OK, so they juiced up, but why didn't anyone notice?
Back a ways, Major League Baseball was getting worried about loss of attendance and revenues for the teams, and they really hoped that a bunch of crowd-pleasing home run hitters would emerge.
For all that the true devotees of baseball see it as an intricate game and love the pitchers' duel, the shutout, the no-hitter, the perfect game -- that's not what the masses want -- they want to see the ball go over the wall and a bunch of young millionaires high-fiving each other around home plate.
So maybe that's why people in a position of authority decided not to notice when such premier players as Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Ken Caminiti, Jason Giambi, and quite a few others when, in the 1990's, they all blew up until they started looking like giant hemorrhoids on cleats -- because their slugging average went up along with their size.
As the old comedians used to say "They blowed up REAL good." Hard to miss.
Sure the players who used steroids cheated, whether from league and team pressure to produce or from greed or from ego -- doesn't matter, they cheated.
But I remember that Felonius Monkey Jim Bakker crying into the camera about how people hated Christians and that's why he was being attacked. And I remember thinking, "No Jim, it's not Christians we hate -- it's hypocrites."
Ssame thing with Bud Selig and Bart Giamatti and Faye Vincent and all the owners and all the sportswriters and all the rest -- a bunch of hypocrites who made certain they didn't notice the balloon men when they were putting cash in their pockets.
Hypocrites.
For all that the true devotees of baseball see it as an intricate game and love the pitchers' duel, the shutout, the no-hitter, the perfect game -- that's not what the masses want -- they want to see the ball go over the wall and a bunch of young millionaires high-fiving each other around home plate.
So maybe that's why people in a position of authority decided not to notice when such premier players as Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Ken Caminiti, Jason Giambi, and quite a few others when, in the 1990's, they all blew up until they started looking like giant hemorrhoids on cleats -- because their slugging average went up along with their size.
As the old comedians used to say "They blowed up REAL good." Hard to miss.
Sure the players who used steroids cheated, whether from league and team pressure to produce or from greed or from ego -- doesn't matter, they cheated.
But I remember that Felonius Monkey Jim Bakker crying into the camera about how people hated Christians and that's why he was being attacked. And I remember thinking, "No Jim, it's not Christians we hate -- it's hypocrites."
Ssame thing with Bud Selig and Bart Giamatti and Faye Vincent and all the owners and all the sportswriters and all the rest -- a bunch of hypocrites who made certain they didn't notice the balloon men when they were putting cash in their pockets.
Hypocrites.
posted by Saintperle at
11:56 AM
