Ah, baseball is back. There’s nothing better than listening to the dulcet tones of your favorite broadcaster call a ballgame on Opening Day.

For only on opening day can we say “How about those Expos!” or “How about those Marlins!”, or “How about [insert small market team here]!”

I love baseball, but it is unfortunate that after the first week or two of the season, the small market teams are more or less eliminated from contention.

However, I do not believe that this is cause to mourn the death of the game.

Money has always played a huge role in baseball. The Yankees and Dodgers have always been about buying championships.

It just looks more obscene when the Yanks pay Bernie Williams $87 million and trade for Roger “the Rocket” Clemens and the Dodgers give $105 million to Kevin “get shelled on opening day and get rescued by Raul Mondesi” Brown.

But if you compare, the Yankees and Dodgers always gave obscene, hair-raising amounts to free agents or just forced other teams into trades for their best players.

Money is just as much a part of baseball as Cubs and Red Sox losses.

It annoys me when people hark back to the “good old days” when all teams had a chance to win.

That’s BS! Nobody had a chance to win except the New York teams.

In the last 20 years, since free-agency, teams like the Kansas City Royals, Oakland A’s, St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers have participated in post-season play and even the World Series.

In the “good old days,” teams in such small markets would never have had a chance. In fact, one can argue that the pendulum is swinging back to the “good old days” where one or two teams dominated.

Then we have owners complaining about salaries spiraling out of control. Who is paying these salaries anyway?

Nobody is forcing owners to dole out these untold millions. If they showed some backbone, “spiraling salaries” wouldn’t be a problem.

Fans also complain about salaries. The best response to this came from an NBA player, Seattle center Olden Polynice.

When a fan yelled that his initials stood for overpaid, Polynice replied: “You’re right. I am overpaid, but you’re the dummy who paid to watch me.”

Basically, the people who complain about the “state of baseball” are all hypocrites. Bob Costas, for example, is a number one offender. It’s a game.

It’s enjoyable for fans. Let it be. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. However you want to say it, stop complaining about baseball.

On a brighter (or darker) note:

How ’bout those Cubs!

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Jayadev Athreya is a senior in math from Ames.