Major League Baseball is just past its halfway point with the All-Star game being played last night.

As a sports fan, it’s good to see at least on sport carrying on without the thought of a labor strike or lockout stopping what is turning out to be a good season.

The Atlanta Braves are finally battling for the National League East again, which takes me back to the 1990s and early 2000s when it was the Braves out of the East and whoever else from the other divisions.

Up until last season, it had been tough to watch the Braves miss the playoffs each year because winning the division was customary.

It’s still hard to see the Phillies sit atop the division because growing up they were the third or fourth best team in the NL East behind the Braves, Mets and Marlins.

No matter what though, just knowing that all is right in the baseball world is good enough to bring a smile to a fan’s face because the NFL is fighting over the length of rookie contracts and the NBA is just beginning to fight over all of it.

The problem with these two leagues is that they fail to realize that they are hurting themselves more than they are hurting the fans.

If there is a shortened NFL season or no NBA season then the fans don’t get hurt because they can still watch baseball or even go to a game for a fraction of the price it costs to go to an NFL or NBA game.

That’s where professional sports is getting lost because they are jacking up the prices leaving it near impossible for a fan to afford a ticket to a game

Going to an MLB game is still affordable because they have deals and tickets that mght be in a nosebleed section, but atleast the fan can pay to see their favorite team.

At some point, the owners and athletes need to take a step back and realize what they are doing to the fans who love to watch their team play.

The sooner they realize this the better because if they keep up their labor disputes, the day might come where no fans want to watch that game at all.

Then what will they do?

Chandler Myers is sports editor of the Atmore Advance. He can be reached at 368-2123 or by e-mail at sports@atmoreadvance.com