baseball fans, thoughts on the Mitchell report?

[ulysses]

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. say it ain't so, Joe.

:cry:

[Solar Power]

4. Great post..

"Say it ain't so Joe...or is it Shoeless Joe.." from the 1919 Black Sox scandal ...outstanding..

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. yeah.

So sad.

Welcome to DU, though :hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. It's overdue (n.t)

[ulysses]

3. pretty much my thought. n/t

[many a good man]

5. Are we the only country that tolerates doping in pro sports?

It seems steroid use is high in baseball, basketball and football yet there's little or no mandatory testing and no harsh penalties.

The last 20 years will be known as the "Steroids Era" in baseball, just like the Twenties were the "Dead Ball Era". All records will stand but will always be taken with a grain of salt. Baseball fanatics revere statistics and records so this is a total travesty.

Baseball will lose its status as a religion to millions. Now its just another greedy business filled with cheaters. A tragedy. Yet another sign of America in decline.

[cloudbase]

7. There is lots of money to be had by those

who can put up the stats, so I can see why some players would want to get whatever edge they could. Money like that has corrupted our political system and Wall Street, so why not professional sports?

Pete Rose now has one hell of a good argument for induction into the HOF.

[many a good man]

9. And lotsa money for the owners

Mitchell blames them equally.

The fans like it, too. So what's not to like? How about the hundreds of thousands of teen agers who are ruining their health chasing a tainted dream that will probably never happen. Whatever happened to honesty, hard work, and fair play? Why is it all about winning at any expense?

[AlCzervik]

8. were there rumors about Clemons? I don't remember hearing any, Mark Maguire

i clearly remember rumors about him during the home run thing.

[jakefrep]

10. I'm not surprised or shocked

A few stars, a lot of marginal players were named - pretty much what I expected. There's a bunch of guys on that list that ought to ask for their money back if they bought drugs for "performance enhancement".

People haven't stopped going to and watching baseball games with all the steroid crap swirling to this point - they aren't going to stop now. Baseball really won't take a big hit from this.

[unsavedtrash]

11. I do wonder why they are only concentrating on baseball.

I think it's overdue to look at doping but why not look at all sports.
Wasn't the wrestler who killed his family earlier this year found to have been using?
Maybe a witch hunt, maybe not.

[flvegan]

12. Laughable.

Folks getting up in arms because athletes use illegal performance enhancing dope is just that. Is it because it's illegal, or because it raises the bar? That's a serious question folks need to ask themselves.

Hey, if an actress gets more movie roles because of her implants, is that cheating?

What if an actor took steroids? Or, oh wait...what if an actor took clen to drop a few pounds? It's their job.

BTW, I didn't see a single failed urine test in that report.

Lastly, I'd say this to the cheater-haters. I'll bet that if I offered you $100 million bucks to do something you love even though you might play outside the oft ignored rules, you'd cheat the shit outta that game.

Fuckin' A I would.

[IndianaJones]

13. one of the few rational posts I have seen on this subject. nt.

[Swede]

14. It's product placement for steroid use by youngsters.

They see their heroes and dollar signs and start using this shit at 12 years old.

[flvegan]

18. Sadly, you're somewhat correct.

But it's not the kids. It's the parents.

I'm kind of ashamed to say that a fellow gym rat asked me if he got at GH script (he's 45-ish) from a wellness clinic, if he could give it to his high school freshman kid to make the football team.

I about haymakered him off the bench.

[Political Heretic]

21. I have to disagree.

(first, hello! I'm spending some time posting in the lounge because I'm new, though a long time lurker. I'm afraid to get into serious stuff because people are so suspicious of low post count people these days. So I'm keeping it light for a while)

I do appreciate your argument, and I see it as one reasonable way to look at things. But it just doesn't set well with my emotions. Professional sports, in my opinion, only has the ability to move my heart, raise my spirits, and bring me that sense of history and thrill of the game when it feels fair, genuine, and human.

If an actress gets more movie roles because of her implants, and not because of her natural talent, that's a sad commentary on Hollywood and society. Her implants, however, change how she looks - they don't artificially enhance her ability to act. When we start talking about professional ball players being hired for their looks and not their talent, we can compare the two. Until then, we can't.

The argument that "you bet" if we were offered 100 million to do something lame we would do it doesn't really seem that impressive to me. You might be right, maybe I would do something lame for that much money. I don't see what that has to do with questioning whether or not wide-spread use of banned substances in baseball is good for the game.

To me, it cheapens the game in every way. Knowing how widespread dopping is in baseball makes me lose all enthusiasm for another season. The last few years of all the drug scandals have sucked the joy right out of what was once such a rich part of my American cultural experience. Baseball feels like cheap, artificial entertainment of a culture dying from its own excesses rather than something rich with history, and feeling and human drama.

Barry Bonds breaks a record --- who cares? It just doesn't feel the same, and I can't see how this players will be remembered with the likes of players like Babe Ruth and Hank Arron.

[flvegan]

22. Welcome to DU!!

My point with the Hollywood crossover was that nobody seems to care if someone modifies their body. I disagree with your point about enhancement. Implants may enhance her ability to get a role, by whatever means. It's not looks, per se, it's ability.

Honestly, if I dropped $100 million in front of you, you'd likely hump a sheep on YouTube and show it to your mom if those were the terms.

I hope you don't like any other sports. If you have issue with doping, you're going to get shut out of everything from baseball to golf.

I remember fair, genuine and human. I'm not trumping talent for medicine. I'm just saying that this is reality, right now.

[AnnieBW]

15. I'm surprised that there were so many Orioles on it

After all, aren't these supposed to be PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING drugs? I think that Tejada, Gibbons, BRob and the rest should get their money back! :D

Although, frankly, the only player that I'm surprised to see on that list is Brian Roberts. He's always been such a good guy. You'd think that someone who'd had a congenital heart defect when he was a kid would stay away from stuff that would damage his health!

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I know why the Royals suck now

Not enough players on steroids.

[Initech]

17. I would have been a lot happier if this had resulted in Selig's resignation.

Selig is a terrible commissioner. Had he put his foot down when this all started a few years back, it probably would not have been as big of a problem as it has been.

[Swede]

19. He reigned over the "juiced ball" era,turning a blind eye to it's cause.

He should have an asterisk next to his name.

[Initech]

20. My boss and I were talking about this earlier. He said the same thing.

[ellisonz]

23. Now let's get the rest of them!

[pinniped]

24. If this asshole wants to name names, find out the names of the congrassholes....

who snort coke and do other illicit shit.

But I guess that would be too much work for this chump.

[ellisonz]

25. You know George Mitchell isn't exactly an asshole...

George John Mitchell, GBE (born August 20, 1933 in Waterville, Maine) is a former Democratic Party politician and United States Senator who currently serves as chairman of the worldwide law firm DLA Piper and also as the Chancellor of the Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was the U.S. Senate Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 and chairman of The Walt Disney Company from March 2004 until January 2007.

----

Since 1995, he has been active in the Northern Ireland peace process as U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. Mitchell first led a commission that established the principles on non-violence to which all parties in Northern Ireland had to adhere and subsequently chaired the all-party peace negotiations, which led to the Belfast Peace Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998. Mitchell's personal intervention with the parties was crucial to the success of the talks. He was succeeded as special envoy by Richard Haass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_J._Mitchell

[MrCoffee]

26. a huge scandal that will have no meaningful impact on the game

outrage, condemnation, scorn...and i'll still buy my opening day tickets, just like everyone else will.

[auburngrad82]

27. I've given up on most pro sports

The steroids is just icing on the cake. The big problem is there's too much money to be made. A multi million dollar contract is a huge incentive to turn yourself into a piece of drug laced meat. Baseball is just one of the culprits. You can't tell me that there aren't steroids in the NFL and NBA as well.

It's a sad situation. I used to love sports. The 1970 Baltimore Orioles were a marvelous thing. So was the undefeated Miami Dolphins team of the 1970s. But over the last decade or so I've completely lost interest.