I co-majored in economics in college. A lot of good that does me now. I can't figure out what's going on in pro sports.

Let's start with television. In case you haven't heard, the ratings are down for the Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA Finals and the Belmont. Everywhere you turn, fewer people are watching than before. Yet salaries, tickets prices, and the cost of hot dogs continue to go up. Does that make any sense?

OK, television is only part of the equation. But isn't it supposed to be a big part? Don't television rights fuel the engine? Doesn't TV dictate to the leagues what time the games start and what days of the week the games are played?

Back in the '70s I did a TV interview with the great Celtics legend Bob Cousy. He said the "system was out of whack, it couldn't go on this way." He said, "There will come a time in the near future when the game wouldn't be able to sustain the salaries and the whole thing will collapse." A sports Armageddon.

Well, we're still waiting.

I know all the arguments for why the ratings are falling. People have a lot of other things to do. The talent is watered down. They shouldn't have expanded hockey to Columbus and basketball to Vancouver. (The Grizzlies have since moved to Memphis.) I know all of that.

And yet nothing seems to be collapsing. New stadiums are being built and ticket prices ain't coming down. Roger Clemens gets $1 million a start and doesn't have to travel with the team on road trips. I swear they didn't cover any of this in college.