Thursday Bantering

Once again there is little for Jays' news, or baseball news, for that matter.

The closest to news is that Jon Heyman tells us that baseball will have a universe DH, when and if the 2022 season starts. So they agreed on something.

But that’s about all that has been agreed on. It doesn’t sound like they are any closer to getting a new deal done than they were 2 months ago (the lockout was a great idea, wasn’t it).

The big-ticket items in the negotiations seem to be going nowhere. I guess the players lowered their ask on the money pool for the ‘pre-arbitration bonus pool’ from $105 million to $100 million. The owners' offer was $10 million, so they are still a little ways apart ($100 million here and $100 million there and soon you are talking real money). Honestly, if I was the owners I’d give on this in for less change in the arbitration rules. Of course, if I was an owner I’d have a vault looking much like Scrooge McDuck’s and go swimming in my money every morning.

The Players also suggested a draft pick compensation for a team that doesn’t play service team manipulation games.

Beyond that it doesn’t sound like the two sides have talked about any of the big issues yet and we are inside two weeks until what should be the start of spring training. We’ve seen, over the past couple of seasons, that spring training really is important and that play isn’t as sharp when they cut back on training time.

I don’t know what we are going to do around here if baseball doesn’t start at some point. Maybe we can share our favourite Johnny Fever lines. WKRP was my favourite show for a long time, and, of course, Howard Hesseman’s Johnny Fever was my favourite character (well him or Bailey).

The episode with the remote broadcast from Del’s Stereo and Sound is one of my favourites.

I’d like to describe some of the incredible action that’s going on down here. A man we believe might be a customer has just come from freshening up, and it looks like he’s...leaving. No, wait a minute, he’s paused there; maybe he’s going to chat with Del Murdock, personable owner of Del’s Stereo and Sound... yes, he is. Maybe he’s going to buy something, and he’s...no, no, he’s pulled out a gun.

Though maybe the scene with him rambling about the ‘Phone Police’ is the funniest. Or when he buys a condo in ‘Gone with the Wind Estates’

And I think this is one of the best scenes in an opening episode of a sitcom ever (other than they have changed the song used as the first rock and roll song for the format change. This song doesn’t work with his dancing. I think the original was “We Won’t Be Fooled Again” by the Who).

It seems the worst sign of aging is having the actors and actresses, from my favourite childhood shows, pass away, one by one. Or maybe it is all the pain in my body the day after a workout. I hurt so much today.