Thoughts

If you're discovering Scribe for the first time, welcome and enjoy the journey. If you've paid attention for a while, you'll understand that discussing the "hot button" topics is not something done very often here unless offline questions mitigate the need.

So, let's get these out of the way, shall we?

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David Ortiz has made himself look pretty bad for much of the season. Sure, he's hitting much better than the Big Papi of the learly part of 2009, but that presence in the batter's box is not as intimidating as it once was. Now with the revelation that he was one of the players who tested positive for PED use in 2003, all sorts of questions and indictments are swirling about; leading some to ponder if the Boston Red Sox "sold its soul to the devil for a ring... or two".

As cliche as that all sounds, do you know what the most canned response really is? "They're all a bunch of lyin', cheatin', sons of (hey now!) only out for themselves."

Truthfully and unsurprisingly, though, there has been a collective ho-hum reaction, even with Ortiz's adamant denials of PED use. However, as mentioned when former teammate Manny Ramirez was suspended for fifty games, it's hard to get indignant when baseball (for as much as I do love the game) is a sport in which skirting the rules is in its very DNA. In this chapter of its long-storied history, however, the players, not owners, commissioners or media members, are writing the story.

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So the NBA has decided to allow teams to place ads on practice jerseys and the response has been... well, some folks are getting their compression shorts in a bunch. Where was this reaction when the NFL made the same announcement weeks ago. Yes, this Scribe believes that comparing the NFL to the NBA or any other sporting entity is comparing apples to oranges; by the nature of the games played, the business decisions within each league

Yet, there's a sizable pocket of the sporting public (which includes the media) that does not see each league as separate spheres in the sports universe. What's a minor or even unimportant detail for the NFL is suddenly another black eye for the NBA? Hmmm....

Maybe that's reading too much into it, but at least Ball Don't Lie is having fun with it.

Solid work from Reading Between the Baselines

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Michael Vick. There are a lot more people rooting for him than what you may be led to believe. In fact, you might be one of those who are looking forward to see him take the field this October. For those of you who are still seething that he was reinstated into the NFL, here's an attempt to quell the maelstrom.

Beyond making his life a public relations hell and essentially villifying him above those others in the league who have committed some wrongs (a handful of grave ones), what more can be done to further the point that he shamed himself? In fact, is it absolutely wrong to believe that Vick could become America's Ultimate Second Chance? I know that there are some uber-cyncial folks out there who disagree and there are several image consultants who are looking at the star-turned-felon as a perfect case study for rehabilitating a public persona, but let's understand something here: he's 29 years old.

Ideally, he has a lifetime to amend his wrongs, especially after spending time in prison and house arrest. This doesn't excuse or condone his actions as disgusting as they were. His youth is not only an advantage on the field, but in the years off of it in that while he may never be considered for any Humanitarian of the Year awards in some circles, he can be considered someone who turned his life around for the better among his family and peers.

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Until the next posts, both later today. Oh, and if the Pittsburgh Pirates call, email or Tweet you, don't answer. They might trade you for a pack of hot dog buns.

Follow Scribe on Twiiter (but learn the rules first).

Cheating

Baseball – like one of America’s most beloved cartooned protagonists, Charlie Brown – can’t win, no matter how hard it tries.

Since the questions and requests for thoughts on the suspension of Manny Ramirez last week, Roger Clemens’ personal mission to seek the truth and the continuing soap opera of Alex Rodriguez have subsided some, this feels like a far more comfortable time to speak some about the overarching theme of performance-enhancing use in the sport.

After the initial surprise (or in the case of Ramirez, complete and utter shock) and some time to read various reports, opinions and Facebook comments, the overall news elicited a mere shrug of the shoulders. It’s not so much that baseball fans have become completely numb to the accusations and confessions of PED users; the personal shock comes from the fact that Manny is one of the best pure hitters to ever step in the batter’s box. The eventual ambivalence stems from the open secret that Major League Baseball has quite the history with cheating.

The lone difference these days is that the players truly have the upper hand.

This is a league that banned non-white players for six decades from its professional infancy in the 1870s until 1947 when Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were the first black players to play in the modern era. Considering that there were talented players of various hues and households that were barred from the majors, do you really think that the New York Yankees would have won 26 championships or that Ted Williams would have been the last player to bat .400 for an entire season?

This is a league where the reserve clause bound players to one team, even as many owners did little to improve the long-term performance of their clubs. Beyond the fact that a player could not freely negotiate his worth to his current club and offer his services to another employ, this allowed owners to have their way with their players. Instead of being granted their release to sign with any franchise, the most valuable players on the team were either coerced to re-signing for not much more than the previous contract, traded to other teams for the rights to other players or traded outright for cash. If this did not keep some teams in perpetual awfulness for years and years, then certainly another pro-cheapskate owner tactic has.

Over the past few seasons, MLB has given several teams revenue sharing payments from higher-payroll teams such as the New York Yankees and Mets, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and (Anaheim) Angels. Revenue sharing is baseball’s version of welfare, subsidizing some of the payrolls for the Minnesota Twins, both Pennyslvania teams (yes, even the Phillies got a piece back in 2006), both Florida franchises and the Oakland As. The idea that a few billionaires and corporations refuse to follow the adage “spend money to make money” shows how short-term thinking can kill long-term competitiveness (and wealth).

This is a league – a business, rather – that is exempt from the Sherman Antitrust Act based on notions in 1890 that it could not remain popular and profitable with a significant competitor lurking in the shadows. This exemption may have very well been the reason for the existence of the reserve clause and the continued fuzzy math of the current economic model.

As great of a league as it is, we must keep in mind that this is an organization that allowed for spitballs, as evidenced by one of the Hall of Fame’s most infamous inductees, Gaylord Perry. He may have earned his credentials with other pitches; however, he was the best of all the junk-throwers of that era.

So what does all of this have to do with juicing, 50-game suspensions and salacious books? For all of the anger and indignation that we feel and want others to feel, the truth is that baseball has never been a sport on the up-and-up. This isn’t to say that the entire culture is dirty to those of you who believe PED use taints the game and its players. This post doesn’t give the players the chance to abscond themselves from responsibility of their own bodies. Yet, it’s too easy to shake a fist at the current shepherds of the game when there has always been some sort of skirting of the rules.

Besides

So besides the Beijing Olympics, what else is there to keep up with in August?

Here's something to start with this weekend:

Tomorrow: Pro Football Hall of Fame

Could you be a Hall-of-Famer and underrated at the same time? Or overlooked? If you take a look at this year's class, you could make the case for all of these players.

• Fred Dean made his name known to the masses as a San Francisco 49er, but it was in the shadow of San Diego's highly potent aerial attack led by Dan Fouts that he emerged as one of the most feared pass rushers in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• Before offensive linemen grew in profile (mainly because of criticism of those who underperformed), Gary Zimmerman was a dominant offensive lineman whose lone champion for a long time was famed analyst John Madden (only because of how much the former Raiders coach loves his OLs).
• Emmitt Thomas was a top-flight cornerback for Kansas City whose 58 interceptions are fourth all-time among pure corners (his passes defensed must be pretty impressive if that statistic was kept in the sixties and early seventies).
• Most people forgot there was a football team in New England until the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI, but Andre Tippett was a beast at outside linebacker on a team that other than a SB appearance in '86 ('85 season), was just awful. Playing in the same era as Lawrence Taylor didn't help his profile over the years, but any quarterback who felt his wrath could tell you of his ferocity.
• Twenty seasons in the NFL, let alone twenty seasons as a cornerback for one team is an accomplishment in itself. Yet, Darrell Green was one of the best in the business with wide receiver-like speed and free safety vision for the ball. Oh, wasn't too shabby returning the ball, either.
• Jerry Rice will officially be enshrined into the Hall in 2011; one of the few guarantees in life, let alone sports. Art Monk's addition to the Hall in some ways is still a surprise considering how long he had to wait to get the call. The prototype to today's big wideouts, Monk utilized his speed and quickness on any and every route. How three Super Bowl titles and career records (many broken by Rice) were not enough for media members who love to talk about numbers and major markets as HOF qualifiers is still beyond me.

All week: Same faces, new places
Yes, Manny Ramirez is a Dodger, Mark Texieira is an Angel, Ken Griffey, Jr. is a White Sock (Sox is still plural, right?), Jason Bay is a Rod Sock, Ivan Rodriguez is a Yankee and I'm headed to the Brewers... However, to get a better sense of how your favorite team will adjust with new players, you have to look beyond the first weekend series after the trading deadline and keep at least the first week in focus. Each team will have at least one home series and one road series to give their new managers an idea of how their newest ballplayers are going to either adjust to unfamiliar teams and parks (or reaquaint themselves). As August rolls along, you may see some adjustments (especially in the case of Boston and Los Angeles, who need Bay and Ramirez to learn new leagues) to the lineups.
Or maybe all of the GMs were playing MLB '08 on XBox/PS3 and won't save the rosters to memory after it's all over.