees the change as part of a natural evolution. the cardinal organization long ago lost its "innocence" (for lack of better word), sold out to the ways and means of the big-budget mlb world. we hate to admit it, but the cards are not the twins, surviving on a shoestring; they have the 6th-largest payroll in baseball and a roster full of megadollar contracts. we fans never have to suffer the pain of watching our team approach the trade deadline as a "seller," dumping popular players for unknowns; rather our team picks up the overpriced stars of other, weaker organizations.

it takes a certain cold-blooded mercilessness, an unsentimentality, to survive in the mlb shark tank these days. the cards' ownership has it, and we fans have enjoyed the fruits of it --- the best cardinal teams of the last 40 years. but that hard-coreness cuts both ways; and in this case, it's cutting our hearts out.

what i'm saying, in essence, is that the MOX debacle (and the new-stadium fiasco) is part and parcel of a devil's bargain we cardinal fans have accepted.

anybody?