02-10-2010, 02:37 PM
<!--quoteo(post=79187:date=Feb 10 2010, 11:52 AM:name=VanSlawAndCottoCheese)-->QUOTE (VanSlawAndCottoCheese @ Feb 10 2010, 11:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=78982:date=Feb 8 2010, 09:34 PM:name=jstraw)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jstraw @ Feb 8 2010, 09:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->The baseball writers are enforcing a kind of justice because the Hall isn't handing out any more asterisks.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I know this is tangential--and I'm not claiming that you're standing squarely with the baseball writers--but I can't help but feel that in the cases of some of these writers (and probably many of them), their "no" votes is hypocritical for McGwire. Many fans were throwing roids accusations (unfounded, sure, but with good reason for suspicion) back in 1998. How many of these writers--journalists, supposedly--looked into these rumors at the time? How many of them just went along for the ride, as writing about the home run chase was good ink? And if they didn't find it odd that, say, Luis Gonzalez was cranking 50+ home runs, what the hell kind of journalists are they?
I'm not relieving the players of their guilt for the decision to roid up, but these players had a network of enablers, including the journalists. Some of these people are dispensing justice a little late in the game.
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Oh hell...I'm not saying the BBWA isn't generally full of shit. I mean...their ranks include guys that didn't fucking vote for Ricky Henderson on the first ballot.
I'm just saying that writers are going to keep these guys out of the Hall and that this time, hypocrites though they be, they're not wrong.
The big problem for McGwire and Sosa is that the writers can't do this to Bonds and not to them...and a) Bonds fucked over Aaron and Ruth...not just Maris and [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img] Bonds is a fucking douche. So the standard being applied to him, precludes any mercy for the others.
I know this is tangential--and I'm not claiming that you're standing squarely with the baseball writers--but I can't help but feel that in the cases of some of these writers (and probably many of them), their "no" votes is hypocritical for McGwire. Many fans were throwing roids accusations (unfounded, sure, but with good reason for suspicion) back in 1998. How many of these writers--journalists, supposedly--looked into these rumors at the time? How many of them just went along for the ride, as writing about the home run chase was good ink? And if they didn't find it odd that, say, Luis Gonzalez was cranking 50+ home runs, what the hell kind of journalists are they?
I'm not relieving the players of their guilt for the decision to roid up, but these players had a network of enablers, including the journalists. Some of these people are dispensing justice a little late in the game.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh hell...I'm not saying the BBWA isn't generally full of shit. I mean...their ranks include guys that didn't fucking vote for Ricky Henderson on the first ballot.
I'm just saying that writers are going to keep these guys out of the Hall and that this time, hypocrites though they be, they're not wrong.
The big problem for McGwire and Sosa is that the writers can't do this to Bonds and not to them...and a) Bonds fucked over Aaron and Ruth...not just Maris and [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img] Bonds is a fucking douche. So the standard being applied to him, precludes any mercy for the others.