It is times like these when the average person is thrust into a life of hardship and they are wading waist deep in corruption that Americans try and return to the simple things in life. Baseball used to be one of those things, but the league is trying America’s patience.
Baseball fans have forgiven the league for a great deal in these past few years. They have forgiven owners and players for a strike that destroyed the 1994 season. They forgave the league when flat out allegations flew that high profile players were using steroids. They forgave their favorite team every season when they jack up the price for MLB tickets. This week might just be too much.
First Alex Rodriguez gives New York Yankees fans more reason to hate him and more ammo for there jeers on the third base side by admitting that he used steroids. Then Miguel Tejada, a former AL MVP, walks into the courtroom and pleads guilty to lying to Congress in a 2005 investigation of Rafael Palmeiro. Tejada did purchase steroids. He said that he threw them away and there is nothing to prove otherwise.
Tejada faces jail time, ARod faces another miserable season being scrutinized by Yankee fans, and MLB has some serious issues with their fan base. These recent events are sure to reignite the indignation fans had with MLB, especially when it has come to light that there were secret drug tests that implicated 104 players for using performance enhancing drugs in the 2003 season and none were ever brought to justice.
I am sure Bud Selig will say that to release the information would betray the players union, but do we really believe that the owners wanted information released that stated a large number of players of a limited sample pool tested positive for cheating.
The reality is as sports fans we are willing to let a lot slide to protect the idea of a game we love. A sport like baseball gets special consideration because it is considered a national pastime and because people like to get drunk while watching a slow paced game from the bleachers.
This blatant disregard for the truth could create a tidal wave that has been waiting years to swell and punish the millionaires club for continually treating the reason for its very being with such disrespect.
Will Fenway Park feel this? Probably not, fans have been waiting for years to get great Red Sox tickets. Will the Wrigley Field bleachers be sparsely attended? Probably not, There are true Cubs fans who might be disgusted, but there are those who simply like the idea of having Cubs tickets and a day in the sun.
The real teams that will feel the pinch will be those teams that fall below the national icon status. I see this being a rough year for the Kansas City Royals and really most of the teams in the league. Selig’s own Brewers might suddenly be holding half-price nights most of the week to try and recoup their losses from poor early season attendance. Then maybe the front offices of MLB will stop, ponder, and lament over their many sins against their fans.
