Since we soccer fans had to endure the tiresome flood of articles telling us what's wrong with our game during the World Cup, it seems only fair that fans of baseball, basketball and football take a moment to consider this key problem with basically all American professional sports: relegation. Or the lack of it.

What does the absence of relegation teach us, besides the fact that sports teams here are little more than corporate subsidiaries charged only with generating cash? It teaches that there are no consequences for poor play.

If millions of dollars and adulation aren't enough to make major leaguers perform, down they go. What could make more sense? It fits perfectly with our sense of competition and the free market. If only successful businesses deserve to survive, why not the same for our sports teams? Why not give 'em a year or two to think about motivation while playing on free hot dog night in Tulsa, Omaha or Nashville and hopping on the bus after the game to bed down at the Red Roof Inn?

If the Crew can't kick it on the field, down to AAA we go. If the Bucks can't sink some crucial free throws in the final seconds and finish at the bottom of the standings, down we go. If the Packers play like they did for a couple decades before the arrival of Brett Favre, off we go to the CFL. If the Cubs continue choking, sooner or later they'll end up in the Chicagoland Little League system.

Now, I like baseball and the teams that I root for -- the hometown Brewers and my life-long team the Mets -- are not perennial winners, so as a fan I stand to lose from this concept sometimes. But that doesn't make it wrong.

And, there is an upside, too, for fans. My favorite soccer team Torino -- which was for many years the greatest team in Italy, with the national squad virtually mirroring the Toro starting lineup -- lives in the shadow nowadays of a more famous team in the same city. Imagine the joy for a fan when his Toro returns to Serie A in the same season "the other team" heads down to B. There is no greater joy.

Say what you want about the world's preferred sport -- and I know you will via the talkbacks -- but the Europeans have it right when it comes to relegation. Nothing makes a team try its darndest like the threat of playing at a city park in Little Rock and living in the partially ished basement of a local family.

3 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by OMCreader on July 24, 2006 at 4:07 p.m. (report)

Real fan said: But Steve, if a fan deserts his team because the team was relegated was that person really a fan? There are die-hard fans for every soccer team, whether the team gets relegated or not.

Posted by OMCreader on July 20, 2006 at 4:13 p.m. (report)

sini said: great article.you forgot to mention every american athlete is on something.that is a fact.

Posted by OMCreader on July 20, 2006 at 10:53 a.m. (report)

Steve said: I'm not a fan of soccer, but hold the athletes in very high regards. How many people can run around the field for that amount of time? They are great athletes. But the one major problem with it is so many of these "acting" jobs that happen on the field. It is rediculious! What about all the soccer scandals? Paying off refs? Fans beating the snot out of each other over a loss? I'm not saying that American sports don't have their problems, but things like that would not be tolerated. Relegating sports such as baseball, football and basketball doesn't seem to make much sense. Chalk it up to "Corporate America" but teams would lose a lot of fans. Taking away a major league team and relegating it to a minor league status would destroy a lot of the smaller markets.

Recent blogs/briefs by Bobby Tanzilo

Milwaukee's Pawelski earns second Grammy nod Thursday Milwaukee ex-pat Cheryl Pawelski, long a producer of CD reissue projects in the Los Angeles ...

BMW has stolen the Milwaukee Art Museum Wednesday Call out the architecture police, the building theft squad. Looking at the occasional ...

What's your favorite CD of the year? Tuesday We were talking here in the office about our favorite records of the year and it reminded ...

Palin -- next Milwaukee mayor? Monday That got your attention, didn't it? I asked you all here today because I want to hear ...

Bondy uses band to spice up arrangements Nov. 25, 2009 AA Bondy returned for his third solo performance here and his second straight at Bay View's ...