July 29, 2013
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Every Time
I Think Facebook
Can't Get Any Worse
It Gets WorseThat's all I have to say about Facebook.
What I'd really like to write about today is baseball and its Hall of Fame and why, Jesus H. Christ on a Crutch in the Foothills, that's a curse phrase I learned 40 some-odd years ago, they can't realize that the Hall of Fame is not supposed to consist of saints. It's supposed to consist of the greatest baseball players.
Pete Rose was for sure one of those.
Shoeless Joe Jackson was for sure one of those.
And from what I've read (I stopped following the sport that year they canceled the World Series because the players were on strike for higher paychecks even though they were already making millions), Bobby Bonds was one of those.
Roger Clemens was one of those.
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OK, I'll finish this later this evening. You don't even know where I'm going yet. Well, if you're smart you do.
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Where I'm going is, oh what the hell, why don't they just admit that baseball players aren't saints and the steroid users -- I hate that they lied and equivocated about it, but what the hell, Clinton did the same thing when asked about Lewinsky -- were just trying to compete and be the best they could be.
Right, they did not exhibit great character. Hank Aaron and Stan Musial are untainted heroes, along with Al Kaline and Lou Gehrig, but if they found themselves in an era where virtually every star was doing whatever they could to heal quickly from injuries and it so happened that drug therapy from shady doctors and trainers was available, would they have been saintlike enough to stay clean?
We don't know.
Pete Rose is out of the Hall of Fame for a different reason -- he bet on baseball games while he was managing and he wasn't supposed to -- but I still say that moral failings shouldn't be so absolute as to keep the greatest singles hitter in the history of the game out of the Hall.
The player whose record he broke -- Ty Cobb -- was one of the most despicable players in history. But you still had to admire how he played the game.
I hate steroids and I hate what the padded statistics have done to ruin the history books.
But screw it. Give the great ones a pass into the Hall of Fame if it's obvious they belong. I don't know about Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, but Clemens and Rose and probably Bonds clearly belong.
Comments (9)
hummmmm- i should wait to see where your going for fear that where your really going isn't anywhere near where I thought you were going... :lookaround: but Greg Olsen was my favorite baseball player and then that guy with the electric blue eyes
@mlbncsga - :)
Time was, I would have agreed with you. Nowadays I think the solution is to shut down the Hall of Fame. It has outlived its usefulness.
Doahsdeer may be a bit cynical, but I see his point. I'd like to keep the hall, and put the great players in it... I mean, if we're talking about "character", by all accounts, Babe Ruth was a drunk and a *#@(#$* of the highest degree. Mike Ditka gets thrown around as the "greatest tight end of all time", and he's still such a drunk that even his coworkers won't talk to him off-set. And let's not even start on the racial issues and player stances on them throughout the history of sports...I really think the saddest thing is that now, whenever somebody does something great, there is always some "journalist" (scare quotes quite intentional) that will start a steroid rumor. And that ruins the enjoyment of the game.A buddy of mine has a theory about the voters. He says that in 5 years or so, when Jeter retires and is eligible, we go collect all the ballots. And anybody who didn't vote for Jeter loses their vote. Because frankly, if you don't vote for him, you don't know what a hall of famer is. =P
National Scrabble Championshiphistory thereof
Dear Bob,RYC: We're supposed to get an email. According the link you didn't click (always happy to be able to help when I can.) we can be "early bird members" through August 31st, since the goal was attained yesterday. I was going to contribute yesterday, but I wanted a two year instead of one year subscription, and the application said if I bought two subscriptions, the 2nd was to be "for a friend". I just wanted to prepay. In any case, an email is supposed to come to us "lifers" telling us if we have an "credit" toward the new Xanga. I should hope so. I'm not dead yet.Okay, now on to the Hall of Fame. I like to see all sides of any question. And sometimes I wonder if we should stop berating performance enhancing drugs altogether. If possibly prescribed and monitored by the medical profession, and sanctioned by the sports industry, the discussion of who should be allowed in the Hall would be moot. Lance Armstrong could have his Tour titles back. Etc.(I don't know about giving steroids to 12 year old Olympic gymnasts. There has to be a line drawn somewhere.)Anyway, it's something to think about.I started weight training this year, but I opted for strength training instead of body building. And I'm bulking up pretty well, but I'm not taking any supplements to do so. Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
I have an almost non-existent facebook account. I go to it when my children ask me, "did you see that photo of Andrew or Davis or Noah." Other than that, I hardly go there.
@baldmike2004 - Hey, Mike, I always love hearing from you. I've been on Xanga so long that I'm not completely sure they HAVE my correct email address. I'm sure I want to pay for AT LEAST a year of blogging -- my Scrabble filing system is valuable enough to be worth paying every year without another thought -- but if I don't get an email because they have some old email that I was using when I originally signed on, who do I write to to get on board? (If you or anyone else could be so kind, when you get a Xanga email address, forward that address to me, I can probably handle it from there. I already did donate to their fundraiser.)As for the Hall of Fame, I think we're in sync in our thinking. Not only 12-year-old Olympian gymnasts, but high school football players are another group I'm concerned about. (That's ALL young athletes, of course, not just the two categories we've mentioned.) But those kids who are convinced, and probably for good reason, that they can't make the team if they don't bulk up, well, I just worry about that whole thing. After you turn pro, risking health is a price that can be contemplated. Before that, I have a problem.As for our own bodies, yours and mine, I miss weight training for strength, but the combination of gym membership costs AND finding the time to use a membership causes me to take a pass. (I think I could have stated everything more elegantly, but it's time for a nap before my Scrabble match later this morning. I've been up since 4 a.m.)
Bob, A $48.00 donation is your first year's subscription. It will be billed when the changeover occurs. You're also a lifer, so you don't have to worry about your blog. All premium and lifetime premium accounts are being migrated first. Funny about the email address, I was thinking the same thing about them having my 10 year old email addy instead of the one I have now.I've got my "gym" in my living room right now. Next year, when I get out of debt, I'm adding a porch to one side of my mobile. There will be three sections. An outdoor porch for sitting in the front, an extension of my bedroom in the rear, and a screened in weight room in the middle. My bench will go in there, and possibly a power cage and punching bags.Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
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