Now I know why they pay him so much. Apparently 18.5 million dollars a year makes you judge, jury and executioner. Bud Selig mentioned this afternoon that he was contemplating disciplinary action against A-Rod (I will not say A-roid, I will not say A-roid), given that, though MLB had not actually made it against the rules to use steroids yet (hey, give them a break, it only took them 10 or 15 years to acknowledge the problem) it was against the law. Never mind that Rodriguez’s name was leaked off a list that was supposed to be confidential. Never mind that the tests were to determine how many players were using in order to determine whether there should be a punishment at all. He apparently doesn’t care about any of that. He needs to do something to make it seem like he actually cares about the health of the players or the integrity of the game, so why not discipline A-Rod for something he did 6 years ago when it wasn’t against the rules?  Oh, and in this same article, Ole Buddy also mentioned casually that he was thinking of reinstating Hank Aaron as the all-time Home Run leader.

What?

Last time I checked, Bonds had not been convicted of any crime. He had also not admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. Don’t get me wrong. I believe whole-heartedly that Barry Bonds used steroids and frankly, I don’t think he would’ve surpassed Hammerin’ Hank without them, but there’s no way to prove that. He hasn’t been proven guilty in a court of law and last time I checked, in America one is innocent until proven guilty. Not only would erasing Bonds’ records probably cause rioting in San Francisco, it could very well lead to a Players’ strike. The MLBPA is already crying collusion since a man who broke the most coveted record in the game couldn’t get a job the very next season and I hate to think what would happen if they started striking records from the books.  

That would be wonderful for the game, right, Buddy?

And what about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? After all, their fight over the single season home run record practically saved baseball after the 1994 strike. They were most likely juiced out of their minds, but it hasn’t been proven. But who needs proof? Does that mean that 61 is the number to beat?

This sounds an awful lot like Selig trying desperately to cover his own ***. The use of Steroids in baseball has been a problem for a very long time; there were half-arsed measures to curtail the problem in ’91 and ’97. You know, to curtail the problem that they didn’t know about until the testing took place in 2003. Right. Meanwhile, Goodyear blimps were playing the game and breaking records left and right. Fact is, Selig has grown fat off of the use of steroids in baseball and the only reason that he’s so “shocked” and “saddened” now is because his bluff has been called, perhaps even more than A-Rod’s. Now he’s trying to use a knee jerk over correction which will only continue the damage he’s already done to the game.

I’m really, really glad this guy isn’t the President. He makes George W. Bush look capable.