In a way, the fans are right. For all their vicious battles in the courts and in the press, the players and owners are no closer now to a collective bargaining agreement than they were B.S. (Before Strike).

And I'm not sure fans are making their predicted exodus to the NBA, or the NHL or (gasp) the NFL. I think they're giving up.

Every sport is so badly removed from its fans. Players have little use for fans, taking them for granted, thinking they'll always shell out the big bucks to see them play.

Baseball will not heal overnight; the pathetic attendance Tuesday night established that.

There are so many sources of entertainment now; the technological revolution that brought baseball into the homes of America and billions of advertising dollars into baseball's coffers has produced other forms of cheap entertainment, from British royalty to O.J. Simpson.

What baseball should do now is go on. Bury the hatchet. And hope that players' great season will recaptivate fan interest.

Baseball could come back, though in a number of ways.

Stop talking about the strike. Start talking about the Streak (Cal Ripken's Streak, that is). Market the players; stop fighting them.

And baseball has the most games of any professional season. Owners: cut prices. TOMORROW. PERMANENTLY.

Example: don't charge fans five dollars for parking on top of the 30 you make them pay for the game. After all, how many movie theaters charge for the use of their parking lots?

Cutting prices really would lure the people who want to see baseball but don't like funding multi-millionaire crybabies.

These are the people that embraced the minor-leagues as a cheaper, folksier, more affordable alternative to the majors.

After losing up to a billion dollars on the Disaster of 1994, surely they could be willing to prove their loyalty to their fans by doing that.

The owners tried to cut costs by drastic measures; the players resisted equally drastically.

Surely they could muster some of that fervor to save the game that is their livelihood.