Agents raided the Signature Pharmacy Lab in Orlando to provide fresh names and reputations to add to the fire that is the story of steroids in baseball. Not surprisingly only Gary Matthews name (black) is leaked.
Gary Sheffield (black) meanwhile is skewered publicly for not throwing Barry under the bus either in his new tell-all book or in his interview with Hall of Famer Peter Gammons, who pointedly reminded Sheffield that he and Bonds did not get along. In fact, Sheffield must have confounded Gammons and all of white America by stating in the interview that he was rooting for Bonds to break Ruth's record, more than anyone.
That fool must be on drugs, huh? When you can't be prompted into saying what you're supposed to say by a Hall of Famer, maybe you yourself are not qualified to be a Hall of Famer, even though you're closing in on 500 home-runs. Get ready for the end of career bend-over job Sheff, you have to know it's coming.
Speaking of which, the Veterans Committee met today, as it does apparently every two years now, and failed to see their shadows, which means that guys that were previously F_ _ _ ed over by sport writers for the fifteen or so years they had a chance to elect them, now have to wait another two years until this group of morons meets again in two years to say to Ron Santo, Jim Kaat, Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva among others, YOU'RE NOT WORTHY!!! YOU'RE NOT WORTHY!!!
And how about Curt Flood and Marvin Miller? Curt Flood is a player who if you asked baseball fans of today I'll bet anyone not older than 40 would even be able to tell you who Flood was and what he did that influenced baseball so much. And Marvin Miller is reviled too much to ever make it in. And both men did more to make baseball what it is today, in spite of the fact that the know-it-alls of the day told us both would destroy baseball. And they are not allowed entrance because they are judged by those whose contributions to baseball pale in comparison or are non-existent. But those pricks are already in the Hall and damned if they are not going to keep it an exclusive club.
Hey guys, it's not Augusta, you can be inclusive and it doesn't reflect in the least on your accomplishments. Yes, it does add to the pool of people who can sign autographs with the cute little HOF initials next to it on a baseball and sell them on E-bay for outrageously inflated prices. Maybe that's the motive, economic greed, turf protection.
By the way the Veterans Committee is made up of all the current living Hall of Famers, who seem to think that they are voting on people for sainthood, or for passage into heaven. It's a joke.
In fact the initial Baseball Hall of Fame process as voted on by the sportswriters is a joke. CAN YOU SAY...INHERENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST??? I thought that you could.
These sanctimonious pricks, many of whom don't come close to the standards they seem to hold out for other people should have their ballots disclosed publicly. If they can't justify why they are keeping people out, they shouldn't have a ballot. Same with sports writers or whomever is delegated to vote.
Football seems to elect almost anyone who didn't kill someone (allegedly) and can't wait to send in others who were active participants in events that led to the murder of multiple people. Oh, and drug users, hey they'll just be more fun at the subsequent Hall of Fame get togethers. Who's turn is it to bring the hookers? Hell, let the Playmaker do it he's a rookie.
Disgusting, really disgusting. The more I think about it, those that they let in vs. those that they keep out, in both football and baseball, every year it seems like they turn what should be a great PR event for and celebration of the individual sport into a mockery and a sham.
The Veterans Committee's actions are so stupid, disgusting and revolting that it actually made the details of Tommy LaSorda's forays with the newest version of the Hollywood Madam understandable and palatable.
Yuck, mental image of Tommy LaSorda naked, I'm scarred for life.
Mental note: Don't read Deadspin on a full stomach.
P.S. - Of course, today we also hear from the law-breaking reporters from S.F. (exempt from the law of course because they are reporters and the only Amendment that counts is the first Amendment, right?) details about Barry Bonds hat size and other examples of his physical change over the years, like nobody has noticed Roger Clemens' head turn into the Great Pumpkin over the years and his body type transform from ectomorph to mesomorph before our very eyes. Sorry ladies, I don't know details of his shoe size, you'll have to find that out for yourself.
The take home message the media seems to want to deliver almost daily is that only the few black guys that are left in baseball cheat. Or they are seemingly the only ones the media cares about or seems to want to harp on ad nauseum. The white guys will get a pass or our sympathy, but they are allowed to move back into the publics good graces at warp speed compared to persons of color.
And it was the same type of coverage when baseball was suffering a public black eye due to the cocaine abuse headlines years and years ago. You can look it up.
So we really haven't progressed that much as a society, as much as we'd like to believe otherwise and that is truly disgusting.
And this is the foolish, hysterical climate in which we are making the type of public policy decisions that lead us to testing High School athletes for drugs, not all students, just athletes. We don't care if the other kids do steroids apparently.
I've always heard that you should not see how two things are made, laws and sausage. Well, laws or public policy made in this type of climate is like making sausage in a public restroom (or a NYC Taco Bell - Yum Yum, no pun intended, this sausage tastes a little mousey today)
Whether you agree with the mans politics or not, I thought one of the good things Bill Clinton did as President was attempt to open a dialogue on race in this country. And like most problems, our reflex as a country was to say "We don't have a problem, really we don't".
Well maybe we do. And the first step of course is to recognize the problem and admit to it. A poll taken by Markitecture recently, asked people if they thought:
"There is very little racial prejudice in Sports". Simple Question.
In 2002, 31% Agreed - 40% Disagreed - 29% I presume were Not Sure.
In 2006, 19% Agreed - 41% Disagreed - 40% Not Sure???
So clearly we are moving in the wrong direction, just from a public perception standpoint.
And equally as clear IMO, is that this is an issue that is as important or more important to remove as a scourge from our society. Isn't it? Or do we need a poll rather than our common sense to tell us:
Which is a more important problem to solve in our society today?:
a) Steroids - Cheating in Sports
b) Racial Prejudice in Sports
Someone asked me recently why I write about the steroids issue so much, and it's not so much about Bonds or Sosa or McGwire as it is about the ripple effect some of the issues have throughout society, from youth sports, to civil rights, to race relations, to character in sports and on and on and on.
There's too many layers to the story to have it presented in as simplistic and moronic a fashion as it currently is. That's why. I'd rather write about just sports. Maybe someday.
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