Thursday, December 13, 2007

Newsflash

In case anybody was naive enough to think otherwise, the Mitchell Report today blew away doubt that "America's Pastime" - Major League Baseball - is and has been riddled with steroid use, including by such top players as Roger Clemens, Juan Gonzalez, and (of course) Barry Bonds.

I've never been one to buy into the whole George Will "baseball explains life" bullshit, but I will say one thing for it - it's certainly intertwined with another American pastime: cheating.

3 comments:

jedijawa said...

I read a great book about that American pasttime ... cheating that is. It was called "The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong To Get Ahead" and had some interesting points in it.

Anonymous said...

See, I don't know if I put as much weight on this report as you seem to be. No one can be tried for lying under oath, so how do you know it isn't just a bunch of hooey?

I'm not saying that steroids aren't a problem, I think they are. I just don't know that this report is all it's cracked up to be.

As for me, as long as Charlie Hustle is kept out of the Hall of Fame for (gasp) betting on baseball, none of those doping idiots should be allowed in the record books.

JD Byrne said...

You're right, Muze, about these statements not being under oath (presumably - if they're in notarized affidavits it's roughly the same thing). But as I understand it, lots of the big names are implicated by people who helped them get their juice, in which case their statements would be considered statements against interest and come with a presumption of reliability. The theory is you wouldn't say something that implicated yourself in wrongdoing if it was false.

I doubt anything really comes of this, tho'. Certainly nothing in the realm of McLaren's championship stripping $100 million penalty for filching Ferarri's design info.