It would be silly of me to try to ignore the steroid scandal plaguing my favorite sport: baseball. However, it seems to me that it has been no problem for Allen “Bud” Selig to do just that; ignore a problem so large that NASA should be looking into it, or Carnie Wilson should be giving it her old clothes.
I don’t want to give the impression that this blog is going to be about steroids, because frankly, the steroids don’t bother me. If you are in a competitive sport and think you can give yourself an edge, so be it. This blog is about the clown whose signature appears on every baseball, the man who claims he is in charge of America’s pastime, the man who is the biggest joke since Hulk Hogan’s acting career: Bud Selig.
It seems to me every time I listen to a broadcast of major league baseball, whether it be the Cubs, White Sox, ESPN, TBS, whatever, some fool is singing the praises of the man who has done absolutely nothing to help the game.
STOP! WAIT! I know, I know. The wild card. Yes, I know you think the wild card helped baseball, and I absolutely agree with you. The wild card has made so many more games meaningful, and so many more teams relevant. I don’t see how Bud gets the credit for that one though. Basketball and football already had the wild card in place by the time Selig adopted it. I don’t give him any credit for that.
Do we need to discuss the all-star game? Must I waste a paragraph or two on a game I don’t even watch due to the fact that 75% of the people on the field don’t want to be there? Ok. I will. But I don’t want to. Bud made the decision in 2002 to allow the game end in a tie. I didn’t care. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s an interruption of the baseball season. I don’t care if it ends in a tie, gets rained out, cancelled, or if one team wins 45-0. I don’t care.
Bud thought I cared. I’m not sure why, but he thought a lot of people cared. The only person I can think of that would even consider caring is Ray Fosse. And I’m not too concerned with his opinion. So since Bud thought we cared, he had to do something about the problem that HE CREATED. So what did he do? He made the All-Star game the decider for home field advantage in the world series…There are 16 teams in the National League, and at least 8 of them will not even see the playoffs in the next 5 years. Of the 14 in the AL, there are at least 5 or 6 that are in the same boat. Why should they care who has home field advantage? If I’m a Yankee fan, or a Red Sox fan, I don’t want members of the Blue Jays and Royals deciding my October travel plans.
You may say that pride in your league is a good reason to want home field advantage. Pride is dead. Pride in major league baseball went the way of the Dodo bird a while ago. If you don’t believe me, watch the video of Rafael Palmiero telling us how he didn’t do steroids, or Sammy Sosa forgetting an entire language.
And by the way, who “didn’t know anything” about the steroid use of players like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Andy Petitte, and so many other major names in his sport? The so-called leader, and wonderful commissioner of Major League baseball, Bud Selig.
If Bud didn’t know anything about these issues, at the very least he needs to be fired. What kind of leader is he? If you have drug testing, and people are failing, then you know they are on drugs. That simple. If anyone else failed this miserably at a job they would be on the unemployment line. Not Allen Bud though. No, don’t you remember, he brought the wild card to baseball! He’s done so much for the game.
He has done a lot for the game. He has allowed steroids to become the norm on his watch, he has made a mockery of the all-star game, and then tried to cover it up by making a mockery of home field advantage in the world series. He has not taken responsibility for anything that has happened during his tenure, and in my opinion, it is high time he do so. Actually, the time for him to take responsibility was a long time ago, but instead he…he… looked the other way…. there, I guess I did find something he’s good at.
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Bud didn't "know" about steroid use because he was too weak/inept/didn't care enough to get mandatory drug testing into the collective bargaining agreement, right? Donald Fehr bent him over a table for many a year. Or Selig didn't push for testing because roids were saving baseball (see summer 1998) post strike. Either way this guy is a major doucher.
ReplyDeleteCTB: By no means is this a comment to be on the side of Mr. Commish, but Home Field Advantage in my opinoin is a huge advantage for any and every team in Major League Baseball. Especially come playoff time when you could have some warm weather teams being hosted in the fall classic by chilly climate East Coasters or even here at the frozen Cell or Wrigley (which we all know can be pretty bitter come October). Some teams can't play or perform in domes and others love it on the grass. If you take a look at last years standings only 6 MLB teams (2 AL, 4 NL) had a winning record on the Road. Home Field advantage is very much still evident in baseball; however, there's no way it should be decided at an exhibition All Star Gala where the only reason these "Stars" show up is because there's probably a clause in their contract somewhere that if they play in the allstar game they get to collect a few extra grand to spend on performance enhancing drugs that can be purchase over the counter in a foreign country by a cousin. Home Field Advantage should go to the team with the best record in the MLB. With Interleague Play instilled for the past 14 years every team pretty much has an equal SOS compared to everyone else and whoever wins the most should be rewarded for a stellar regular season.
ReplyDeleteAnd baseball fans get all of this for the bargain price of $17.5 million per year (and climbing!).
ReplyDeleteImagine what it would cost for a commissioner with actual talent. Probably would have been cheaper to hire this imaginary uber-commissioner before the steroid scandal overtook the game.
Marty-
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that home field advantage is very very important at the world series, which is why I think deciding it through the all-star game is such a travesty. Certainly the team with the better record in the regular season should have the advantage.
-CTB
I'm actually a fan of the idea that league vs. league records in interleague play should determine home-field advantage for the World Series. That way the players who usually become a big player in the post-season (a back-up second basemen for the Red Sox, a 7th inning pitcher for the Cubs) could end up determining where the World Series is played, opposed to David Dejesus or Jason Bay (I know Bay is on the Red Sox, but I don't know who the Pirates random All-Star player this year will be). This is also a better barometer (it's pronounced ther-mometer) on which league is better rather than one game, and if any sport as proven that one game means nothing, but that after a large number of sample series the right team(s) win it would be baseball.
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