Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Bud Selig Still Doesn't Get It


First it was Joe Buck, then it was Dan Shaughnessy and now Bud Selig gets my crankiness.

I was listening the Selig on the Dan Patrick Show on my radio today when he went into his schtick about the steroid era. When Dan Patrick asked if there should be a steroid wing of the Hall of Fame, Selig belted out "should we have a cocaine wing, too?"

Yeah, the coke era of baseball was a dark moment but it didn't piss off the public like these steroids do. I don't have the research here in front of me, but I'm not sure if the yeyo is a performance enhancer. I haven't heard anyone go, "dude, this cocaine has put a few more mphs on my fastball". Remember that when ballplayers were on the blow, guys were leading the majors with 36 home runs.

Mind you, this interview took place hours before the news that Sammy Sosa was on that 2003 list of steroid/PED users broke. I don't remember any list of players who tested positive for the nose candy that sat on a desk for six years because ... well ... why is it there? Why not just release that list all at once, get this crap over with instead of acting like it is ancient history ... yet seeing names get leaked every few months.

And that, above all, pisses me off! Selig's big thing is "we have drug testing now and we're only looking forward." Puh-lease. Baseball loves talking about their history. We have the old timers throw out the first pitch at games. Baseball invented the throwback jersey. Pretty much every stadium in the majors has an ode to the golden era of baseball. They love thinking about the good ol' days. Most of them actually believe that the guys who played 50 years ago are better than the cats playing today.

The NFL doesn't. The NFL moves forward. I would bet you that the 0-16 Detroit Lions of 2008 would beat the 17-0 Miami Dolphins of 1972. Guys now are bigger, faster and stronger. The NBA and NHL knows that their best is today. Baseball lives in the past. Because of that, that's why fans are harder on baseball on steroids than the other sports.

Is it fair? Probably not. But I will admit that I care less if an NFL player gets caught juicing than a baseball player. Feel proud that we do hold your players to a higher standard, Mr. Selig.

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