greenideas

« The Man Who Wasn't There | Main | Carnivale Fans, Unite! »

April 06, 2005

Why Bud Selig is Even Worse as a Person than Alex Rodriguez

Yesterday, I was watching game two of the Yankees opening series against the Red Sox (fucking Jeter! i might add). Bud Selig, baseball's commissioner, was in attendance at the game, and stopped by the announcer's booth for a chat. After the shit was sufficiently shot, one of the commentators (I don't know their names, since, if I have to watch a game on YES, I like to do it with the sound off) thought he'd hardball Selig a bit by bringing up the hot-button issue of steroids in baseball. The ensuing conversation served to confirm that Selig, Paul O'Neill (who I'd always heard was "one of the good ones," despite his having worn pinstripes), and the other cronies in the booth, all have a total lack of respect for baseball.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a transcript or anything, but there were three main points that came out of the interview:

The first point was that steroid use was no more cheating than corking bats or doctoring balls. Therefore, it was claimed, records made or broken by players who dope should stand (and remain asterisk free) since some record-holders from the old days cheated in just those ways. Here's why that's wrong: First, if someone somehow managed to set a record today using a corked bat, someone would cry foul pretty quickly. Also, even before it was against league rules to cork a bat, people who did it certainly weren't breaking any laws, and they probably also weren't giving themselves cancer. The analogy is completely bogus.

Second, while repeatedly giving lip service to the idea that users need to be aggressively pursued and punished, Selig opined that just getting outed as having used is punishment enough. That's clearly false. Anybody who saw Giambi's reception at Yankee Stadium on opening night knows that. And raise your hand if you remember the name of the guy who just got a 10-day suspension for doping. Man, that's harsh.

Lastly, what was possibly the most galling thing to come out of the conversation, was the consensus between those involved that allegations of steroid use need to be handled privately, between players and their managers, and between managers and owners, and between owners and the commissioner. I hate the idea of defending Jose Canseco, but saying that writing that book effectively violated the MLB Omerta is complete bullshit. AIG is more transparent than baseball (especially now).

Come on, Commissioner Selig, you have to realize that you're killing baseball. You can trumpet climbing attendance all you want, but that won't continue if no player's achievements can stand on his own skills and merits. And even if it does, there is a moral case to be made that cheating is just plain wrong. Using steroids is cheating, just like corked bats and spit-balls.

But then again, now that I think about it, I probably hate Selig and A-Slap about equally.

Unrelated, but AHH! Terry Francona is in the hospital! Today sucks ass.

Posted by matt at April 6, 2005 02:35 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.greenideasblog.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/515

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Why Bud Selig is Even Worse as a Person than Alex Rodriguez:

» cingular com ww from cingular com ww
[Read More]

Tracked on December 6, 2006 01:48 AM

Comments

Post a comment