An open message to Major League Baseball: Please go on strike. When Aug. 30 arrives, please walk out and leave the stadiums empty. Remain on strike through the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.

By going on strike, the players and owners will accomplish their goal which is to kill the game.

If you settle your disputes and return next spring, don't expect the fans to be there waiting.

Football is ready to start at all levels. It has become the No. 1 past-time. If baseball shuts down, no one will notice.

Except the players and owners when they begin to pay bills in a few months.

Attendance is down nearly six percent this season. Fans aren't getting interested in a pennant race that won't have a conclusion. And it's all because one side wants more money and the other side can't control its spending.

Players are making millions at a kid's game. As much as I love baseball, the importance of the sport can be exposed by the fact football will more than make up for its absence.

I can't feel sorry for a bunch of millionaires crying about their need for more money, nor do I want to listen to a bunch of billionaires cry about how they're losing money.

When you pay someone $25 million a year to play the game, you are not being very fiscally responsible. With executives making those kinds of decisions, no wonder Enron went belly up.

There will be no tears shed for the players. Anyone who would listen to Donald Fehr deserves every piece of disastrous results that comes their way. When you can't afford to maintain that $250,000 automobile or $4 million home, maybe then you'll realize what you have.

I can't wait for all of you to join me in the lunch line at McDonald's.

Go Browns! Jim Walker/The Ironton Tribune