The sentimentality of baseball is very deeply rooted in the American baseball fan. It is the one sport that is transmitted from fathers to sons.

Baseball is this intense subculture that actually doesn't speak very much for the larger culture.

There are several insights at the heart of the A's system that I think are wonderful for baseball. One, that it's a team game. That no one player is going to make that much of a difference to your team, so for god's sake don't go blow a quarter of your budget on one guy.

The Red Sox are the local scapegoats. It's hard enough to play baseball without being the local scapegoat too.

Baseball is this intense subculture that actually doesn't speak very much for the larger culture.

Sentimentality is a superstructure covering brutality.