The San Francisco Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins has a good point:
At the height of Barry Bonds' pursuit of the home-run records, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow made lively, enthusiastic calls on the Giants' network . . . It seems this didn't go over too well in other cities. [Michael] Kay, who anchors the Yankees' telecasts, ripped Krukow and Kuiper in a public forum for getting so excited over a steroid guy. [Charlie] Steiner, part of the Dodgers' radio team, made some equally rude comments (off the air), establishing himself as a real high-and-mighty beacon of integrity.
Except it doesn't work that way. Alex Rodriguez opened the season in disgrace after the steroid-related embarrassment of spring training, but that didn't stop Kay from going nuts when A-Rod slugged his first home run. Presto -- instant hypocrite! Now we get to hear Steiner when Manny rocks Dodger Stadium for the first time. What, he's going to treat it like a funeral while the place is going crazy?
I think the natural reactions of these announcers to the home runs of Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez -- combined with the enthusiasm of fans who continue to eagerly pay to see them play -- is proof positive that the negative stuff most people write about the steroids users is pure sanctimony, divorced from what real people actually think and feel about the issue of PEDs in baseball.
Sure, they cheated. And yes, they should be punished just like anyone else who breaks the rules should be punished. But no one, apart from some holier-than-thou columnists, is interested in the public shaming they propose each time a new steroid user is revealed. People want to be entertained. They want to watch good baseball. Everything else is pretty damn trivial.
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These radio guys like Kay, Sterling, Steiner, Krukow and Kuiper (I think his major league HR's can be counted on one hand) are nothing more than corperate shills They are doing nothing more than playing up to their audience. These announcers will never say anything that is really on their minds and are censored from saying anything negative about the team or the players so as to avoid any confrontations or perhaps trying to hang onto their jobs.
Ha! Jokes on you. No one in LA listens to Steiner. He sucks.
Real people have already figured out that professional baseball isn't a legitimate competition between teams. It's theatre. Entertainment.
D. Padilla is right. Steiner is an absolute hack, overreacting to everything. He'll scream about a routine ground out to short as if it was Gibby's homer in '88. When the Blue Crew are on the road I mute the sound and put on the radio - give me Rick Monday and Jerry Reuss any day.
Just because a guy like Manny Ramirez made a mistake in taking what he took doesn't make him any different than he was before. Manny Ramirez was probably the greatest righthanded slugger in baseball or at least in the top five. He has paid his "dues" for what he did and when he returns he will be expected to bounce right back. It is going to take him some time to get his timing back. Playing some rehab games with single, double, and triple-A teams might have helped some but going up against a minor league pitcher isn't anything like a Jake Peavy or Santana, or any other big league pitcher. Let the man do what he is getting paid for and drop the "scandal" crap.
I am going to be there cheering for Manny on friday! I love living in San Diego but I'm sure the fair weathered fans of San Diego will boo him. I love LA!!!!!!!!
I could care less if I ever see him play another game ever.
Root for Manny??? I'm a Red Sox Fan of 58 years. I am a fan of baseball and for that I will be glad to see Manny return for his contribution to the game. However if he hasn't learned to eat humble pie and continues his Manny being Manny nonsense, then I could care less that he's back. He's great for any team he plays for........ if he's happy.
Manny Ramirez is a disgrace to the game of baseball that I have loved and enjoyed for over 70 years. Anyone who cheers him upon his return from suspension should be ashamed to call themselves baseball fans!
Mickey Mantle was a real great guy. So was Cap Anson. So was Ty Cobb.
Face it. Baseball is a game played by a collection of people who are and aren't good people. I happen to think Manny Ramirez is probably mostly a good person, Clemens is a bad one, McGuire is a good one, Sosa is probably good.
but it doesn't matter. Baseball has never been played by people who "respect the game." it's been played by guys who respect the paycheck, just like any other schmo working a job. which is what these guys are doing. Would I prefer that steroids went away? sure. I still love baseball either way. I'll still watch it.
Just like I'd prefer that the Orioles win, but after 12 years of losing i watch either way.
Shame on ANYONE who will root for someone that makes a mockery of the game of baseball - not that he is the only one to make a mockery of the game - but shame on ANYONE that is rooting on these cheaters & LIARS!!!! People don't seem to understand that Manny's (or any other cheaters') record is TAINTED and filled with LIES, CHEATS & GARBAGE. Sorry, for any TRUE baseball fan that roots on Manny or any of the other cheaters :o(
And because your CAPS lock broke intermittently while you were typing that post, your point carries that much more validity. Cheating has long been part of the game, and many of our most venerated heroes from yesteryear engaged in it. So please, drop the outrage and enjoy what's playing out before you or go home.
+1 to you Kevin
Cheats and frauds.
A pitcher scuffing a ball for more action on the ball, or a second baseman perfecting his phantom tag over the bag trying for a double play to first, a baserunner trying to steal signs from the catcher, Vaseline on the ball are all technically cheating, right?
The scuff, the "in the area" tag, the Vaseline on the ball and other tricks of the game have all been an "accepted" part of the game for years. Right?
Lets call this set of "cheats" "within the game". That is, tricks and strategies available on an equal playing field for any and all players to use in the performance of the game.
Now frauds and PEDs. Is it still a level playing field when one player decides to pump up with a syringe, looking for that physical advantage? Is the answer to ignore it, to say it's rampant, everyone can do it, the fraud using PEDs helps fill the seats, so that makes it all right?
So screw natural ability and natural talent, right? If you will, a "God given talent" as the phrase goes?
No, I'm going to hold on to the god given talent. A player wants a physical edge? Do more reps in the gym. Run a few more miles. Take BP until the callouses on your palms bleed.
Take and get caught using drugs, go look for another job. Period. It's the only way, if the league, the players, and the public are serious about cleaning up this game.
And to stay on thread, I don't care if it's Manny, Sammy, Mark, Alex, or the kid in Class A, get caught one time, bye bye today, right now, clean out your locker. The game would clean up in a hurry.
So am I classifying Manny and Mark and Sammy frauds and anyone else who needles up? You bet your a** I am. Frauds. Fakes. Insults to plain and simple naturally endowed talent. And insults to the game.
Remember, for every Manny or Mark or Sammy, there's a hundred other guys coming up right behind each one of them for their jobs every day. To play the game is a right, not a privilege.
Time to get back to that.
The world can always use a little more self-righteousness.
G'evening Mike. Yea, I guess you can call it that, if you like. Doesn't bother me much at all. Have to say that, if that's what you're after. Hard to read "tone" if you know what I mean!
But maybe I'm just a fan who's more than a little sick of the media fawning all over some of these guys. And the union protecting them. And the league wearing blinders because they're terrified of losing markets.
But it really boils down to us fans too, doesn't it? Look the other way for the sake of putting a winner on the field and filling the stands. Who gives a crap as long as he hits for average and knocks in a hundred.
But the game became a business a long time ago too.
So if I want to be a little self righteous, I sure will be. A lot of factors are ruining the game. Sad. It used to be such a good one.
I'm a fan who likes to see adults playing a game. Adults who are perfectly free to forfeit their long-term health for a shot at short-term glory and wealth.
hell, it's working for the nfl...
Now lets see how many out there catch that in my #11- is it a right? Or is it a privilege? It can't be both!