At the baseball winter meetings in Dallas 20 years ago, I learned -- in no particular order -- that 1) John Lennon had been shot, 2) the Braves had signed Claudell Washington to a silly five-year, $3.5 million contract, 3) the players were serious about striking and 4) there was something called the Rotisserie League.

Here we are again, on the eve of the the baseball winter meetings in Dallas. The Beatles are in the midst of a revival. The Phillies have signed Jose Mesa to a silly two-year, $6.8 million contract. The owners are serious about a lockout after next season. I am still trying to figure out why my Rotisserie League teams always suck. As Le Grand Orange used to say, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

Ah, the timelessness of baseball. You can compare the speed of Cobb and Henderson, the power of Ruth and McGwire, the fastballs of the Big Train and the Big Unit ... and the stupidity of Harry Frazee and Peter Angelos.

Get ready. With the collective bargaining agreeement due to expire on Nov. 1, 2001, we're headed for another work stoppage. Why? Basically, because the owners must find a way to stop themselves from giving the Jose Mesas of the world much, too much money. Mike Mussina is one thing. But Jose Mesa? Mr. Postseason BP Pitcher? (Not that the Phillies have to worry about the postseason anytime soon.)

The owners would have us believe that the union is killing baseball, that the exponentially rising seat prices, that the ever-widening gap between the haves and the Expos, that the fast-approaching labor impasse is all the result of greed-powered, arbitration-driven salary demands. Please.

A baseball executive for a small-market team, a former major leaguer who understands both sides, has this to say: "You look at the Yankees, and you think, how can I compete with some team that can afford to pay Jose Canseco a million dollars to sit on the bench for a month? But then you look at the A's, and you think, Look what you can do when you draft smart and work hard.

"There's a certain hypocrisy at work here. Some of the owners who want an NBA-style cap are the same ones who drive up the salaries, overpaying players who aren't worth it. I'm not even sure I'd want a cap, but we're never going to get the players to agree to that. We have to stop killing each other. I can understand why George Steinbrenner might think, Why do I have to bail out Montreal? But it's in his best interests to keep the sport thriving, and you can't do that when one team has a $23 million payroll and he has $120 million to spend. Somehow, some way, we're going to have to pool our revenues."

Yes, there's a correlation between winning percentage and payroll. But it's not as direct or as dramatic as Bud Selig would have you believe. Three of the eight postseason teams -- Oakland, the White Sox and the Giants -- came from the bottom half of the payroll list, and six of the top 10 payrolls failed to make the postseason. I'd much rather see the correlation between winning percentage and executive intelligence. (Maybe there's a Wunderlich test for owners.)

This time next year, I hope the two sides will have found common ground. I trust in the intelligence and common sense of Donald Fehr and Paul Beeston. I would much rather worry about the length of games and the dearth of lefthanders than about whether there'll be a spring training in 2002. But I'm not counting on it.

All we are saying, is give peace a chance.

And stop giving Jose Mesa $3.4 million a year.

Steve Wulf is executive editor of ESPN The Magazine. E-mail steve.wulf@espnmag.com.