So, Major League Baseball is on the verge of blowing the lid off the Biogenesis clinic and
another PED scandal. Alex Rodiquez and Ryan Braun, who has morphed into the Lance
Armstrong of baseball, are the headliners in a case that could see more that a few players
suspended for up to 100 games. That, of course, depends on if you believe ESPN's report and
the subsequent accusations, denials, and alleged deals that have come out since it first broke.
Big deal. Big deal as in, big whooping you know what.
Why? Because it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter if MLB boots A-Rod, Braun, and a
host of other players out of the game for a while. This is the league shutting the barn darn
after thousands of steroid-fueled horses went crazy in the early 90's. The game was forever
tarnished by the Steroid Era, rendering every stat, pretty much meaningless. Who really cares
if someone breaks Barry Bonds' all-time home run record? It means nothing. Same with with
his single-season mark of 73. LOL. That number is ridiculous. There was a time when nobody
could come close to Roger Maris' mark of 61 and Bonds breaks it by 12. Right, and Bonds
wasn't dirty.
Bud Selig's obsession with trying to clean up baseball for good is ludicrous. He shouldn't have
turned his head and then buried it in the sand when balls were flying into the upper deck off the
bats of punch n' judy hitters 20 years ago.
Selig should've gotten vigilant about PED's when Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles,
once a banjo hitter, turned in a rock star after belting 50 home runs in one season. 50 home
runs? Hank Aaron never hit 50 round-trippers in one season, yet, here's Brady Anderson, a
former stick figure, coming up with 50 jacks. That was absurd.
Oh, I realize that Selig said he wanted to do more back then, but admitted he was handcuffed
by a player's union that is the strongest in the country. Mr. Selig, you could've done more.
There is power given to you by the owners that allows the commissioner to make decisions
"in the best interests of the game."
That phrase meant entirely something different in the 90's after a strike cancelled the 1994
season. Baseball was struggling. Attendance and ratings were down and much of America
was sick that an entire season, which included the World Series, was wiped out. The "best
interests of the game" meant looking away when guys like Brett Boone came into spring
training looking like Lee Haney, a 7-time Mr. Olympia.
It meant burying your head in the sand when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were hitting
balls as if they used a Big Bertha and a Pro-V1 instead of Maple wood and cowhide. It was
insane.But baseball was having a renaissance and everybody was getting rich off it. The players, owners, television networks, and, of course, Commissioner Selig. Do you think he was going
to be the villain who killed the golden goose? Hardly.
Selig got tough when all the huge television contracts were signed and all the owners got
their guaranteed money. He was going to clean up the mess that he let happened on his watch.
Selig could ride off into the sunset knowing that he helped deflate the juice-up hitters who
were making a mockery of every stat and record. You really can't argue with the results after
he instituted strong testing methods and tougher penalties. 10 years after Bonds hit a ridiculous
73 home runs in a season, Jose Bautista of Toronto led all of major league baseball with just
43 home runs in 2011. A 30 home run difference. Unreal.
But again, it's too little too late, Bud. You let baseball get out of control in the early 90's. The
Steroid Era destroyed a big part of a great game. Oh, you and your deputies might nail A-Rod
and Braun to the wall, but so what? It means nothing, just as every record means nothing. Stats
these days are for fantasy geeks and sabremetric nerds. Nothing any player does really means
anything. WAR? Are you serious? Win above replacement. That's a joke.
It's absurd that MLB is going after the Biogenesis voodoo doctor as hard as they are. Using
him to get the goods on the cheaters means very little. It is far, far too little, and much, much,
too late for all of this. It's a waste of time, energy, and space on the Internet. Heck, let them all
cheat, Mr. Selig, the game was much more exciting back then. And with all the stats and
record worth nothing, it can't really hurt, can it?
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