by Zach Bigalke

Created on: March 11, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

"Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke." These words - taken from the 1946 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, German-born Swiss novelist Herman Hesse - are indicative of the absurdity inherent in people assuming that things will always remain as strong as the present. Everything eventually tumbles - styles of dress, modes of warfare, whole empires...

Professional sports in America as we currently understand them are no exception. Throughout the years, a wide variety of athletic diversions have entertained spectators and tested the competitors. Some have endured longer than others, but in the end they all give way for something new and different and exciting. Twenty years ago, mountain-bike racing was a nascent sport, attracting the castoffs of the athletic world. As the sport gained a following, the sponsors lined up in droves to take advantage of this lucrative opportunity to get in on a hot thing at the ground level. But this sponsorship could not and did not last forever...

Ten years ago, the NORBA series was the preeminent professional mountain-bike series in the world. Now the balance of power has shifted to Europe, where cycling has held a much longer and stronger sway over sports fans. North American mountain-bike series, once the envy of the rest of the world with their meticulous organizaiton and lucrative prize opportunities, now barely get by, scrounging for ANYTHING to give as prizes to the victors...

Football, baseball... these sports, while they currently enjoy the bulk of American viewership, are essentially no different than mountain biking or lacrosse or hockey. One failed negotiation over an expired collective-bargaining agreement, one hotshot owner who usurps league rules and brings fiscal ruin to the league, striking players, striking referees... any of these things have the potential to derail a professional sports league. Take the example of the National Hockey League, which faced a season-long lockout in 2005. Hardcore fanatics of the sport have returned to viewing the sport once play recommenced; casual fans quickly realized that there were plenty of other ways to divert the time than to pine over hockey. While Major League Baseball and the National Football League have insulated themselves to some extent to avoid such a disaster, precedent illustrates that there is no guarantee to a rebound once the play stops on the field...

Major League Baseball itself faced the perils of a strike back in 1995. When the game returned, the fans failed to find their way back to the ballpark. It took a home-run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa - and a healthy dose of synthetic performance-enhancing drugs - to reignite interest in the national pastime. Only as fans saw the opportunity to witness history did they return to the stadia and to the sports networks...

Nothing is destined to last for an eternity. "Forever" is but a mere footnote in the annals of our planet's history. Professional sports as we understand them are bound to change at some point in our future... be prepared, and be forewarned... CAVEAT EMPTOR.

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