Official 2008/2009 MLB Hot Stove Thread
Feb 7, 2009 23:28:35 GMT -5
Post by Lucky on Feb 7, 2009 23:28:35 GMT -5
Nah. Sorry if I made it sound like that. I'd say more "realist/cynic" vs "purist/idealist." HOPING that A-Rod is the clean one who can set the clean record strikes me as idealism. When so much of the evidence would suggest the odds are he's dirty just like the odds would suggest that anyone is dirty. Its simply a bad bet to trust ANYONE innocent at this stage. Between 7% of the league testing positive for a test they knew about well ahead of time and which only tested for the basics of PED. To Mitchell's Report that he present saying it was a mere "drop in the bucket" and that the true lesson to be learned was that the problem was too widespread to anything but destroy baseball and thus the recommended opinon was to just move forward.
There HAS to come a point here where we stop being surprised. There HAS to be a point where we stop making baseless arguments like "his HRs jumped so he's probably guilty" or "he never really changed in size much so he's probably clean." Or that we stop trusting strangers that they didn't do something that we KNOW their society was ok with. As I said before... the mere fact that the most respected players in the game like Jeter and Maddux fell all over themselves to defend Bonds struck me as THE sign that we were wasting our energy complaining.
THEY don't care. And THEY are the lifeblood of this game. If we don't like that we CAN do something about it. Cancel your season tickets. Call your cable company and ask them to remove that one channel. Don't pay for MLB TV, Extra Innings, or MLB Radio. Let XM know that you no longer need them for their baseball coverage. Don't turn the MLB Network on. Don't buy your kid a new hat and shirt for the team and sport you feel betrayed by. THESE things will make MLB stand up and take notice. But as long as we continue to do these things we're just doing the same thing they are. We're acknowledging that steroids aren't THAT big a deal. At least not enough to really hurt baseball.
When the strike happened MLB FELT it. THAT upset fans in a tangible way. Ironically, steroids helped recover. This current steroid crisis? MLB's only made more money each season since its been going on. The clear message is that no matter how much the media and fans complain about it ultimately steroids aren't hurting MLB. And we, as a generation, DID once see something that upset us enough to really hurt MLB and force them to react to appease us.
There HAS to come a point here where we stop being surprised. There HAS to be a point where we stop making baseless arguments like "his HRs jumped so he's probably guilty" or "he never really changed in size much so he's probably clean." Or that we stop trusting strangers that they didn't do something that we KNOW their society was ok with. As I said before... the mere fact that the most respected players in the game like Jeter and Maddux fell all over themselves to defend Bonds struck me as THE sign that we were wasting our energy complaining.
THEY don't care. And THEY are the lifeblood of this game. If we don't like that we CAN do something about it. Cancel your season tickets. Call your cable company and ask them to remove that one channel. Don't pay for MLB TV, Extra Innings, or MLB Radio. Let XM know that you no longer need them for their baseball coverage. Don't turn the MLB Network on. Don't buy your kid a new hat and shirt for the team and sport you feel betrayed by. THESE things will make MLB stand up and take notice. But as long as we continue to do these things we're just doing the same thing they are. We're acknowledging that steroids aren't THAT big a deal. At least not enough to really hurt baseball.
When the strike happened MLB FELT it. THAT upset fans in a tangible way. Ironically, steroids helped recover. This current steroid crisis? MLB's only made more money each season since its been going on. The clear message is that no matter how much the media and fans complain about it ultimately steroids aren't hurting MLB. And we, as a generation, DID once see something that upset us enough to really hurt MLB and force them to react to appease us.