...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.