Can you believe that The Chicken has been at it for 29 years? Even more amazing, the same person, Ted Giannoulas, has been portraying the mascot the entire time. Unfortunately, in a sad turn of events, “he did not work a major league park this season, because the big leaguers no longer have the time or the interest.” Giannoulas quips, “The players are way too cool. Guys who I had fun with in the minor leagues wouldn’t even say hello to me anymore.”

This is yet another indication that baseball players these days are spoiled, whiny brats. I remember “back in my day” watching TWIB (or was it The Baseball Bunch with Johnny Bench?) and thinking that The Chicken’s antics with players were hilarious. Of course, at seven years old it doesn’t take much to amuse, but that’s not the point. <rant>The point is that it’s “all about the Benjamins” now. There’s no team loyalty; players are treated as commodities to the highest bidder. There’s not as much real athleticism these days; steady upswing in steroid abuse shows that many players are taking shortcuts to performance. And finally, there’s a lack of respect for the fans. The previous two things I mentioned alone show that the players care more about themselves than the game, but in the end it’s the fans who suffer. I was never the biggest baseball fan, but I can say for sure that I’ve become steadily more dillusioned about the game after the ‘94 strike and now the strike impending at the end of this week. Players (and owners too; I’m not letting them off that easy) better realize that in the end if no one comes to watch you play then you’re sure as hell not going to get the millions of dollars you feel you are entitled to.</rant>

I know that this kind of trend is not unique to baseball, but hearing about The Chicken and thinking about the impending baseball strike made me go off (obviously). Ah, that’s much better… Oh, and this week’s Onion infographic is pretty funny too.