Politics Has Taken Over: I have watched baseball my whole life. I am a long time Padres / Tigers fan. I have attended many professional and minor league games over the years. In my working days, if I were out of town and a they had a MLB or Minor League game, I would do all I could to get to the park. We raised our kids going to Padre games at the Q, and then at Petco Park. Petco Park is an awesome venue for baseball. Too bad I have lost my love for the game at the Major League level. I just don’t feel the competitive thrill when watching or listening. You wonder why I lost the joy?

Politics….plain and simple. I played organized baseball as a youth and followed the game my whole life. The game is thrilling to be a part of on any level and is rightly called America’s Pastime. So many parts of the game draw you in; nine innings, extra innings, balls, strikes, walks, home runs, playoffs, all star games, world series, and the toughness of the players.

The competition, challenges and come backs as well as the eternal hope your team might go all the way to the Wold Series makes it a clear metaphor for life. The game inspires weather playing, watching, or listening. Rob Manfred, MLB Commissioner, ruined the game of baseball for me…and for millions of other fans as well. Attendance and viewers on TV is at an all time low….and falling harder than a good sinker coming in on a left handed hitter. MLB, by having yet another liberal Harvard educated lawyer as Commissioner, made this outcome inevitable.

Rob Manfred Must Go: How can moving the All Star Game from Atlanta, with a black population of 51% to Denver, with a black population of 9% be a statement in support of “Black Lives Matters” ? Which Black Lives Matter? Those in Colorado or those in Georgia? Who gets hurt by the removal of the game from Atlanta? Black business owners and black families who would have attended the game, and black advertisers, to name but a few. Who wins in Denver from this move? White business owners, white families who will attend the game, and white advertisers to name but a few. So we are supposed to think this all about standing up for minorities in Georgia?

The dollar losses to Atlanta from removing the game at the 12th hour are crushing. Rob Manfred supported the left wing political narrative that was spun up after the new voting law was passed in Georgia. Had he and his team taken a pause…did a study on the law as it compares with other states in the country, he would not have made this dumb move of the All Star game. He would have realized that much of the narrative, if not all of it, was political manipulation by the Democrat left and outright lies and moving the All Star Game was sure to backfire. He should resign and or be removed from his position. Until he is gone I am done with the game at the MLB level….and I am not alone here as millions of fans are turning off the game every day..

I simply cannot enjoy baseball and escape from the real world grind like I used to be able to do. I am watching baseball and instead of following averages, home run leaders, and pitch counts, I hearing about the BLM propaganda and the whole “systematic racist nation” lies. “Field of Dreams” has turned into “Field of Nightmares”. It’s just no fun to watch anymore. MLB needs a new commissioner and he must be a former player. No more liberal, political, woke trolls please. We cannot say goodbye to moron Manfred any too soon!

The Big Lie: The big lie was that the new voting law was a racist act to limit voting rights for minorities and especially blacks. President Biden called it the” 21st Century Jim Crow” law. He spun the “no water allowed in line, the no drop boxes, the less voting days”, which were all lies misrepresentations of what the new law stated. The requirement for voter ID to register was not new to either Georgia or many other States. Rather, it is about making elections more fair and honest. Most countries require voter ID to prove citizenship in order to vote. Our neighbor to the South, Mexico, will put a person in jail who votes illegally. To be eligible to vote in Mexico one must be a Mexican citizen, verified by a government issued voter ID. No one from the United States, who resides in Mexico, can vote in a Mexican election. President Biden and other liberals got “4 Pinocchios” from the liberal Washington Post for their outright lies on the Georgia voting law. Biden simply thinks most Americans are either too dumb, or too lazy, to even care about truth.

The Corporate Hypocrisy…”not a peep”… NBA, NFL, MLB, Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, CBS, Cisco, UPS, Chase Bank, Citi Group, and Merck: These corporations actively support left wing, destructive political groups and ideas. I am taking my hard earned dollars elsewhere. I used to drink coca cola every day, I have switched to juices. Why these businesses, and especially professional sports leagues, do not stay out of politics, who can figure? Americans today are politically polarized with half the nation on the right, and the other half on the left. From a purely business position it would seem dumb for corporations and sports teams to give up half of the potential customers by picking political sides. These woke corporations claim moral courage for taking a stand against this so called “Jim Crow” Georgia voting bill. They are not moral, upright, or courageous…they are simply devious liars.

Will They Boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics?: These guys are liberals and driven by their political motives, not morals or ethics. If these corporations and sports teams really care about freedom and justice they would be walking away from the coming Winter Olympics. The Chinese government engages in terrorism, slave labor, child labor, forced sterilization of women, sex trafficking, and genocide.

MLB and all the other corporate hypocrites smugly supported moving the All Star game in the name of “racial justice” and yet they are raking in millions and millions of dollars working with the Chinese Communist Party. These companies all cozy up to the CCP backed companies and organizations because there are making a financial bonanza in China.

Last year the Hong Kong freedom protesters were brutally beaten, jailed, and killed. Do you remember Coca Cola pulling out of China in support for their courageous acts? Nope….not even a tiny little peep of a protest toward the CCP. The Muslim Uyghur minorities in Western China have been put in slave labor factories., re-education camps, and are right this very minute experiencing a systematic genocide by the CCP. Have you heard any NBA, NFL, MLB, or other corporate businesses openly support the plight of these people? No you have not heard them utter a peep and you wont hear them either. They are cowards, liars, and hypocrites and do not deserve our financial support.

Where do these these companies, like MLB, who pulled it’s All Star game from Georgia, stand on the issue of boycotting the coming winter Olympics in China? Are they threatening to move their operations and sales out of China unless the genocide taking place there is stopped? I will tell you where they are….they are nowhere, nowhere to be seen or heard, not a peep, not a whimper, nothing. They rather give full backing and support for the coming China Winter Olympics. They nod and wink….and keep collecting the money. Threatening to move the Olympics in order to stop the genocide of the Uyghurs is not even a consideration.

They are liars….join the boycott…help stop the genocide!

Michael Hawke