Bud Selig—Major League Baseball's Biggest Problem

As I look around pockmarked landscape of the Major League Baseball world, I can't help but wonder what the hell is going on.  It's like the revelation that Alex Rodriguez' urine from 2003 tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug was a nuclear bomb that destroyed common sense and accountability.

First, there was apoplectic outrage over the "news" that another one of MLB's brightest stars of the Steroid Era came up hot.

Then, there is all this posturing from the media about how the aforementioned era has officially and eternally tainted what was once a pure game.

Now, this little gem from Bud Selig:

"What Alex did was wrong and he will have to live with the damage he has done to his name and reputation.  While Alex deserves credit for publicly confronting the issue, there is no valid excuse for using such substances, and those who use them have shamed the game."

Four things jump out at me from Selig's words:

1.  That's a little like OJ Simpson dialing up Pacman Jones to tell Pacman he's embarrassed the game of football.  What do you even say in reply?

2.  The only part that wasn't the pot calling the kettle black was the bit about damage done to name/reputation.  Selig has no goodwill associate with either anymore so he really can do no further damage to his own name/reputation.

3.  It's pretty arrogant and stupid for the Commissioner of Major League Baseball to call out one of his players for shaming the game via use of PEDs considering he was at the helm during its creation, rise, and explosion.

Bud Selig has been acting commissioner since 1992.  The title has officially been his since 1998.  In other words, he's had the keys since just after the Bash Brothers opened Pandora's Box and been riding solo since the year that many observers feel marks the beginning of the Steroid Era calendar.

The commissioner's principal power and duty is to act in and protect the best interest of baseball.

Now, I've heard some people saying that PEDs actually were in MLB's best interest—the Great Home-Run Race of 1998 brought fans back, Barry Lamar Bonds kept them around, the offensive explosion helped MLB stay afloat after the National Football League threatened to turtle the Show, etc.  Whether or not you're receptive to that argument is irrelevant.

Because this is about Stinky Selig and he said all the juicers have shamed the game of baseball.  That assertion is a direct contradiction to the above argument.

So, how can the man criticize his players for shaming baseball when it was his responsibility to protect the best interests of baseball during the gestation, maturation, and spread of the PED problem?

That's rhetorical, more or less, because we already know Bud Selig is a spineless parasite.  But it leads me to...

4.  Where is the media that promised not to sleep on the job a second time around?  HOW can they let this man slide on such a statement?  The minute those words slimed from his maw, someone with a press credential should have been hammering him.

Mercilessly.

I'm no fan of A-Rod—I think he's as phony as phony can be off the field.  Any man-child who leaves his wife and kids to take up with someone else has some serious explaining to do.  When he does it to shack up with an ancient and married mother/pop-star, there is no longer any explanation necessary.

Not to mention every one of his public statements/interactions is about as genuine as his apology for juicing.  But Rodriguez' failings are not the point.

The point is that Bud Selig was the man responsible for the health Major League Baseball during almost the entirety of the intersection between baseball and performance-enhancing drugs.

Not the players.  They are the product and his is (allegedly) their guardian.

Yet, there he is, sitting atop his throne and handing out blame to his underlings.  As if that absolves him of his blood-stained hands.  Up to the elbows.

Bud Selig is as guilty, as sleazy, as hypocritical, and as duplicitous as they come.  And he's the guy the owners have entrusted with protecting the best interests of baseball for the last 15+ years.

You know what?

On second thought, that scorched earth makes perfect sense.