The most exciting thing about the superbowl to me  is that it means football season is over and baseball season is just around the corner. So no it did not lessen the game for me because I cannot stand football.

I have nothing against a wild car but I do against the wild card. How has interleague play benefited the MLB? Just curious. Everyone for interleague play keeps saying it benefits the MLB but how?  By lowering the fans IQs when they play rivials?  How about stating some benefits or just leave that argument out if you cannot think of any.

If they were playing interleague games against EVERYONE, then you might have the argument, but they only play a small amount of them each year, and not against every team in the other division, so it's not just one big league... it's still a tiny proportion of games compared to their divisional rivals.  You also seem to forget (which is understandable, with the cubs not having been to a series in so long) that the playoffs are a battle of attrition, so for the Cubs and White Sox to meet, they're going to have to go through two extended series with other teams, so those "last two weeks" don't mean anything once it's for all the marbles.

And you have to remember there are only 4or 5 markets with teams in both leagues, so not everyone has the option to just drive to the other side of the city to go watch the other league's stars.

And it's the entire country's (or baseball's) fault that some people don't know how to act?  Absolutely not.  And the majority of Cubs fans I know bring it on themselves in the first place (that nacho cheese stain on my Griffey Jr. jersey didn't just get there through magic), so I'll say it again: it's the fan bases themselves, not the games, that cause people to act like this.  If it wasn't a crosstown rival game, it would be Cubs-Cards, Yanks-Red Sox, White Sox-Tigers, or Mets-Phillies that people acting like fools would be happening at.  Besides, we've never known Chicagoans and New Yorkers to riot, or Texans to start a revolution, have we?

Grant you that the behavior of the Cubs fans have seem to have gotten more out of control over the years but you cannot just blame the situation on them.  Did I blame the entire country or baseball? NO. I believe I said that the fans CHOSE to act up. But why have more fighting than necessary?  You already mentioned the divisional problems.. why create more? Do you remember the White Sox fans who beat up the first base coach of the KC Royals? I am just waiting for that to happen during inter league game. It just amazes me how fierce the fans become during the inter league games more so than  during the regular divisional games. Why risk it?  Why have two rivals that you know have volatile fans play each other? For the money.. the more volatile the fan base the fiercer the rivalry the more money it brings in. To me that is sitting on an atomic bomb waiting for it to go off. When it does I will remember how much it benefits baseball.

"I believe I said the fans CHOSE to act up."  Which pretty much means that the game is merely an excuse for said "fans" to act up.  More or less if the interleague games weren't there, they'd be beating each other up somewhere else, whether it has to do with baseball or not.  Generally it's the same stuff that happens normally, but it just so happens there's media attention because there's a game nearby.

You're acting like baseball is going to become a haven for hooligans and street fights like Soccer is in South America and Europe, but that's more paranoid emotional thought rather than the product of any logical trend studies.  Generally, you get that many people together in one place you're going to have some of them act like idiots (and then add alcohol...), but you're going to have that anywhere, regardless of place or a sporting event or anything.  It's not enough of a justification to warrant screwing everyone else, simply because a small percentage want to let their cajones drop and act tough to get attention.

Fans aside maybe that was just my experience. Here is a thought was so wrong with baseball that all this had to be added to it in the first place?  When Cartwright wrote the rules it was a simple, clean, and pure game. Now over the years it just keeps getting mucked up. We went to a 162 games (that was okay because that meant more baseball), the DH, the Wild Card (no I am not a fan of the wild card and being a Cubs fan maybe I should be) and inter league games. Baseball is a beautifully pure and simple game that just keeps getting more and more crap added to it. Come on enough is enough.