Too many trips to Wrigley Field, and you're bound to beg for that falling debris. If you go to see Dave Matthews in concert too many times, you hope he actually does end up on Grey Street and that he doesn't make it back.

The greatness of life lies in appreciating things moderately, and thanks to Major League Baseball a great main course has been spoiled after the second week of the season.

The Yankees and Red Sox met for two series in the first two weeks of the 2005 season. That is one time too much.

Chef Bud, his ESPN cohorts, and the bunch of schedule makers who cooked up the 2005 docket throw this east coast dish on our plates too often. They've kicked it up too many notches. It's time to send it back.

This force-feeding of Red Sox and Yankees is too much. Major League Baseball acts as if there are only two teams in their league. They dream the world will end after the American League Championship Series, because really how can the playoffs get any better?

The Red Sox and Yankees give baseball fans excitement in October, but do we really need such a heavy dose right now? If I hear Joe Morgan dissect Dave Roberts' stolen base in game four of the ALCS one more time I think I might have a nervous breakdown.

The inability of baseball to recognize and market other teams and players will hurt its growth, especially at a time when so many young players are making their mark on the game.

No one knows how exciting it is to see Juan Pierre run the bases for the Florida Marlins because baseball wants everyone to see if David Wells can get Ruben Sierra out.

No one knows what it's like to watch Brad Lidge handle the ninth inning for the Houston Astros because baseball would rather show us Donald Trump and Billy Crystal yakking it up in George Steinbrenner's skybox.

Instead we get Red Sox and Yankees all the time. No games displaying Albert Pujols' art of hitting. No marketing of Ichiro, who is the only threat to make a run at Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. No, no, just Red Sox-Yankees, all the time.

It's gotten so bad that I've seen David Ortiz so many times in the past two weeks that I'm starting to believe he actually is my Papi, nationality and race aside. I thought there were 28 other teams right now in Major League Baseball, but that feeling, well it's just a memory as of right now.

And the Boston Red Sox like to call themselves the idiots.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 14 2005.