tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post4177351210333688103..comments2023-10-20T10:22:39.636-04:00Comments on Workingclass Conservative: Current Sports Scandals and Their Importance...JMKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281344324964417974noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post-4367965808528596582007-08-16T09:39:00.000-04:002007-08-16T09:39:00.000-04:00Here's the thing Mal, none of the different eras (...Here's the thing Mal, none of the different eras (and there were many) can really be accurately compared to each other in any direct manner. All the current "performance enhancer" controversy does, is highlight that fact.<BR/><BR/>Training methods and equipment have improved with each era, the ball has gotten increasingly livelier, the ballparks increasingly smaller, the pitcher's mounds have been raised and lowered and the things athletes put into their own bodies have gotten more and more sophisticated.<BR/><BR/><B>I dont disagree with you about the way baseball's records are viewed as more hallowed than any other, and so I fully understand the controversy surrounding Bonds.</B><BR/><BR/>My only disagreement here is that, in my view, none of the records post 1970 can be compared to those before and none of those of today can be compared to those through, say, the 1980s.<BR/><BR/>And it works BOTH ways.<BR/><BR/>No ballplayer since Ted Williams has hit .400, could some of that be due to the fact that there were very few night games until the late 1950s, or there were only two leagues, each with about eight teams until the mid-1960s, thus far less travelling for players?<BR/><BR/>Would Ruth have hit as many home runs if he'd had to face black pichers like Satchel Paige?<BR/><BR/>Or would he have hit more home runs had the foul poles been widened twenty years earlier (they were set as they are now in 1935)?<BR/><BR/>Would Josh Gibson (thought to have hit over 800 homeruns in the Negro Leagues) have hit even more homers than Ruth?<BR/><BR/>The players of the 1960s and 1970s openly used amphetimines, initially to deal with the increased travel and the effects of jet lag, but that really started the chemically enhanced ballplayer, as the subtances the players began putting in their bodies evolved quickly from that point.<BR/><BR/>Moreover, MLB looked the other way, in fact, there's little doubt that they <B>deliberatley</B> looked the other way when McGuire and Sosa battled over Maris' single season record (itself tainted, in that Maris broke Ruth's record on the last game of a 162 game season, when Ruth hit 60 in 154 games) and it was all too clear that both McGuire and Sosa were both "juiced."<BR/><BR/>In fact, MLB looked the other way until 2002, when they first banned steroids, and continued looking the other way since then, as they've been rather tepid in their enforcment. They still don't test for HgH (Human Growth Hormone and other substances).<BR/><BR/>The problem with pro sports is that it still acts the way the Catholic Church did over its scandal earlier this decade, refusing to learn the lessons of that fiasco.<BR/><BR/>MLB doesn't want the public to know how many of today's players take "performance enhancers," because almost ALL of them either have or regularly do. You'd have to be crazy not to, knowing that most of the other players already do.<BR/><BR/>Same with the NBA, they view this Tim Donaghy scandal as a PR problem, when it's really far more than that. What Donaghy shows us, is that while it may be tough for gamblers and bookies to have multi-million dollar players in their pockets, it's not that hard to get an NBA ref who earns $150KI to $300K in you pocket.<BR/><BR/>What I'm saying is that although Vick's being charged with dog fighting is odious, it does not taint all of football, and while Bonds being suspected of "juicing," is a scandal, the reality is THAT scandal is MLB-wide.<BR/><BR/>And what I'm saying about chemical enhancement, is that once that genie's out of the bottle, there's no putting it back in. We're already in a period when some substances can already increase our longevity and youthfulness and there are many, many people (both ordinary citizens and those who use their bodies to earn their livings) use them routinely....there's no going back.<BR/><BR/>That's why, at least to me, Donaghy's scandal is the BIGGEST, because his goes to the integrity of pro sports at the most basic level. Now, every time anyone watches a game they SHOULD wonder, <I>"Is this really on the level, or is it fixed,m or pre-ordained?"</I><BR/><BR/>It's the age in which we live.<BR/><BR/>Pro sports is bottomline, a business and it has been for a very long time. A guy who can extend his career five or ten years can now earn another $25 to $250 million over that period of time, depending on how good a player he is.<BR/><BR/>For better and for worse, this is our age and it's also why we can't compare today's baseball players to Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron, let alone Rogers Hornsby, Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth.<BR/><BR/>Just my thoughts on all this.JMKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281344324964417974noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1559661241465229945.post-54635085468047050542007-08-15T23:27:00.000-04:002007-08-15T23:27:00.000-04:00Bonds violated the trust of baseball fans everywhe...Bonds violated the trust of baseball fans everywhere is your answer.<BR/><BR/>From his casaba melon head, at least a full hatsize up from his days as a Pirate in the earlier 1990s, to his disingenuous claim that he did not know that the 'clear' and the 'cream' which he massaged into his skin to achieve this elephantine body were illegal steroids, the man has been a fraud. To not believe that is to disassociate from reality.<BR/><BR/>What you fail to understand is how inportant records are to a baseball fan - unlike any other sport in our country.<BR/><BR/>Try this: Who holds the record for most TDs scored in a season?<BR/><BR/>Or career for that matter?<BR/><BR/>What is the exact yardage that the leading rusher in NFL history ran for?<BR/><BR/>Or most TDs thrown?<BR/><BR/>Who holds the record for most points per game careerwise in the NBA and what is that number?<BR/><BR/>Get my drift?<BR/><BR/>He fucked with a sacred record because he was pissed that McGwire and Sosa got all the hoopla in 1998. No baseball player in history has done what Bonds has done, i.e. increasing his HR/AB at a time when EVERY other ballplayer who preceded him did not.<BR/><BR/>Vick is different in that what he did was done during his offseason.<BR/><BR/>Still, his image, along with that of PacMan Jones and the entire Cincinnati Bengals roster (save a few) is indicative of manchildren behaving badly while expecting no consequences. <BR/><BR/>Understand that these athletes have been considered 'golden boys' since their HS days. Nobody ever told them what they were doing was wrong for fear of losing the player's accessibility to win for your team.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I hope the SOB gets jailed.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and having mentioned the Bengals pathetic criminal record, may I point out that the Baltimore Ravens who preceded them in this notoriety area had a common thread?<BR/><BR/>His name is Marvin Lewis, the head coach, previously the defensive coordinator for Baltimore.<BR/><BR/>The man loves his thugs but nobody in the MSM will ever make the correlation because of two reasons:<BR/><BR/>a) Marvin is black<BR/><BR/>b) So are his thugs on both teams.<BR/><BR/>As Casey Stengel used to say: "You can look it up!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com