santa cruz wharf

14 December 2007

...continued random thoughts

This one is only 48 seconds long…



(picture Selig walking into his press conference)
I am shocked!
Shocked to find that there is drug use going on in here!

I am not mocking the true blue fans who have followed their favorite players with loyal admiration only to find out their blood is tainted. I’m talking about the sports reporters who in the same breath are relaying instances of what they witnessed first hand…and acting all innocent with their outrage and surprise.

I wonder if anyone will go after musicians…and boycott in outrage all songs which were written, recorded or performed while under the influence of “performance enhancing substances” such as alcohol, marijuana, cocaine…et cetera. Let’s have a Congressional hearing for THAT group of celebrities. Authors…filmmakers…television writers…actors…fill in the [blank]. Is it cheating when they win an Oscar or Grammy if they wrote or performed while influenced? Maybe someone else would have won if all were clean and sober? (I don’t condone drug or alcohol abuse or addiction….this is just where my mind wanders…)

A couple other points in no significant order or sequence….I was gonna say these are my final thoughts on the matter…but I didn’t want to be indicted for lying to the Grand Blog-jury.

I do not want to hear some lawyer claim “He never failed the drug test” when he never even took the e-phn test.

There can’t be any real changes to the testing procedure without the acquiescence of the players (via the Players’ Union) due to the fact that their “agreement” does not expire until 2011.

My heroes will be the players who voluntarily opt to take the full battery of tests and make the results public….those who don’t will be suspect.

You can NOT by law prosecute or punish someone for doing something illegal (or against the rules) if when they did it…that law or rule did not exist.

Prior to 2005…there was no punishment in MLB for the first time failure of the test.

I am hesitant to call for across the board mandatory blood testing. There are some serious violations of personal privacy I am very uncomfortable with. (especially for high school students…side note: the test costs $150…and there are 735,000 high school athletes in California alone)

If you think the record books should have little black stars….and Cooperstown should have a hall of shame…you are gonna have to take into account things like the differences between wood and metal bats…the physical therapy and conditioning present day players are provided….et cetera.

I am growing increasingly annoyed that we haven’t heard from the coaches yet. Coach. That is a special relationship and title. There are several out there I would like to hear from. They got some ‘splainin’ to do.

Mitchell’s recommendation to draw the line and only make changes going forward has a great deal of validity. If Baseball spends a ton of time and money investigating and punishing for the past…they will not be able to rebuild the sport. It will become gossip and innuendo and a media frenzy to muck around in the gutter. No person or organization is going to be able to “unravel” who knew and who didn’t. If owners or managers or coaches provided (or insisted on the use of) “performance enhancing substances” they will have to be punished as well. And who are we gonna get to do that…Bud Selig? Puleezzzzz he should be the first to go. Congress? Get Real. The Players’ Union will have any investigation hogtied before it even begins.

Personally…knowing what I knew before…and knowing what I know now…and suspecting what I will know in the future…I do NOT enjoy the game any less. I had my come to Jesus moment a long time ago. I accepted the notion that one of my favorite players partook of the juice. So…I don’t regret a single moment at Giant stadium. I loved the afternoons and evenings I spent with my family and friends cheering my team…the camaraderie with those strangers around me. Jumping in the stands….yelling at the top of my lungs when Barry hit 700. I was chartreuse with envy when SugarCookie and her J-boy went to the AllStar game. He took close up pictures for me of Willie McCovey with Barry Bonds which brought a tear to my eye.
Take me out to the Ballgame. You won’t keep me away.

I came across an excellent post by
The Curmudgeon over at Second Effort I highly recommend.

16 comments:

Mimi Lenox said...

I love it when your mind wanders.

Schmoop said...

Baseball hasn't been the same since free agency. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But just like with football, I grew up liking a team because I knew who would be there, year after year

I don't mind exorbitant salaries, but let's play fair. Cheers Kat!!

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

No way am I staying away...Reggie hitting three on three swings in the World Series...seeing it live...Crying my eyes out the game after Thurman's plane crashed...I was there...
Not sure what you mean by wooden and metal bats...pros only use wood...HS and College went to metal to 'save money' I have always said each major league team should donate $1,500,000 to supply colleges and (even HS's if we go to $2,000,000 each) with wood bats...

Not sure you can go back and prosecute those who were not caught...but IF there are tainted tests somewhere, they need to be taken down...

The real penalty will be the sportswriters who decide who gets into Cooperstown and who stays out...

Your words have been wonderful the last two days... George called...he has a job for you!

Wonderful weekend

robkroese said...

So... this is like a sports thing?

katherine. said...

Mimi: it's been all over the board today.

Mateo: I know...we pretty much root for uniform...not who is in it anymore....sigh.

Bonds: You're a fan for sure!

Diesel: you've been upside down too long...dumb ass.... (j/k)

Anonymous said...

Not a huge follower of the sport but I really loved this post--well written

Mel said...

I love Casablanca. And what awesome photos.

*sigh*
Don't ask me to give up baseball. I just got himself to quit calling it 'rounders' and insisting it's a girlie game.
Good grief.....he even rooted for the Cubbies this year. (pathetic....LOL.....but it's progress!)

Mel said...

HEY!

I thought you were makin' cookies this weekend!
:-/

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Kathereine...YUP a fan all the way..and I could not see the video before so did not comment...bwahahahahahaha PERFECT.

Oswegan said...

The sad fact is that all it serves to do is tarnish their reputations and records. It's not like it was against MLB rules at the time, or that they can do anything about it.

I sort of wish all of the involved players would have just admitted to it and said "so what, I made a mistake, move on."

~Oswegan

The Beach Bum said...

A very well written Blog!

I glad that I found your Blog (via the Curmudgeon).

With your permission, I will add you to my Blog log!

The Beach Bum

I, Like The View said...

unrelated to this post - but!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY for the beautiful photo at the bottom of your blog - sky blue pink is my favourite colour

:-)

Jeff B said...

I've been absent for a few days and just caught up on what you've posted about the steroid crap in baseball.

Like you I've been a fan all my life. I learned the starting line-up for the 72 Oakland A's as part of speech therapy when I was a kid. So to see all this bad press is really disheartining.

You made a great point about 'where does it stop' though. Clinton didn't inhale and the Beatles never used LSD but just happened to write Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

Does everybody think Babe Ruth was a clean cut all American kid. If they do then they're living in a dream world. This scandle is nothing new to professional sports, it's just wrapped in a new vice.

RW said...

I love the Boogie reference Katherine :D

Lee Ann aka Dixie said...

Have a great Monday!

SMOOCHES~

Amazing Gracie said...

This is a quote from a dyed-in-the wool huge baseball fan:
"As for the Mitchell report, I agree with Peter Abraham that while Clemens (who denies the charges) takes a hit, as does Pettitte (to a much lesser degree), the report itself is a complete joke--hearsay and innuendo, mostly from two hangers-on.
So, what did we learn today?. I say if anyone tests positive for any performance enhancing substance, they receive a season-long suspension. The second positive test should mean a ban for life. The game has to be cleaned-up by scientific testing. But busting players on hearsay is a joke.
As for Barry Bonds, his problems are with a grand jury and medical tests introduced as evidence in a court of law. Not the same as Clemens and Pettitte being ratted out by a shady trainer who has every reason to lie to save his own skin."
Just thought you might be interested.
~~~Blessings~~~