Steroids and the Hall of Fame

The dentured, world war 2 era, and generally out-of-touch dinosaurs that comprise of the Baseball Writers' Association of America fucked over both a number of highly-deserving individuals and the game yesterday when they deemed no candidates worthy of the Hall of Fame. All time home run king Barry Bonds got only 36% out of the 75% needed. Seven time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens got only a percent more. Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, both with an OPS above 900 and 867 home runs together didn't do much better. None of the previously listed tested positive for steroids. Piazza and Bagwell haven't even been linked to PED usage in any way other than word of mouth speculation. Even widely presumed-to-be-clean 3000 hit club member Craig Biggio was seemingly penalized for playing in the wrong era. Or because he wasn't "first ballot worthy" to the Mike Lupicas of the world who thinks that means anything. Players linked to steroid usage have been arbitrarily labeled "cheaters", "frauds", "dishonest" and much more by the morally grandstanding writers who conveniently ignore baseballs history of questionable integrity. The hall of fame has come out and said that players wouldn't be on the ballot if they didn't comply with clause 5 which details sportsmanship and character. Yet noted racist and all around asshole Ty Cobb has a plaque in Cooperstown. Self-admitting spit baller Gaylord perry has been immortalized. Even at the high school level; signs are stolen, infielders are intentionally cleated, lips are packed, and some even juice. But despite all that, two wrongs don't make a right. It's irrelevant because its still agregious and hypocritical  to fault and penalize these record holders and icons of the game. Let's turn back the clock to 1998. Baseball was at an all time low following the players strike and ratings and gate receipts were down. Usage of steroids and amphetamines was widespread, untested, and largely accepted within the game. Then Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa assaulted the roger Maris' 38 year old home run record, captivated a nation, and saved baseball. During the chase, reporter even suggested McGwire's previously unparalleled long ball power wasn't as wholesome and golden as it seemed. The baseball media and community tore him to shreds. Selig, MLBPA head Donald fehr and numerous others in the MLB community, even some of the same hall voters standing on their ethical high ground now swept it under the rug for the good of the game. Everyday people break rules with actions considered harmless everyday. Some of us litter, some of us smoke weed, some of us go 10 miles over the speed limit on the highway. That's right, even you BBWAA writers. Now, Lets go beyond that and put ourselves in their shoes. Say you were a player in the 90's and you had the choice. It's pretty easy to say they were cheating themselves and the rest of America from your armchair. You can stick a needle in your ass and almost magically become better at your profession leading to greater financial security, more productivity for your employer, and the feeling of knowing you have done everything you have done to perform at your highest level. Best of all, you never get caught or (as it seemed at the time) judged! Would you stick that needle in your ass or pop that greenie. If yes and you still think being "clean" should be a hall requirement then you are a sanctimonious dickhead. If no, then you are possibly Tim tebow and probably have no friends. Now lets look at the big picture, another sore on infected cock that is baseball's future. Baseball is a dying sport and it's becoming more evident thanks to stuff like this. The sport has been passed by basketball by the sacred 18-32 demographic while hockey and soccer are closing the gap faster than you think. The problem is baseball is traditional, traditional in a racist "the south will rise again" hick type of way. Tradition isn't doing stupid things because that's how they always have been and not ignoring the consequences, that's called ignorant stubbornness. The sport won't institute full replay, won't fully market individual young stars, won't allow video on YouTube, won't embrace the advanced statistics that keep intelligent fans engaged, and now won't even include some of its greatest players into its shrine of history for speculation misguided and faux virtue. Bud selig's complicit ignorance of the dilemma at hand for most of his career is as much to blame for this mess as anything so perhaps maybe he can give us some directive on the matter. After all, what would the rock & roll hall of game be without esteemed pedophile Michael Jackson or the of nfl's without OJ.