Sunday, August 9, 2009

The smokescreen by the MLB Player's Union

Watching the David Ortiz press conference yesterday, I was struck in particular by a couple of things. First, the union attorney who came to assist Ortiz didn't think enough of the event's importance to comb his hair. Second, his attempt to put up a smokescreen on behalf of the players who tested dirty was pathetic.

The union asked the Court to seal the list and the results that it allegedly shows. Now the Union is saying, "we'd love to go into this in detail, but the Court Ordered us not to." Pathetic. All the union has to do is petition the court to unseal the record. There's no reason the Court would want to keep it secret. The results would be public and the matter could be better dealt with. This is a transparent stalling tactic. The more time that passes, the more likely we are to hear that people don't want to talk about the past (Hi Mark McGwire. You'll need a ticket to get in Cooperstown just like me now) or that people shouldn't care because the test was so long ago.

Baseball has lost its way and is close to losing its soul. The game's connection with history means more to baseball than any other sport. Why is baseball so unconcerned about the statistical break with history that steroids has created?

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