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.

Forward (V)

Forgive my tone, but dammit, baseball! You can’t go away, can you?
I discussed with SPJ the other day; baseball is the lone sport where in its offseason, you constantly hear from and see everyone else but the athletes themselves. Whether is the hot stove moments after the final out of a team’s season, the winter meetings (one year, there was a sponsorship and logo for meetings, people!) or Valentine’s Day, baseball doesn’t give you the chance to miss it. Instead, media and league executives are always discussing a pressing issue or speculating trades or foaming at the mouth for another Red Sox/Yankees series (sorry). Outside of the NFL playoffs, the game’s politics overshadow all other non-football sports events. This isn’t always a good thing, but since performance-enhancers seem to come up more in conversation than I’d like, I might as well get this out of the way.

Baseball: Now what? Barry Bonds has been indicted; the Mitchell Report revealed a few names and two fatal drunk-driving accidents have hit the heart of the sport. Roger Clemens is going on a campaign to defend himself against a former trainer who provided his ex-client’s name to the said report. Scott Boras eclipsed the World Series and the Yankees were a public relations nightmare. The Red Sox are champions again while the Pirates are the minor-league organization of the year… I mean… nevermind. For a sport that seems to captivate the attention of a nation, it sure knows how to do it for the wrong reasons.

George Mitchell’s investigation gave the sport and fans the proverbial lump of coal for Christmas. Not that there were any punishments doled out or any legal precedents set against the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), but there was the tossing of players’ names like horseshoes. Though Mitchell and his committee made recommendations and Congress has decided to follow up with a hearing next week, baseball itself will have to act in order to move forward as it has desired to do for some time.

Now what?

Are more revelations going to come to light about PED use? Absolutely. Some of the named players have already come clean for reasons we may not know. Maybe they were afraid of the scrutiny that will follow them if they did not say “yes, I did”. Maybe they have an ace up their sleeves for more damaging evidence against players who could have done them wrong in the past. Maybe some folks may have a big ax to grind. Or just maybe, as the case was for one of the named former players, being named lifted a burden off of his shoulders.

Are league executives and owners going to add weight to these accusations? The players will be scapegoats and their images will be tarnished, whether guilty or innocent. However, the most responsible parties in this fiasco have been and continue to be the folks in suits and not uniforms. Commissioner Bud Selig touts increase in attendance gates every season in the post-strike era and that he should. There have been so many long-overdue additions that have made baseball intriguing to the masses (the wild card, interleague, international talents). Yet, the majority of teams play in games that mean little because they have no prospects of the playoffs. Owners need to make some sort of money and executives need to save their jobs because of a hot bat or two late in the season. Some of these folks had turned a blind eye because for a time at least, they were putting a few butts in the seats and giving some sort of hope in the future (as either a centerpiece or trading piece). This may cast some of the most respected figures in the game into the same light as those who have less-than-sterling backgrounds, but if this is done to the players, it should be done to those who decide their future in the game.

The true next step in this saga will be for more executives to come forward without a publicist-issued statement. The only executive of record to have admitted any sort of knowledge was San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers, who suspected that former NL MVP Ken Caminiti had been using steroids. Less than three years ago, Towers said that because of the financial windfall for the franchise - which included a World Series appearance in 1998 and the city’s approval of building PETCO Park – he kept quiet, knowing that the well would run dry. This admission only came after Caminiti died of a drug overdose-induced heart attack in The Bronx.

There’s got to be more than this.

Before revealing the report, Mitchell opened his press conference by discussing the potential impact of PED use on the young. The fears have been thrusted in front of the public for years now, but it took the death of a former player and the fall of records for baseball to address this issue. All the grandstanding Congressional hearings and hind-saving has yet to make the necessary headway. Either way, there’s unfortunately no end in sight. For baseball’s sake, you hope the old adage doesn’t come alive; it takes something to happen for people to learn.

Say What?!?!: Equal opportuntity stupidity. Only in America.