I actually am an old man, but I'm not going to yell as contrasted to reviewing how I'm grateful for each of the eras of "spectatorship" I've lived through. When I was a boy living first in Roxbury and then in Brighton, I frequently attended Sunday doubleheaders for 50 cents or 75 cents for the privilege of sitting in the bleachers long before anyone ever was concerned about skin cancer. I also enjoyed listening to Curt Gowdy and Bob Murphy on the radio at other times, and especially enjoyed listening to (I think it was a guy named...) Harrington bringing to life telegraph reports of far-away games when the Sox had been rained out. Watching a game on TV was also something not to be taken for granted, and I particularly remember watching Mel Parnell wrap up his no-hitter by taking a grounder at the mound and running over to first to make the final out rather than lobbing the ball over there.
Over the years, the TV-watching experience became better than being there at the park because of instant replay and related commentary (in my days as a kid, you didn't bring a transistor radio to the game). Ticket prices had also increased.
In the modern era, there are all sorts of baseball games to watch, and I particularly like the MLBTV equivalent to NFL Red Zone. The price for all this ease of keeping current on what's happening in the standings is that everything's gone up - what the players get, what the owners earn, what TV costs to watch (cable/satellite TV wasn't around when I was young). I don't begrudge anyone anything, and I don't feel "worse off" as I'm OK with watching on TV, especially since I can actually see some Red Sox games here in (gulp) Baltimore, my retirement home due to grandchildren.
This may be an off-topic way to conclude, so I ask forgiveness if that's the case. What's really different in the modern era, at least in my experience and vision, is that the old days had more hate of the MFY, for instance, than today. Free agency has meant that whom you love can turn into whom you hate, all in a contract-signing moment's time (see Damon, J.). The evolution of players' careers into broadcasting tends to render "the enemy" human - for instance, I will admit that I'm not unhappy that Aaron Effing Boone got past his coronary issues. Being a fan these days thus differs from being a fan in the old days, or maybe I was just unfortunate to have grown up along the way. ...though I cried like a baby in a hotel room in Hilton Head, SC (I was still working then, and I was traveling to make a presentation) when the last out was made in the 2004 World Series, as I felt that my father of blessed memory could finally rest in peace. One final thought - it's also a huge change from my youth to have this medium of a discussion board so that, among other things, people who do wish to complain have a relatively safe place to do so.
