Doc's Morning Line: If baseball activities cease, how will Reds fans know?

At 11:59 Wednesday night, MLB owners will lock out MLB players. The collective bargaining agreement will expire without a new deal, and all baseball activities will cease. You could say that means little to the Reds, whose baseball activities lately have consisted of showing good players the door. But it’s bad for the game.

Worst case, the lockout disrupts the start of the regular season. Again, that’s bad unless you’re a Reds fan, in which case you might feel that 2022 was going to be a lost cause, anyway, so why not delay the inevitable if possible?

Some of us love the game, no matter how our team performs. I was a Pirates fan for 55 years, for Abner’s sake. We appreciate the game’s gentle soul-rhythms and the cadence it brings to our lives. Summer, radio, deck. Beer, cigar, baseball. The world is just a better place with baseball in it.

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I will, again, refuse to take sides, because millionaires fighting with billionaires is distasteful no matter who’s taking part. I no longer have any use for the Small Market Argument perpetuated by owners whose pockets are zippered. If you can’t afford to field a decent team, sell the team.

That said, Baseball’s economic divide is real. So is tanking, so are the Pirates, whose owner sees shared revenues as his personal ATM.

I won’t succumb to the historical fan distaste with players “making millions of dollars’’ or argue about whether they’re “worth it.’’ Ballplayers are commodities. They are “worth’’ whatever someone is willing to pay them. I will never begrudge a player for making all the jack he can make, unless I’m willing to go all monastic and donate my millions to charity.

Millions, Doc?

Every time a lockout/strike occurs, dire warnings of the End of Baseball follow. It never happens. It won’t this time, either. That’s not to say the game is on a roll. It takes too long to play, it is ruled by numbers, not people. The general fascination with homers, the prevalence of strikeouts, the endless pitching changes all have sapped the game of some of its life. Attendance isn’t exactly surging.   

A lockout won’t help things. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of trust between the sides. They’ve had time already to get a new deal done. As with most negotiations, this one has the potential to slog on until close to Opening Day, by which time some casual fans will have lost interest. Around here, folks are already losing interest.

Both sides have noted for a year how foolish a stoppage would be, yet here we are.

More:Cincinnati Reds focused on their farm system as they shed payroll this offseason

You’ll say you don’t care. (Fie on!) all of ‘em. But you do care, same as I do. The question is, how durable is your affection?

That’s the question o’ the season. Answers, please.

Now, then . . .

BEARCATS STAY AT 4, but the barbarians are at the gates. This week, it’s Oklahoma State. If the ‘Boys beat Baylor in the Big 12 title game Saturday and UC does anything but clobber Houston, the smart money is with OK State to overtake the Bearcats for the Final 4.

I still believe the Cmte is seeking any reason to boot UC from the inner sanctum. The Bearcats remain the outsiders at the head table, wearing their best Carhartt gear.

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Meantime, Luke Fickell ponders his future while Notre Dame ponders Luke Fickell.

Fickell apparently does not have an agent. He negotiates his own deals. That’s remarkable in this day and age. And telling. I wonder if I can go to Vegas or Belterra today and bet on whether Cool Hand Luke stays or goes, and what sort of odds I’d get.

PROGRAMMING NOTE . . . Very close to naming a new Thursday TML Entertainment Guru, to replace the amazing FunMaster Brien. Thanks to all who’ve applied. I’ve got it down to three candidates. They’re all so worthy, I might hire ‘em all.

SPEAKING OF GOLF CLUBS . . . The Internet can be a big ball of awesome. My two favorite clubs happen to be 30-year-old Cleveland hybrids, a 5-iron and a 9-iron given to me many years ago by the late, great Ron Curran. I’ve lacked the in-between club, the one capable of getting me home from 130-140 yards. It took me exactly five minutes to find the Hi-Bore Cleveland 7-hybrid online, and a mere four days to find it delivered on my doorstep. And one day (yesterday) to be drilling high, straight 135-yard approaches to the flag at the Legendary Run range. It cost me all of 40 bucks.

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Equipment matters. Before yesterday, I had a different 7-hybrid. It was evil, with a psychotic tendency to slice. Now, said stick is in stick purgatory, in the basement right next to Ray Cook the putter, very likely never to see the back side of a Titleist again.  

I’m an excellent golfer held back by sucky equipment. Isn’t everyone?

WHILE WE’RE AT IT . . . A couple of major cigar finds at the wondrous Party Source. I will share them with you only if you promise to buy individual sticks, not a whole damned box.

(1) Esteban Carreras Habano … a Nicaraguan with a wrapper aged 13 years. In several lengths. I like the robusto. Burns evenly, good draw, smooth all the way down. Five bucks. Incredible.

(2)  Punch Egg Roll, short robusto (4.5X50) with all the same qualities as the Carreras. Punch might make a bad cigar, but I’ve never tasted one. This guy is good for about 30 minutes, just enough time to enjoy on the porch before you freeze to death. Four bucks.

(3) La Vieja Habana, an economy cigar from the folks at Drew Estate who, like Punch, do not make bad cigars. Not quite as good as the two listed above. Can burn unevenly, needs re-lighting on occasion. But solid flavor (I buy the maduros) and five bucks.

GREAT LAKES CHRISTMAS ALE is as good as ever, BTW, and much easier to find than it used to be. It’s right there with Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Breckenridge Vanilla Porter as my favorite winter beers. And if you haven’t tried New Riff 6 Year Old Rye, you should. That’s if you can find it. Failing that, J. Thinwallet recommends the 100-proof bottled-in-bond Early Times. It’s a liter and sells for $25. An absolute steal.

Or you can just go to an old standby such as Elijah Craig, very good and not expensive.   

Now aren’t you glad I don’t stick to sports?

TUNE O’ THE DAY . . . Haven’t played this one in awhile. Love me some Beatles, but they never produced anything this nasty. It ain’t no hangin’ mat-ter.