Oh, boy.
Posted by: Bradley McDonald
It seems like the steroid mess in baseball will be in the headlines for a while longer. After a few congressional hearings on steroids, Congress has decided to subpoena current and former baseball stars including Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa (but not Barry Bonds) to, you know, protect the youth and yada, yada, yada.
I don't get this. What do these politicians think they can solve by asking questions to a few millionaires who may have cheated on their jobs? Last year, another hearing coerced Bud Sellig and the leaders of baseball to enforce tougher testing standards and that may have accomplished something. But don't these congressman have more important things to do? I tend to agree with Mike Celizic:
It seems like the steroid mess in baseball will be in the headlines for a while longer. After a few congressional hearings on steroids, Congress has decided to subpoena current and former baseball stars including Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa (but not Barry Bonds) to, you know, protect the youth and yada, yada, yada.
I don't get this. What do these politicians think they can solve by asking questions to a few millionaires who may have cheated on their jobs? Last year, another hearing coerced Bud Sellig and the leaders of baseball to enforce tougher testing standards and that may have accomplished something. But don't these congressman have more important things to do? I tend to agree with Mike Celizic:
It’s not to correct any wrong or to force cheaters onto the straight and narrow. That was last year. This year, it’s just about getting face time and generating headlines and making the country forget how many issues you ignoring that are going to affect us and our children and our children’s children.And unfortunately, this hearing only adds to the pot that stirs the steroid drama. The black eye on baseball will be here for a while. As Tim Dahlberg states:
You wish the whole thing would go away because this is a time, after all, when the grass turns green and hope is supposed to spring eternal for all baseball fans.As I've said before, the blame principally falls on the leaders of baseball. If they cared more about integrity than prosperity, I would be talking about who is going to play center field for the Astros right now instead of congressional hearings.
…
You’ll hear about it from now through opening day as politicians, ballplayers, owners and union figures engage in a snake dance that couldn’t be any sleazier if it was conducted in a strip club rather than the halls of Congress."
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Meanwhile, the politicians are still opportunists, baseball’s management remains incredibly pigheaded and the players care only about covering their own backs. As much as you want to find them, there are no good guys here.
