The Mitchell Report

Excuse me while I rant...

Never before have I been so disgusted by ESPN as I am this morning. As many of you know, the Mitchell Report comes out later this afternooon which will basically show that baseball knew that its players were taking steroids and HGH but just looked the other way because of the huge numbers being put up. Huge numbers = more publicity and income. Thats all that matters to Bud Selig. People say Gary Bettman ruined the NHL, why does Bud Selig get a free pass?

Anyways, it came out this morning that Roger Clemens will be named in the report as someone who received steroids. This is huge news, because he is one of the best pitchers of all time, as well as one of the biggest D-bags of all time. Well, Peter Gammons, who was a Red Sox beat writer when Clemens was there, came on to talk about how big this is. He started off saying something that almost caused me to throw my tv through the front window. He said that we are dealing with an interesting situation because of the mitchell report. These names were given by talking to general managers, trainers and clubhouse attendants among others. Basically, people that could get steroids to players. Gammons stated that we need to take this news remembering none of these players actually tested positive, so we dont know for sure if they took them. Where has this statement been for the last 3-5 years that steroid use has been coming into public knowledge? People like Paul Byrd, Rick Ankiel and others who have been linked to buying steroids were in the same position that Clemens is going to be in!

Here is a disclaimer. Barry Bonds is my all time favorite baseball player. Never before has he tested positive for steroids. Do I think he took steroids? Yes. Was it against the rules of baseball at the time? No. If I was in his position, would I take them? I think I would. Bonds is a scapegoat for the whole steroids issue because he is so apathetic towards the media, which is understandable. Gammons went on to say that he believed the whole Game of Shadows book, loosely based on Bonds' alleged steroid use, but would take the Mitchell report with a grain of salt! This is ESPN's number one baseball analyst! He will believe a book written by a biased reporter looking to make money, which it has with movie rights being bought by HBO recently, but will not trust a 20 month investigation by a former senator? I understand Mitchell was contracted by MLB to investigate the situation, but from what has come out, he is saying MLB is partly liable for the whole thing, therefore he comes to a somewhat unbiased conclusion.

I do not completely disagree with the point Gammons made, it just bothers me that it took the connection of one of the 10 best pitchers of all time* (if Barry's home runs have an asterix, anything related to Clemens should too) for him to express that opinion. We will never know for sure who took steroids until these players come out and say so. The best scenario for MLB would have been to give players a one month window to come out and admit they were using steroids before it was against the rules without any chance of suspension or fines. Too bad Bud Selig doesnt have the balls to open up the game like that. For now, we will have to trust these reports linking players to steroids. Personally, if they are buying them, they are using them. At the same time, these guys make millions and millions of dollars in a very competitive market. If it were me, I would use every advantage I could within the rules to get a leg up on the competition. I dont blame these guys for using steroids. I blame baseball for not changing the rules because they are a greedy, moneymaking machine. Enron had the same thinking, lets hide everything and tell everyone business has never been better, but we will leave out that it is artificially enhanced! Sometimes I wish MLB could go the way of Enron...