Okay, first off, I took the title from a current Henry Ford exhibit. :-)
I will tell you that I am a big baseball fan. I love the slow pace, the atmosphere, the chance to see new players (the minor leagues), the timelessness, the ability to use statistics to compare present day players with earlier ones. I love it all. And I drag my family to minor league games, Akron, Toledo, Eastlake, Harrisburg, Myrtle Beach. And I want to do more of that; Buffalo, Mahoning Valley, Erie, this year. Also on the agenda, Cooperstown.
All of those games/cities/teams bring back good memories. We are coming into what looks to be like a very good year for the hometown Indians. So, why am I would I be upset at baseball? Because of an SI article on the book, Game of Shadows. The article in SI, an excerpt from the book, is eye opening. It revolves around BALCO and the use of steroids by, among other people, Barry Bonds. "Baseball as America" must mean that it is okay to take performance enhancing drugs if it helps put people in seats, bring excitement to a game, and have major media coverage of your events. It's okay that, regardless of whether you think you are a role model, to let the younger generation believe that this type of behavior is condoned, or even sanctioned. Yes, there is a need for some responsibiity here - the players union, Major League Baseball, the Giants organization, and the fans.
The coming months will be very interesting to see the reaction from the fans and baseball. Will the Commissioner remove the home run records for the past several years? Will there be asterisks by the numbers? Will Barry go the way of Pete Rose (kids, it's okay to take steroids and hit a few home runs, you can still get into the Hall of Fame, but heaven help you if you gamble)? Will the players union do anything (I vote "no")?
BTW - I see that Duffbert has discussed this in the past, here, here, and here.
Phew, I feel better now that I have ranted. You are now free to discuss.
Technorati tags: Barry Bonds baseball steroidsComment posted by Duffbert03/15/2006 07:48:06 PM
Homepage: http://www.twduff.com
I'm curious to see how 1) baseball reacts to Barry this year, 2) whether they take any steps to modify his records, 3) whether he'll even start the season.
I noticed his lawyer is still playing word games. First it was "he never knowingly took illegal substances". Now it's "he never took illegal substances", knowing that they were not on baseball's banned list when he took them.
Comment posted by Gregg Eldred03/16/2006 05:13:36 PM
Homepage: http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf
/cynic on
Baseball will do nothing unless Congress sticks its nose into the issue again.
/cynic off
That book, even though it isn't on shelves yet, looks like it will cause some squirming at Baseball Headquarters and within the player's union. Whic is a good thing.
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