Parker and ESPN taking shots at Mitchell Report
Rob Parker of the Detroit Free Press made an interesting point on ESPN in the wake of Senator George Mitchell’s report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.
Parker stated that it was unfair that Mitchell based most of his report on “hearsay” and that not all of the players that have used performance-enhancing drugs were named, just those who left a paper trail throgh receipts and credit card reports . Paker went on: “What about the players who used cash to buy drugs – do they get off scot-free?” He also stated the report was rather, “flimsy” other than what was revealed about Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
What’s interesting watching ESPN, is that some of their reporters (not all) are attacking Mitchell’s report and basically discrediting it. Much like Parker, several reporters are noting that Mitchell gathered his information through witnesses that might, or might not be creditable. Interesting.
To quote a cop I knew years back regarding who gets ticketed and who doesn’t.
“Ever go fishing? Did you ever catch every fish in the lake?”
This is all a sideshow if you ask me. The real story is what they’re going to do about it. I don’t really care all that much about who used – I might care to see a list of players who didn’t. but how do you prove you didn’t do something?
Put a good strong process in place, cut the ticket prices, and you might just see me in a major league ballpark again. For now, I’m looking forward to taking in some games in the North Woods League again next year where a workig stiff can still go take in a ball game without taking out a home equity loan. Go Mallards!
Good for you Jeff – Shame on anybody for giving Steroid Boy Clemens a mill a game to build his own ego. It was probably HGH – not roids – but him and his Boy Handy-Andy must have been doing something illegal.
The first pages of the report tell how federal laws were broken in the distribution and procurement of these drugs but the union continues to put the spin on the situation that since steroids and HGH were not banned substances, no wrong was done. Fehr even tried to make it sound as if the owners never asked for drug testing in the 90′s when in fact, during the ,94 strike the union told the owners that if drug testing was part of the negotiation, they’d walk away from the table.
In the meantime, record contracts are being signed, record ticket prices are being charged, and the people paying the price for this sack of garbage are the fans. What’s wrong with this picture?