What’s capitalism got to do, got to do with it?

In “The Best Laid Plans,” Yankee apologist John Gruber laments the loss of Cliff Lee to the Phillies, and at the same time, doubles down on his opinion that teams buying championships via swollen payrolls is exactly how it outta be in a capitalist system.

I say (with apologies to Tina Turner), “What’s capitalism got to do, got to do with it?” Call me quaint, but I feel that there is something pure about sport, whether physical or intellectual, that is lost when one player or team stacks the deck via cash infusions that are far beyond what is available to other players or teams.

Does Gruber also believe that people playing chess ought to be able to purchase extra queens at the beginning (or midway through) a match? Hey, if it helps them win, their prize money will enable them to buy more queens in subsequent matches.

Should the rich kids be able to start with more money at the beginning of a Monopoly game?

I mean, of course one is entitled to believe that everything should come down to cash money, but what a one-dimensional world…