Stupid SF Chronicle
OK, so this might be odd to anyone that has heard me speak of or read me write about Barry Bonds in recent years; I was kind of excited about his HR chase of Ruth and Aaron this season. Because, regardless anything else, it was history in the making. I might never see someone make this run again in my lifetime and I am a huge baseball fan, so the monumental achievement piqued my interests.
However, the SF Chronicle has a couple of reporters who decided to sit on their book until the Spring Training of the World Baseball Classic just before this season to release their book. I really got the feeling these guys were disappointed that Bonds was too hurt to play in the World Baseball Classic and might not even be able to surmount the men of legend ahead him on the alltime HR list. Game of Shadows apparently chronicles details steroids usage from 1998 through 2002. Why wait until after Jose Canseco blew the cover off with his nonsensical book? Why wait until after the Congressional Hearings? Why wait until after the complete restructuring of drug testing in baseball? Why wait until Bonds appears almost to be on the verge of passing the biggest names in the sport? Oh, that's when the most eyeballs are focused on the player they discredit, I get that now.
I firmly believe the man is guilty as anyone can be when it comes to ingesting human growth hormone and perhaps other steroids. That does not give these two clowns the justification to trump the entire sport for their financial gains. I found the timing in very poor taste, basically forcing media attention on steroids usage in baseball right when the sport is supposed to be trying to make the most positive gains in the public's image. These two writers are NO better than Pete Rose releasing his book admitting his gambling habits on the weekend of the Hall of Fame ceremonies. Consider how low you have to be to draw comparison to the personal habits of Pete Rose.
So Bud Selig begrudgingly admits he will launch an investigation. MLB needed that in 1998. Everyone needed this book in print years ago. The reporters apparently had some great access, so why the delay? No one needed BALCO to see Bonds's head grow in size. Back to BALCO, where are the books about Randy Velarde, Benito Santiago, Marion Jones, and all the Raiders who were involved too? Oh, I get it, those people are far less important than Barry Bonds - too true to argue. But hard for me to be excited about the leeches who fed off the situation by capitalizing on the timing of events to their maximum benefit.
I'll go back to hoping I can catch a baseball game on TV that is not tape-delayed and scheduled for 2AM...
However, the SF Chronicle has a couple of reporters who decided to sit on their book until the Spring Training of the World Baseball Classic just before this season to release their book. I really got the feeling these guys were disappointed that Bonds was too hurt to play in the World Baseball Classic and might not even be able to surmount the men of legend ahead him on the alltime HR list. Game of Shadows apparently chronicles details steroids usage from 1998 through 2002. Why wait until after Jose Canseco blew the cover off with his nonsensical book? Why wait until after the Congressional Hearings? Why wait until after the complete restructuring of drug testing in baseball? Why wait until Bonds appears almost to be on the verge of passing the biggest names in the sport? Oh, that's when the most eyeballs are focused on the player they discredit, I get that now.
I firmly believe the man is guilty as anyone can be when it comes to ingesting human growth hormone and perhaps other steroids. That does not give these two clowns the justification to trump the entire sport for their financial gains. I found the timing in very poor taste, basically forcing media attention on steroids usage in baseball right when the sport is supposed to be trying to make the most positive gains in the public's image. These two writers are NO better than Pete Rose releasing his book admitting his gambling habits on the weekend of the Hall of Fame ceremonies. Consider how low you have to be to draw comparison to the personal habits of Pete Rose.
So Bud Selig begrudgingly admits he will launch an investigation. MLB needed that in 1998. Everyone needed this book in print years ago. The reporters apparently had some great access, so why the delay? No one needed BALCO to see Bonds's head grow in size. Back to BALCO, where are the books about Randy Velarde, Benito Santiago, Marion Jones, and all the Raiders who were involved too? Oh, I get it, those people are far less important than Barry Bonds - too true to argue. But hard for me to be excited about the leeches who fed off the situation by capitalizing on the timing of events to their maximum benefit.
I'll go back to hoping I can catch a baseball game on TV that is not tape-delayed and scheduled for 2AM...
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2 Comments:
I can't argue at all with you about the timing of the book's release, but I can definitely see where the authors are coming from. Do you actually want the representative of your sport to be a guy who won't even admit that he ever used illegal substances when he very obviously did? You know I hate baseball anyway, but it seems like the sport would be better served if Selig would quit acting like none of this stuff ever happened and be a man. He needs to acknowledge baseball had a general drug problem, assure everyone that he has taken steps to eliminate it, then tell us what he's going to do about the record books. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, etc... don't belong in the same list with Aaron, Ruth, Williams, etc... Until this happens, America's pastime is nothing but a farce.
Dude, I hate Barry Bonds. I think he is a fool. Bud Selig is far worse and I hate him more than most people could possible imagine. These things are self-evident, those guys being guilty as sin and derserving time in a prison somewhere in Siberia. What my gripe is, well, why can a Red Sox complete novella appear within a couple months of them winning the championship and these SF guys wait years to be able to produce a book? After Congressional Hearings? After Jose Canseco and his unknown credibility? After labor agreements and drug testing implementation?
And had MLB employed the most strict of IOC standards, that would have resulted in the same gaps that the Raiders and Bill Romanowski rushed through NFL testing, and Marion Jones sprinted through Olympic testing. Why is this painted as baseball as a farce when the sports that addressed steroids directly are not at all able to prevent HGH and who knows what other doping? The truth is that the sports that test are doing not enough. This spans all of them and is not limited to baseball. I am not sticking up for baseball turning the blind eye for years, I am pointing out that it is ridiculous to scald them for not employing the standards that did not prevent doping in other sports.
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