Major League Baseball is in trouble. In all reality, Major League Baseball is dying! It seems that every other year baseball players and owners are having negotiating problems and everyone is screaming strike! Countless teams are making absolutely no money and some teams are averaging less attendance than the neighborhood shuffleboard tournament. And on top of all that, the players themselves are scared to take the field because of fans rushing the playing field.

Yes, baseball’s pulse is dwindling and before long it might be a flat line. It’s sad to say, but baseball may no longer be America’s pastime. Maybe, just maybe, baseball’s time has past. And that brings me to this. Tennessee needs to take this opportunity and buy a Major League Baseball team.

Is it just me or does the Tennessee Expos sound pretty good? Build a state of the art stadium in downtown Chattanooga and have a superstar such as Vladimir Guerrero and you are going to sell out every home game. Period.

Think about the triangle of sports: baseball, basketball and football. Tennessee has done a good job with two out of the three major pro sports. The Titians are legitimate contenders every year in the AFC and has brought the NFL a team everyone can cheer for. With marketable players such as Eddie George and Steve McNair fighting day in and day out on the field and in the community you have a team that will receive praise for years to come. The Titans have the fire to become a great team and a great franchise. That fire didn’t start in Houston, it started in Tennessee. Tennessee needs the chance to bring that fire to baseball. Only time can tell, but first Tennessee and baseball must join in holy matrimony.

Of course, people might say that football is the only true sport in Tennessee. No doubt the Volunteers and Titans get love in both Nashville and Knoxville, but what about Memphis? Tennessee took a chance and bought a Vancouver Grizzly NBA team that was on the brink of disaster. Sure they are having some rough years now but they have a great general manager (Jerry West) and exciting young players. Even the fans are excited about the Grizzles who play at the Pyramid (home of the University of Memphis Tigers) and still average more fans (14,984 to 12,864) than the Atlanta Hawks! You give Memphis a new arena and an All-Star player and people will flock to Tennessee for basketball not Graceland.

So the question still remains: Can Tennessee save baseball? There is absolutely no question that a team like the Expos would be successful in a city such as Chattanooga. The fan base that it would bring would be something baseball has never seen. Put a stadium at the edge of Ross’s Landing and let people race their boats to homerun balls as if they are Pac Bell Park in San Francisco. Imagine that half of the “Tennessee Braves” fans get a chance to cheer for a real home team, a Tennessee team. Do you know what the magnitude of a Tennessee vs. Atlanta MLB game would be? With the right players and the right management it could be the next Yankee/Sox rivalry.

Baseball is losing its credibility as the best sport in America. Baseball’s heart is fluttering simply because baseball has no heart. It is a sport controlled and destroyed by money and it is in desperate need for something, anything to revitalize it. Baseball has the fans, it has the money and it has the stars. But does it have the fight anymore? Tennessee has the fight. And in this crazy world of money hungry athletes and multi-million dollar markets, it might come down to a southern state and a simple city to save the game we all love. Tennessee needs Major League Baseball, but ironically baseball needs Tennessee more.