Saturday, January 12, 2013
And now it's completely up for grabs...
Goodbye Peyton. Goodbye The Call II. Goodbye to basically every storyline the league had going into these playoffs save The 12th Man and Ray Lewis.
Two divisional thoughts...
1) I get real afraid if I'm New England or Houston. This league may actually decide to give Murderer Ray Lewis a going-away present, in at least an AFC title if not a Super Bowl.
2) 118 points in a game and a half. Gee, you think that's a coincidence?
2) 118 points in a game and a half. Gee, you think that's a coincidence?
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Jayson Stark, known Barry Bonds Steroid Apologist, calls for the Waaaaaah-mbulance...
(Hat tip to a historian friend for the title.)
Jason Stark has thrown an Official ESPN Hissy Fit.
What should the Hall of Fame be, Mr. Stark?
Well, let's go through your list and see what the Hall of Fame should NOT be!
In Stark's opinion: "Do we really want to look up, 10 or 20 years from now, and find we've constructed a Hall of Fame that doesn't include:"
• The all-time home-run leader (Barry Bonds)?
Hank Aaron is the all-time home-run leader. Barry Bonds is disqualified on two bases: The use of anabolic steroids and the central point of this article. In the sport of baseball which is to be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York, Barry Bonds hit somewhere in the order of 411 home runs. (It is believed that Barroids began juicing in response to all the attention Mark McGwire gained for the first illegal assault on Roger Maris' record for a single season. That number is according to baseball-reference.com and indicates everything through 1998.)
A steroid-ladened freak which showed up in 1999, in a sport which only in field dimensions was baseball, which was actually something else, hit the other 351.
• The pitcher who won the most Cy Youngs in history (Roger Clemens)?
Roger Clemens won, at maximum, four Cy Youngs -- and probably only three.. Somebody else playing another game won the other three or four. Randy Johnson is the pitcher who won the most Cy Youngs in history, and that's if you believe his wins in 1999-2002 were legitimate. If not, it's a tie between Steve Carlton and almost-certain 2014 Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, with four.
• The man who broke Roger Maris' storied home-run record (Mark McGwire)?
No one has broken Roger Maris' storied home-run record, legally and playing the game of baseball. And, frankly, I doubt anyone ever will. As has been evidenced time and again with spurts of power over the course of years, to even approach 61 home runs in a season requires durability (usually, then, requiring illegal enhancement) and an ability to, by the end of the season, deal with seeing maybe one or two meaningful pitches a game (which see Barroids' walk totals).
• The hitter who had more 60-homer seasons than any player ever (Sammy Sosa)?
There have been only two 60-homer seasons in the history of baseball. No one has done it multiple times.
(Please note a pattern here.)
• The greatest hitting catcher in history (Mike Piazza)?
Piazza is an interesting case. It is widely believed that Piazza was on steroids as a power-hitting catcher. But, of all the cases, he might well have the least against him, at least as far as interviews or anything else.
Today, Craig Biggio spoke out in stating that he truly believed he should've been a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and that only the indirect "asterisk" I spoke about in the last article on this subject denied him -- that he is now assumed, because of the Steroid Era, to be at least under sufficient suspicion that he, too, was using.
(For the record, he is correct -- and that's why, even if he goes in and even if he is completely clean, there are so few players believed to be clean (which is the main reason we're going to get a number of these null classes in the Hall of Fame over the next 10-15 years) that he will have an invisible "asterisk" next to his plaque, rightly or wrongly.)
• One of four hitters with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs (Rafael Palmeiro)?
3,000 was under the juice directly. It is almost certain that Palmerroids juiced (and perjured himself to Congress during it!) for the sole purpose of getting to 3,000 hits. So that's dead too.
• And -- aw, what the heck, might as well throw him in there -- the all-time hit king (Peter Edward Rose)?
Frankly, the ONLY reason Rose should be recognized as The Hit King (if he even is to be recognized as such at all, and his status as "banned from baseball" might force this discussion anyway!) is that, unlike all the other players on this list, his actions came off the field, not having any direct consequence to the record-breaking hit total.
But the fact is that all of the others on the list (perhaps except Piazza, and that's debatable!) should be banned from the game for life to prevent their inclusion in the Hall.
Add Sosa, add all the other roidies.
If that's not satisfactory to you, then maybe Cooperstown needs to close it's doors longer-term. That is, no one gets elected, at all, for 5-10-15 years.
Because there's one central point that a lot of the apologists do not understand.
So many players juiced, and the results were so obvious, the entire game was not "baseball".
This "Roid-Ball", as I will call it to give it a name, was a separate and distinct entity from the traditions and honorability of baseball which Cooperstown attempts to laud and honor.
Stark: "Do we really want a Hall of Fame that basically tries to pretend that none of those men ever played baseball? That none of that happened? Or that none of that should have happened?
Hey, here's a bulletin for you: It happened.
The '90s happened. The first few years of the 21st century happened. I saw it with my very own eyeballs. So did you.
It all happened, on the lush green fields of North America, as crowds roared and cash registers rung. It … all … happened."
Mr. Stark: It may have happened, but it was NOT Baseball, and, hence, has no place in Cooperstown.
It was NOT the sport of Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Gehrig, DiMaggio, etc.
It was NOT the sport of Bench, Schmidt, Brett, Munson, Fernando, etc.
It was NOT baseball.
It was "NOT Sport".
It should not have taken place at all. Under the RICO Act, Major League Baseball itself should've had it's assets seized for across-the-board commission of racketeering.
(And, yes, it would've qualified under both Drug Trafficking, which was rampant in the locker rooms of MLB, making the teams and franchises culpable, because only an idiot would not believe the franchises knew and accepted rampant drug use in the 1990's and 2000's, but also Obstruction of Justice. Two such offenses would qualify parties involved of being prosecuted for Racketeering under the RICO Act.)
What scares me is that I could openly see ESPN open, on their own dime, a "Modern Baseball Hall of Fame" to include all the steroid cheats.
But it's not Cooperstown, you crybabying twit.
And the problem is, now, one has to question including ANYBODY else, under the guise that, even as many are intelligent to draw the line, what if they get one wrong?
Just one...
And in that, when Craig Biggio gets the call, it will have an asterisk, whether or not he ever deserved one.
Jason Stark has thrown an Official ESPN Hissy Fit.
What should the Hall of Fame be, Mr. Stark?
Well, let's go through your list and see what the Hall of Fame should NOT be!
In Stark's opinion: "Do we really want to look up, 10 or 20 years from now, and find we've constructed a Hall of Fame that doesn't include:"
• The all-time home-run leader (Barry Bonds)?
Hank Aaron is the all-time home-run leader. Barry Bonds is disqualified on two bases: The use of anabolic steroids and the central point of this article. In the sport of baseball which is to be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York, Barry Bonds hit somewhere in the order of 411 home runs. (It is believed that Barroids began juicing in response to all the attention Mark McGwire gained for the first illegal assault on Roger Maris' record for a single season. That number is according to baseball-reference.com and indicates everything through 1998.)
A steroid-ladened freak which showed up in 1999, in a sport which only in field dimensions was baseball, which was actually something else, hit the other 351.
• The pitcher who won the most Cy Youngs in history (Roger Clemens)?
Roger Clemens won, at maximum, four Cy Youngs -- and probably only three.. Somebody else playing another game won the other three or four. Randy Johnson is the pitcher who won the most Cy Youngs in history, and that's if you believe his wins in 1999-2002 were legitimate. If not, it's a tie between Steve Carlton and almost-certain 2014 Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, with four.
• The man who broke Roger Maris' storied home-run record (Mark McGwire)?
No one has broken Roger Maris' storied home-run record, legally and playing the game of baseball. And, frankly, I doubt anyone ever will. As has been evidenced time and again with spurts of power over the course of years, to even approach 61 home runs in a season requires durability (usually, then, requiring illegal enhancement) and an ability to, by the end of the season, deal with seeing maybe one or two meaningful pitches a game (which see Barroids' walk totals).
• The hitter who had more 60-homer seasons than any player ever (Sammy Sosa)?
There have been only two 60-homer seasons in the history of baseball. No one has done it multiple times.
(Please note a pattern here.)
• The greatest hitting catcher in history (Mike Piazza)?
Piazza is an interesting case. It is widely believed that Piazza was on steroids as a power-hitting catcher. But, of all the cases, he might well have the least against him, at least as far as interviews or anything else.
Today, Craig Biggio spoke out in stating that he truly believed he should've been a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and that only the indirect "asterisk" I spoke about in the last article on this subject denied him -- that he is now assumed, because of the Steroid Era, to be at least under sufficient suspicion that he, too, was using.
(For the record, he is correct -- and that's why, even if he goes in and even if he is completely clean, there are so few players believed to be clean (which is the main reason we're going to get a number of these null classes in the Hall of Fame over the next 10-15 years) that he will have an invisible "asterisk" next to his plaque, rightly or wrongly.)
• One of four hitters with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs (Rafael Palmeiro)?
3,000 was under the juice directly. It is almost certain that Palmerroids juiced (and perjured himself to Congress during it!) for the sole purpose of getting to 3,000 hits. So that's dead too.
• And -- aw, what the heck, might as well throw him in there -- the all-time hit king (Peter Edward Rose)?
Frankly, the ONLY reason Rose should be recognized as The Hit King (if he even is to be recognized as such at all, and his status as "banned from baseball" might force this discussion anyway!) is that, unlike all the other players on this list, his actions came off the field, not having any direct consequence to the record-breaking hit total.
But the fact is that all of the others on the list (perhaps except Piazza, and that's debatable!) should be banned from the game for life to prevent their inclusion in the Hall.
Add Sosa, add all the other roidies.
If that's not satisfactory to you, then maybe Cooperstown needs to close it's doors longer-term. That is, no one gets elected, at all, for 5-10-15 years.
Because there's one central point that a lot of the apologists do not understand.
So many players juiced, and the results were so obvious, the entire game was not "baseball".
This "Roid-Ball", as I will call it to give it a name, was a separate and distinct entity from the traditions and honorability of baseball which Cooperstown attempts to laud and honor.
Stark: "Do we really want a Hall of Fame that basically tries to pretend that none of those men ever played baseball? That none of that happened? Or that none of that should have happened?
Hey, here's a bulletin for you: It happened.
The '90s happened. The first few years of the 21st century happened. I saw it with my very own eyeballs. So did you.
It all happened, on the lush green fields of North America, as crowds roared and cash registers rung. It … all … happened."
Mr. Stark: It may have happened, but it was NOT Baseball, and, hence, has no place in Cooperstown.
It was NOT the sport of Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Gehrig, DiMaggio, etc.
It was NOT the sport of Bench, Schmidt, Brett, Munson, Fernando, etc.
It was NOT baseball.
It was "NOT Sport".
It should not have taken place at all. Under the RICO Act, Major League Baseball itself should've had it's assets seized for across-the-board commission of racketeering.
(And, yes, it would've qualified under both Drug Trafficking, which was rampant in the locker rooms of MLB, making the teams and franchises culpable, because only an idiot would not believe the franchises knew and accepted rampant drug use in the 1990's and 2000's, but also Obstruction of Justice. Two such offenses would qualify parties involved of being prosecuted for Racketeering under the RICO Act.)
What scares me is that I could openly see ESPN open, on their own dime, a "Modern Baseball Hall of Fame" to include all the steroid cheats.
But it's not Cooperstown, you crybabying twit.
And the problem is, now, one has to question including ANYBODY else, under the guise that, even as many are intelligent to draw the line, what if they get one wrong?
Just one...
And in that, when Craig Biggio gets the call, it will have an asterisk, whether or not he ever deserved one.
Two prominent NFL rigged-storyline quarterbacks may both be at the end of very brief careers, and the ugly truth on Junior Seau is obvious...
This has not been a good week or so to be a quarterback and be one of the Great Hopes the NFL has tried to shove on us the last couple of years.
The guy's not even fit for an NFL roster -- at any position. "Slash" does not work in the NFL either. He's not a full-time running back, wide receiver, tight end, or anything else.
The only thing is I can't say that on the basis of criminal record - the fact is, he sucks and the only reason the 2011-12 Denver Broncos went 9-7 and not 3-13 is because of the fact that the league continually plungered down our throats this concept that the Holy Two-Minute Drill of God would win literally at will, even with games that everyone should've seen coming as scripted!
He's basically a Christian revival in a very secular/sacreligious NFL. He is not of the caliber to be one of the 1500 or so players on NFL rosters these days. That's why he sold the jerseys in Denver last year. That's why the league wanted him in a bigger market this year.
Fact is: He makes too much money and has too much a ministry for the right-wing NFL for either him to stay at the Jets (now) or for someone to pick him up and make the mistake.
But, to respond to this from Jason Cole:
"Now all of this will lead to plenty of sarcastic responses from Tebow critics, including snarky remarks about how Tebow's career is over..."
The only reason that Tim Tebow's NFL career is not OVER -- right now -- is because of his ministry and his right-wing beliefs fitting in with the league office. Someone will try to ram him down our throats again.
And here's the kicker: The NFL is receiving official complaints as to the condition of Fed Ex Field in Washington -- AND the Players' Association thinks coach Mike Shanahan might've circumvented his medical staff and forced RGIII to continue playing in the playoff game against Seattle, leading to him tearing both his ACL and MCL.
A decision on an official complaint on that end is expected from the NFLPA this week. It's not expected to lead to much.
He's looking at possibly 7-12 months to see if he is ready, but he has one benefit: Adrian Peterson tore an ACL late in the 2011 season and almost broke the single-season rushing record in leading the Vikings to the playoffs this year.
--
- Tim Tebow is NOT going to Jacksonville, at least not if the new GM (who promptly fired the head coach two days after he was hired) has anything to say about it. "I can't imagine a scenario where he would be a Jacksonville Jaguar," [David] Caldwell [the new Jaguar GM] said.
The guy's not even fit for an NFL roster -- at any position. "Slash" does not work in the NFL either. He's not a full-time running back, wide receiver, tight end, or anything else.
The only thing is I can't say that on the basis of criminal record - the fact is, he sucks and the only reason the 2011-12 Denver Broncos went 9-7 and not 3-13 is because of the fact that the league continually plungered down our throats this concept that the Holy Two-Minute Drill of God would win literally at will, even with games that everyone should've seen coming as scripted!
He's basically a Christian revival in a very secular/sacreligious NFL. He is not of the caliber to be one of the 1500 or so players on NFL rosters these days. That's why he sold the jerseys in Denver last year. That's why the league wanted him in a bigger market this year.
Fact is: He makes too much money and has too much a ministry for the right-wing NFL for either him to stay at the Jets (now) or for someone to pick him up and make the mistake.
But, to respond to this from Jason Cole:
"Now all of this will lead to plenty of sarcastic responses from Tebow critics, including snarky remarks about how Tebow's career is over..."
The only reason that Tim Tebow's NFL career is not OVER -- right now -- is because of his ministry and his right-wing beliefs fitting in with the league office. Someone will try to ram him down our throats again.
- Robert Griffin III's NFL career may be over after one season. The week after the Redskins were eliminated, Griffin had literally reconstructive knee surgery to repair tears in both his Anterior and Medial Cruciate Ligaments.
And here's the kicker: The NFL is receiving official complaints as to the condition of Fed Ex Field in Washington -- AND the Players' Association thinks coach Mike Shanahan might've circumvented his medical staff and forced RGIII to continue playing in the playoff game against Seattle, leading to him tearing both his ACL and MCL.
A decision on an official complaint on that end is expected from the NFLPA this week. It's not expected to lead to much.
He's looking at possibly 7-12 months to see if he is ready, but he has one benefit: Adrian Peterson tore an ACL late in the 2011 season and almost broke the single-season rushing record in leading the Vikings to the playoffs this year.
--
- And, in a piece of news that should surprise abjectly NO ONE: Junior Seau's testing on his brain revealed significant CTE injuries.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you indisputable proof that games can be and are fixed...
(Hat Tip: Brian Tuohy)
2012 Sun Bowl
USC vs. Georgia Tech.
1st quarter of the game, no score.
USC field goal attempt...
This ensues...
The officials, SOMEHOW, have the unmitigated gall to call that field goal good when EVERY CAMERA IN THE STADIUM can show you it wasn't, the announcers knew it was bad, and the coach of Georgia Tech almost wants to throw something at the idiot that called it.
I mean, SERIOUSLY... I know it looks like the Sun Bowl (the one CBS bowl game, by the way) is played in front of about 15 people in El Paso, TX, but, dear for the love of God, at least TRY to make it look legitimate!!
(Catch #48 for USC at about 1:40 of the clip. "The previous play is being reviewed! The ruling on the field is that the kick went inside the upright." #48: "Not a chance...")
The ruling on the field has been reversed, Georgia Tech won 21-7.
---
And that wasn't the only one...
One has to wonder where the referees for the Outback Bowl were for New Year's Eve. It is clear that these officials were clearly intoxicated by the fourth quarter of the contest between South Carolina and Michigan (one of several Hangover Bowls early on January 1 pitting SEC and Big Ten schools).
This fun ensued!!
Michigan, up a point, fakes the punt...
It is demonstrable that, even after the measurement, the line-to-gain was not gained, and yet this referee, having far too much to drink (HA!) on New Year's Eve, calls the first down for Michigan??
Seriously?
You're joking, right?
That thing is so far from the first down that the entire connecting link of the chain itself to the post (which would be a first down) is clearly visible (1:14) that it's NOWHERE CLOSE.
Well, let's just say that there can be some karmic justice on the football field...
Except for the fact that Clowney did another of those helmet-under-the-head jobs, but if the refs can't see a first down or a field goal, a helmet-to-helmet hit is far too complicated for these jokers.
South Carolina won the game 33-28.
2012 Sun Bowl
USC vs. Georgia Tech.
1st quarter of the game, no score.
USC field goal attempt...
This ensues...
The officials, SOMEHOW, have the unmitigated gall to call that field goal good when EVERY CAMERA IN THE STADIUM can show you it wasn't, the announcers knew it was bad, and the coach of Georgia Tech almost wants to throw something at the idiot that called it.
I mean, SERIOUSLY... I know it looks like the Sun Bowl (the one CBS bowl game, by the way) is played in front of about 15 people in El Paso, TX, but, dear for the love of God, at least TRY to make it look legitimate!!
(Catch #48 for USC at about 1:40 of the clip. "The previous play is being reviewed! The ruling on the field is that the kick went inside the upright." #48: "Not a chance...")
The ruling on the field has been reversed, Georgia Tech won 21-7.
---
And that wasn't the only one...
One has to wonder where the referees for the Outback Bowl were for New Year's Eve. It is clear that these officials were clearly intoxicated by the fourth quarter of the contest between South Carolina and Michigan (one of several Hangover Bowls early on January 1 pitting SEC and Big Ten schools).
This fun ensued!!
Michigan, up a point, fakes the punt...
It is demonstrable that, even after the measurement, the line-to-gain was not gained, and yet this referee, having far too much to drink (HA!) on New Year's Eve, calls the first down for Michigan??
Seriously?
You're joking, right?
That thing is so far from the first down that the entire connecting link of the chain itself to the post (which would be a first down) is clearly visible (1:14) that it's NOWHERE CLOSE.
Well, let's just say that there can be some karmic justice on the football field...
Except for the fact that Clowney did another of those helmet-under-the-head jobs, but if the refs can't see a first down or a field goal, a helmet-to-helmet hit is far too complicated for these jokers.
South Carolina won the game 33-28.
The Hall Slams The Doors
Don't wait up for a 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
They might as well not even technically hold one, except for the families of three deceased Veterans' Committee inductees.
No living person, for the first time since 1966 (the last time the writers' ballot went empty, before today, was 1996 -- but Earl Weaver was inducted by the Veterans' Committee that year), was elected by either the writers' or Veterans' Committee ballots.
The Hall of Fame elected no one today. The writers repudiated the careers of known steroid cheats Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (both of whom got under 40% of the vote, well short of the 75% needed for induction), and probably stopped Craig Biggio (#1 vote getter in his first year of eligibility -- 68.2%) from getting in on the first ballot.
Some thoughts:
1) None of the Steroid Era Cheats are getting in. This pretty much should slam the door on all of them. This means up to and including Alex Roidriguez.
2) It's beginning to look VERY VERY LEAN in the years to come, as the Steroid Era is going to have to flush through the process. It is quite possible that, on two hands, we could probably name all of the living players to get into the Hall in the next 10 or so years. Biggio probably is getting in eventually. Maddux and Glavine, Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro, and maybe Jack Morris or Frank Thomas or the like. That's about it. There are going to be a lot of null induction classes going forward.
3) Baseball has to step in, and not how the enablers at ESPN would like. The entire Steroid Era has to be wiped from the books as much as humanly possible. The Commissioner needs to ban Barry Bonds and all known steroid cheats from the game and Hall of Fame, wipe out their records and statistics, and nullify every Championship from 1995 to about 2007 or so, depending upon when it can be accepted that steroids finally did not permeate the game to the point of absolute contamination.
Baseball was contaminated beyond all repair for the better part of at least a dozen years, and that depends on how many years BEFORE the 1994 strike end up that contaminated. You now have, at best, a wounded game with a "dead-bat" era (is it any conceivable wonder that, in the three years where it is believed (and only believed) that steroids have been cleaned, we have had 16 no-hitters and, last year alone, for the first time, three perfect games.).
(There have, in fact, been only 23 perfect games in the history of baseball in the US at the top level. FIVE have occurred in the last three years, and the first two times in the history of the game, in 2010 and 2012, that multiple perfect games have been thrown in the same year.)
But you have a wounded game with a Balkanized fanbase (ever watch the World Series numbers, people?) where one has to question everything coming out of the Office of the Commissioner.
Is it any wonder that the only real relevance Baseball has is the carrying of tradition and the fact that the season does a very nice job of bridging one football season to the next?
4) Two major questions, basically, remain.
a) How do you answer questions like the one posed in today's ESPN Apologist Chat on the situation from a commenter named "Tim":
And that's a very good question. It deserves the fullest of answers.
I) The games don't count anymore. All of the championships and standings of the Steroid Era are nullified. The more which comes out about the Steroid Era, between "speed" and steroids, the more that Canseco's claim of 4/5 of all the players being dirty actually sounds low.
II) If anyone's stats count from the Steroid Era, then they cannot have any suspicion of use. Period. This is why there are about six living players I see getting in (unless I forgot somebody, and I'm sure I will have) in the next 10-12 years or so. USA Today has said today is the eighth time in the history of the ballot that no player got in. In the next 12 years, I see that number doubling.
But the fact is that so few players are probably clean (Biggio is believed to be, then you get the two Atlanta pitchers, Thomas, etc.) that the entire era is forever contaminated. Even the clean players will, effectively, have asterisks next to their plaques.
III) Remove the memorabilia. The games never, functionally, took place. We must leave a ~15 year gap in the history of the game for deterrence of future generations to even think of contaminating the game to this level (or, probably, given enhancements, far worse, if that can be conceived!!).
IV) There must, once and for all, be a criminal investigation against Bud Selig. At minimum for obstruction of justice, if not far more. Even if he is never jailed due to his age, he must be repudiated as the Commissioner of a flawed sport.
This is the result of 15 years of rigged games. Perhaps not rigged directly for result with respect to a scripted end, but rigged nonetheless (and almost certainly with the full blessing of MLB) to "bring the game back" after the 1994 strike.
Selig must be held culpable to these acts.
b) The second question which must be answered is one that a lot of people have skirted around:
Has there been a cheat already put into the Hall, and, if so, what is to be done?
I think part of the justification that these ESPN Bonds-heads are saying as to put Bonds in the Hall is that, as a couple stated in the chat, there is a steroid cheat already in the Hall -- we just don't know who it is yet.
I, frankly, think, that might be the straw which breaks the camel's back, and the Hall puts in policies to remove players. That could become a very interesting discussion vis-a-vis even some very old inductees.
As it is, I think Biggio waits two years: Next year is Maddux, Glavine, and Frank Thomas. The two pitchers almost certainly get in first-ballot, Thomas might have to wait, because I would not be certain that there won't be voters who won't try to nullify Thomas' achievements through anabolic steroids -- though the only stuff he probably took was anabolic cheeseburgers... (What am I saying? One historian friend of mine said it best: "He's from Chicago. Deep-dish pizzas!!").
The problem is, since no person even got 70% of the vote, you could easily see Biggio snowed under by the two pitchers and possibly Frank Thomas next year, and Biggio might not get in at all -- or have to wait the better part of a decade to do it.
But there is one final scary thing which must be admitted.
Anyone who gets into the Hall who substantively played in the Steroid Era (~1995-~2009, give or take) is going to have an asterisk on their plaque, whether that asterisk is visible, and whether or not the player is actually clean.
This is unavoidable.
They might as well not even technically hold one, except for the families of three deceased Veterans' Committee inductees.
No living person, for the first time since 1966 (the last time the writers' ballot went empty, before today, was 1996 -- but Earl Weaver was inducted by the Veterans' Committee that year), was elected by either the writers' or Veterans' Committee ballots.
The Hall of Fame elected no one today. The writers repudiated the careers of known steroid cheats Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (both of whom got under 40% of the vote, well short of the 75% needed for induction), and probably stopped Craig Biggio (#1 vote getter in his first year of eligibility -- 68.2%) from getting in on the first ballot.
Some thoughts:
1) None of the Steroid Era Cheats are getting in. This pretty much should slam the door on all of them. This means up to and including Alex Roidriguez.
2) It's beginning to look VERY VERY LEAN in the years to come, as the Steroid Era is going to have to flush through the process. It is quite possible that, on two hands, we could probably name all of the living players to get into the Hall in the next 10 or so years. Biggio probably is getting in eventually. Maddux and Glavine, Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro, and maybe Jack Morris or Frank Thomas or the like. That's about it. There are going to be a lot of null induction classes going forward.
3) Baseball has to step in, and not how the enablers at ESPN would like. The entire Steroid Era has to be wiped from the books as much as humanly possible. The Commissioner needs to ban Barry Bonds and all known steroid cheats from the game and Hall of Fame, wipe out their records and statistics, and nullify every Championship from 1995 to about 2007 or so, depending upon when it can be accepted that steroids finally did not permeate the game to the point of absolute contamination.
Baseball was contaminated beyond all repair for the better part of at least a dozen years, and that depends on how many years BEFORE the 1994 strike end up that contaminated. You now have, at best, a wounded game with a "dead-bat" era (is it any conceivable wonder that, in the three years where it is believed (and only believed) that steroids have been cleaned, we have had 16 no-hitters and, last year alone, for the first time, three perfect games.).
(There have, in fact, been only 23 perfect games in the history of baseball in the US at the top level. FIVE have occurred in the last three years, and the first two times in the history of the game, in 2010 and 2012, that multiple perfect games have been thrown in the same year.)
But you have a wounded game with a Balkanized fanbase (ever watch the World Series numbers, people?) where one has to question everything coming out of the Office of the Commissioner.
Is it any wonder that the only real relevance Baseball has is the carrying of tradition and the fact that the season does a very nice job of bridging one football season to the next?
4) Two major questions, basically, remain.
a) How do you answer questions like the one posed in today's ESPN Apologist Chat on the situation from a commenter named "Tim":
"The thing i don't understand is, the games
counted. The stats count. Other memorabilia from these players sits in
the Hall. How can I go to the museum one day and tell my kid that these
players aren't part of it?"
And that's a very good question. It deserves the fullest of answers.
I) The games don't count anymore. All of the championships and standings of the Steroid Era are nullified. The more which comes out about the Steroid Era, between "speed" and steroids, the more that Canseco's claim of 4/5 of all the players being dirty actually sounds low.
II) If anyone's stats count from the Steroid Era, then they cannot have any suspicion of use. Period. This is why there are about six living players I see getting in (unless I forgot somebody, and I'm sure I will have) in the next 10-12 years or so. USA Today has said today is the eighth time in the history of the ballot that no player got in. In the next 12 years, I see that number doubling.
But the fact is that so few players are probably clean (Biggio is believed to be, then you get the two Atlanta pitchers, Thomas, etc.) that the entire era is forever contaminated. Even the clean players will, effectively, have asterisks next to their plaques.
III) Remove the memorabilia. The games never, functionally, took place. We must leave a ~15 year gap in the history of the game for deterrence of future generations to even think of contaminating the game to this level (or, probably, given enhancements, far worse, if that can be conceived!!).
IV) There must, once and for all, be a criminal investigation against Bud Selig. At minimum for obstruction of justice, if not far more. Even if he is never jailed due to his age, he must be repudiated as the Commissioner of a flawed sport.
This is the result of 15 years of rigged games. Perhaps not rigged directly for result with respect to a scripted end, but rigged nonetheless (and almost certainly with the full blessing of MLB) to "bring the game back" after the 1994 strike.
Selig must be held culpable to these acts.
b) The second question which must be answered is one that a lot of people have skirted around:
Has there been a cheat already put into the Hall, and, if so, what is to be done?
I think part of the justification that these ESPN Bonds-heads are saying as to put Bonds in the Hall is that, as a couple stated in the chat, there is a steroid cheat already in the Hall -- we just don't know who it is yet.
I, frankly, think, that might be the straw which breaks the camel's back, and the Hall puts in policies to remove players. That could become a very interesting discussion vis-a-vis even some very old inductees.
As it is, I think Biggio waits two years: Next year is Maddux, Glavine, and Frank Thomas. The two pitchers almost certainly get in first-ballot, Thomas might have to wait, because I would not be certain that there won't be voters who won't try to nullify Thomas' achievements through anabolic steroids -- though the only stuff he probably took was anabolic cheeseburgers... (What am I saying? One historian friend of mine said it best: "He's from Chicago. Deep-dish pizzas!!").
The problem is, since no person even got 70% of the vote, you could easily see Biggio snowed under by the two pitchers and possibly Frank Thomas next year, and Biggio might not get in at all -- or have to wait the better part of a decade to do it.
But there is one final scary thing which must be admitted.
Anyone who gets into the Hall who substantively played in the Steroid Era (~1995-~2009, give or take) is going to have an asterisk on their plaque, whether that asterisk is visible, and whether or not the player is actually clean.
This is unavoidable.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Updates: Final NFL Fine Blotter, Rob Parker Fired, and my take on a legitimate decision last night.
First off, the Week 17 NFL Fine Blotter:
Not much that final week, according to the NFL:
Or, better, that's _a_ fine!
No joke. There was so much fighting between Raider Fan and Charger Fan that the entirety of an upper-deck section was cleared by the police.
$60,375 for 7 players, including the season's final multiple offender.
The final regular-season fine take for the league:
THREE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS.
That $3,123,625 translates to nearly $200,000 a week.
More on this in another post.
--
Today, the news came down from Bristol that, to the surprise of no one, except disgust as to how long it took ESPN to wake up, Rob Parker's suspension from the network is now permanent.
He was fired today.
Technically, his contract was up during the suspension, and they refused to renew it.
--
And how'd everybody like that manipulated BCS Championship last night?
Any doubt left that Notre Dame didn't belong in the same state as the title game??
42-14 was FLATTERING to Notre Dame. They got things done to them which were very unpleasant.
That's 7 in a row and 8 of the last 9 recognized champions for the SEC, 3 of the last 4 to Alabama.
They're either going to have to rig the last BCS final (next year in Pasadena -- the four-team playoff starts in 2014-15) to exclude the SEC outright, or the SEC is rolling here too. I fully expect Johnny Football to have another Heisman and a title before he turns pro.
Not much that final week, according to the NFL:
- San Francisco 49ers committed three fine-able offenses for two fines, both for the same thing: Michael Crabtree and Frank Gore decided to throw memorabilia, in the form of the balls they had just scored touchdowns with, into the crowd. Crabtree actually did this twice. Both were fined the mandatory $10,500. (Crabtree's fine was not, erroneously, doubled.)
Or, better, that's _a_ fine!
- Washington Redskins: Sav Rocca, fined $7,875 for tackling a Dallas Cowboy punt returner by the face mask!
- Green Bay Packers: Tramon Williams: $7,875 for an unnecessary headshot in the Viking-Packer second meeting of three. This makes Williams' a TWO-TIME LOSER in the last five weeks of the season!
- Cleveland Browns: Phil Taylor: $7,875 for some shenanigans away from the play against a Pittsburgh Steeler.
- Oakland Raiders: Takeo Spikes: $7,875 for some pleasantries with
- San Diego Chargers: Mike Goodson: $7,875.
No joke. There was so much fighting between Raider Fan and Charger Fan that the entirety of an upper-deck section was cleared by the police.
$60,375 for 7 players, including the season's final multiple offender.
The final regular-season fine take for the league:
THREE MILLION, ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS.
That $3,123,625 translates to nearly $200,000 a week.
More on this in another post.
--
Today, the news came down from Bristol that, to the surprise of no one, except disgust as to how long it took ESPN to wake up, Rob Parker's suspension from the network is now permanent.
He was fired today.
Technically, his contract was up during the suspension, and they refused to renew it.
--
And how'd everybody like that manipulated BCS Championship last night?
Any doubt left that Notre Dame didn't belong in the same state as the title game??
42-14 was FLATTERING to Notre Dame. They got things done to them which were very unpleasant.
That's 7 in a row and 8 of the last 9 recognized champions for the SEC, 3 of the last 4 to Alabama.
They're either going to have to rig the last BCS final (next year in Pasadena -- the four-team playoff starts in 2014-15) to exclude the SEC outright, or the SEC is rolling here too. I fully expect Johnny Football to have another Heisman and a title before he turns pro.
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