THIS IS WHAT PASSES FOR OPTIMISM: On baseball, that is. Seriously. Thomas Boswell recently interviewed ex-comissioner Fay Vincent, who provides the best reason for fans to hope that the World Series will be played:
["]I know for sure that the banks are owed over $3 billion. That's a big number," said Vincent, who set up the credit line for almost half that amount. "I think Bud bailed out Tampa Bay and Phoenix [from bankruptcy] after the World Series last year.
...The day the players go out, the banks will give baseball one week to make a deal.
And [union president] Don [Fehr] knows it. He has all the cards."

Let's hope so. Maybe fans should be encouraging the players to strike ASAP, so as to get a deal finalized and not risk destroying next season when the owners try to implement their system.