Reason Writers Around Town

Writing in The Orange County Register, Matt Welch concludes that congressional steroid hearings prove "when politicians from both sides of the aisle agree on 'government reform,' you should grab your wallet and run like Chone Figgins."

Comments

[andy]

Between their butting in on MLB's business and butting in on Terry Schiavo's business, I'm starting to dislike Kongress more and more.

[Gary Gunnels]

You should also draw up a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care decisions whenever their is bi-partisan support to protect "life." The Schiavo case is the trojan horse for the "right to force you to live a life comatose and bed-ridden" crowd to enact laws to further their agenda.

[Warren]

"Canseco was a miserable witness, contradicting his memoir 180 degrees by railing against the same steroids the book champions, speculating bizarrely on the prospects of a hypothetical "smart pill" and "wood shortage" (don't ask), and showing very little muscle memory of whatever nonsense he had blurted out five minutes before."

WTF? I thought Jose was suppose to be the lone voice of reason in this Circus of the Tyrants. So now you're telling me there is not so much as the first base bag for our elected representatives to trip over in their rush to extend their power over us.

Hay-zeus that's depressing... Dios, I need a ten-dollar beer in a paper cup.

[David]

I wish Congress has granted immunity for Canseco. Then at least that "Dog and pony show" could have had some fireworks. I bet that he and Rafael Palmiero would have thrown down. That would have been riveting TV. Instead, we got to watch Canseco snivel and fall in line with everyone else's opinion.

I was listening to several interviews with Christopher Shays where he stated "I was offended at the arrogance of Major League Baseball". He also said that he was ignorant of the collective bargain problems b/t ownership and the MLBPA.

Am I the only one who think that steroids are only the sypmtom? That the real problem might be a society that puts athletes on a pedestal form the moment the show ant talent? So long as the most important thing to a town is a high school football win, and athletes who deliver it live the good life, we'll have people doing whatever they have to win. You can't legislate against that, though some fools might say you can. It's about priorities.

I'm not convinced that the "steroid" based suicides were from withdrawal symptoms. I think it was withdrawal of being "the man". Nobody loves a guy who can't play.

[David]

Back to Shays,

Here was a man on the committee who was angry that that Baseball turned down their "invitations" and fought their subpoenas, while admitting that he had no clue about MLB labor relations, only that other counties, and the IOC do it differently. He also didn't understand why players get "5 strikes" under the current testing plan, and why the owners were unwilling to shut down their businesses as long as necessary to impliment a "moral" policy.

First, other countries aren't the USA. Our citizens, at least in theory, have rights that shouldn't be trampled to cater to the whims of a ruling class. Our system allows for people to fight when they don't agree with something.

Second, the owners first priority is to make money, that is the reason one owns a business. Mr. Shays ignore that idea that there are many more employees within a baseball organization whose livelihood depends on games being played that just the players.

Third, the players get 5 chances because they're not so easily replaced. Most people only get one chance because no matter what their job, someone else can do it just as well and found on short notice. Ballplayers stop getting chances when the cna't play anymore.

Finally, why does anyone outside of baseball care about these policies. We watch these games to be entertained.

[Matt Welch]

If the link do not work, try this one.

[Chuck]

Matt--

Thanks for the extra link.

"Wood shortage" and steroids, huh? I started to type a dozen different responses to that one, but I can't do it. It's just too easy.

[kevrob]

Nobody loves a guy who can't play. - David

It may seem like that to some teens sometimes, but as someone who did not have what it took to make even the varsity bench in high school, I somehow managed to find other areas to obtain validation. Would it have been socially easier if I had been a first-string QB or point guard, as opposed to winning the state JV debate tournament and going to CFL nationals in my last two years? Winning parts in two plays in senior year was fun, too, and even resulted in dating cute girls. Some of my dweeby pals managed to make a social life out of serving on the school paper or yearbook, playing music, or the ur-geeky audio-video club. OK, so maybe A/V didn't have the cute-girl quotient that drama did, but a social niche is a social niche. I'd imagine that today the Geek Squad is probably higher status than it once was, if only because those guys know how to get all the good pr0n, free tunes and newest games.

On the other hand, even though my Dad had been a star athlete, he never demanded that any of his sons duplicate his experience. It was only important that we try to be good at something, and substituting success at athletics for competence at academics was not acceptable. I must point out that I was not raised in H.S. football-mad Texas or Ohio, nor in hoops-mad Indiana.

However, in that pre-steroid era, the school athletes were just as likely to enjoy booze, pot and pills as the non-athletes. Their involvement in school activities separated them from the "stoners" who looked the burnout part, but the contraband they could score was just as inebriating, and, as this was pre-pee-inna-cup, in some cases jock consumption was legendary. At my private school a coach could and did cut a player for not cutting his hair short enough, which infraction of team rules was instantly visible, so the some attempt was made to reign in teen hedonism.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Shays is from a state whose cities have been deemed by pro sports as too small to act as hosts for major league teams. Their last major franchse, the NHL Hartford Whalers, skedaddled to North Carolina a few years ago, and Insuranceville failed in their attempt to lure the Patriots away from Foxboro MA. Putting MLB on the griddle is a free shot for a pol from CT, especially a Repub who has previously proved himself quite capable of running roughshod over our Civil Rights by co-sponsoring the House version of McCain-Feingold, Shays-Meehan.

Desmond DeChone Figgins stole 34 bases last year.

Kevin