On the Mitchel Report: And what it tells us 'bout the state of the nation

[nadinbrzezinski]

Ok, ok, some may say... who cares? It's baseball!

I care. No, not because nine of the Yankees 2000 team was involved. I could not give a hoot about CY Young awards, or runs brought home or anything like that. I have not cared about that sport since the strike...

But... then why do you care?

MItchell recommended that nothing be done to the players.

Ok, read this again... he recommended that nothing be done to the players...

Some of these folks are VERY and I mean this VERY RICH... and they have CONTACTS. They have also broken Baseball regulations regarding the use of enhancing drugs. Not only that, they may be in LEGAL jeopardy. And I don't know how many of them are heroes to kids. Think of the message... if you have ENOUGH connections NOTHING will happen to you... but lord help you if you are middle class or poor.

So for those who claim that all men are created equal and everybody is equal before the law... read this again.

The country, and her values are no longer recognizable to me... and this is a crying shame.

[AX10]

1. I was one of the very Americans who never idolized sports stars.

even Baseball players. I never saw what the big deal was about them.
Sports stars are overpaid pricks anyways.

No punishment. What did you expect. They are a bunch of well connected SOB's!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. It is NOT what I expect, but the message it is sending

And I never idolized them... I just liked following the local team as ENTERTAINMENT.

I think the ONLY player I ever had respect for was tony gwin. He had more than one chance to LEAVE the padres for far better paying teams.

He staid here, and these days he coaches the SDSU team, where he actually started. He was recruited way back when from that team by the Padres.

I can respect him since he is also involved in local charities

But see, I don't respect him for his achievements ON the field, but rather OFF the field.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. I ALWAYS respect your opinion.

I'm not sure what laws those named in the report can be proven to have broken, nor what the statute of limitations might be for their transgressions.

I'm afraid I don't see the connection. None of them are heroes to me, and I'm a kid at heart. Some might say I'm such a kid at heart that the Peter Pan syndrome applies...

I still don't see the connection between a bunch of self-possessed prima donnas and the "state of the nation".

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Well the Belco boys and what's the name of that

kid who just broke the batting average? HE IS in legal jeopardy. Mostly for lying to a grand jury... over taking performance enhancing drugs and LYING about it... the Mitchell Commission was just one that he lied to... and ironically it is the one where there is very little evidence.

[Indi Guy]

4. I get your point...

This Uber-administration is living on the same nature of lies...

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Yeah, it is the general national culture

how did Orwell put it? Oh yes we are all pigs, just that some pigs are more equal than others (Animal Farm)

[Indi Guy]

7. The pigs with $$$ escape from becoming bacon...

Poor pigs become an accessory to breakfast.

[magellan]

8. The American pastime has suffered the same fate as its country

Too many lying cheats, not enough justice.

Play ball.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Well I hope soon we can scream STTTRRRRIIIIIKKKKKEEEEE THREEEEEE

YOOOOUUUUURRRR OOOOUUUUTTTT!

[Berry Cool]

10. Actually, one of the saddest aspects of all this is the many users who are not superstars

and in a normal world never would be. They were juicing simply because they thought they could keep from being sent to the minors if their stats were a bit better. Or they could STAY in the minors and not get dumped from baseball altogether. They had fallen in love with the life and were afraid of having to become "civilians" if they didn't come up to snuff.

Those guys weren't making millions of dollars and they weren't taking steroids so they could break home run records. They were doing it so they could maybe hit six runs in a season and justify staying on the roster of the Podunk Porcupines or something.

The corruption may have been most visible at the top, but it went all the way to the bottom.

And there will likely be punishment for no one. Not the big, not the small. No one. Because "there are too many of them and it's too late, etc."

Depressing.

[BoneDaddy]

11. I am not a fan of this whole issue

but what would be an appropriate punishment in your eyes?

The heroes to the kids argument has always been rather weak in my eyes. That is our value WE place on them. They are in it for the money, the fame etc...

[Annces]

12. This is a whole new thing

They don't really have safeguards in place, regarding testing. The managers all knew it was going on, but sheepishly came to the microphones yesterday because they had to finally. They don't even have independent review established yet.

Honesty is not something we have lost in our country IMO. There have always been people ready to take advantage. We just have to change with the times, and we are not keeping up.