Cheers and Jeers
I've finally gotten around to listening to Air America, the progressive talk-radio network. Can't believe it finally exists! My current favorite is Mike Malloy (www.mikemalloy.com), the kind of no-holds-barred, can-the-bullshit the left desperately needs. He's passionate and tremendously well-informed, and utterly unafraid to call it as he sees it. You can hear Air America in the Bay Area on 960 AM, the Quake (don't have the web link-- sorry).
Steroids-- boy, NO ONE comes out looking good on this one. Where do we start? Sure, Mark McGwire's rep is in the tank now, cemented by his performance in front of Congress yesterday-- his trembling, tearful "for the children" opening statement quickly deteriorating into testy stonewalling. But there was absolutely no way he was going to admit steroid use (we already know that he used "andro" during his record-breaking 1998 season, before he publicly announced he would stop doing so under increasing public scrutiny). Let us not forget, however...
...that Major League Baseball didn't ban steroids until September of 2002. I'm not about to applaud steroid use among players, whether legal at the time or not, but baseball is paying and will continue to pay a huge price for not addressing the steroid issue. Everyone knows the narrative by now: after the World Series-canceling strike of 1994, baseball had to rebuild its profile among the fans-- in 1998, the epic home-run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa provided the feel-good story of the year, with both players breaking Roger Maris's 37-year-old record. Gods walked among us, once again. Seats were filled. And as Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine said in that shoe commercial, "Chicks dig the long ball."
Other sports have cracked down hard on steroids, particularly track and field. Two-year bans, lifetime suspensions-- THOSE are penalties. The proposed penalty for testing positive for 'roids in baseball: 10 games (the regular season is 162 games)...
...which brings me to my main point: the court of public opinion will be far more damaging than any Congressional "investigation" ever could be. Why is Congress spending any time on this (unless they're looking to revoke baseball's anti-trust exemption, in effect since 1922)? Other than the anti-trust issue, all the investigation does is make a bunch of politicians look like they're "tough" on cheaters. I have no problem with politicians commenting on the downside of steroid use, but all they can do is publicly urge Major League Baseball to clean up its own house. Fans have plenty of mental asterisks to put next to the offensive records (home runs, runs batted in, etc.) that have been set in the last decade, and that will only continue unless MLB passes strict rules on steroid use.
Meanwhile, Congress could actually do some real work: you know, like adequate health insurance, avoiding bankrupting the country, keeping the U.S. out of Perpetual War, and so forth. Hoo-hoo!
Steroids-- boy, NO ONE comes out looking good on this one. Where do we start? Sure, Mark McGwire's rep is in the tank now, cemented by his performance in front of Congress yesterday-- his trembling, tearful "for the children" opening statement quickly deteriorating into testy stonewalling. But there was absolutely no way he was going to admit steroid use (we already know that he used "andro" during his record-breaking 1998 season, before he publicly announced he would stop doing so under increasing public scrutiny). Let us not forget, however...
...that Major League Baseball didn't ban steroids until September of 2002. I'm not about to applaud steroid use among players, whether legal at the time or not, but baseball is paying and will continue to pay a huge price for not addressing the steroid issue. Everyone knows the narrative by now: after the World Series-canceling strike of 1994, baseball had to rebuild its profile among the fans-- in 1998, the epic home-run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa provided the feel-good story of the year, with both players breaking Roger Maris's 37-year-old record. Gods walked among us, once again. Seats were filled. And as Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine said in that shoe commercial, "Chicks dig the long ball."
Other sports have cracked down hard on steroids, particularly track and field. Two-year bans, lifetime suspensions-- THOSE are penalties. The proposed penalty for testing positive for 'roids in baseball: 10 games (the regular season is 162 games)...
...which brings me to my main point: the court of public opinion will be far more damaging than any Congressional "investigation" ever could be. Why is Congress spending any time on this (unless they're looking to revoke baseball's anti-trust exemption, in effect since 1922)? Other than the anti-trust issue, all the investigation does is make a bunch of politicians look like they're "tough" on cheaters. I have no problem with politicians commenting on the downside of steroid use, but all they can do is publicly urge Major League Baseball to clean up its own house. Fans have plenty of mental asterisks to put next to the offensive records (home runs, runs batted in, etc.) that have been set in the last decade, and that will only continue unless MLB passes strict rules on steroid use.
Meanwhile, Congress could actually do some real work: you know, like adequate health insurance, avoiding bankrupting the country, keeping the U.S. out of Perpetual War, and so forth. Hoo-hoo!
posted by Tom (a.k.a. "G-Man") at 9:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home