Baseball's decline

Frankly, I wish professional baseball would disappear completely. A lot of overpaid and selfish people - players and owners - charging the public 5 times what they should for watching the game - a boring game at best. Face it folks, if baseball disappeared, would the world change? You're giving too much space to a story not worth reporting

"What's happening?" ----- 1919 was when the game fell. The moment the game was tainted by game fixing, the moment the game lost it's moral high ground. Ever since it's been full of everything from Ty Cobb's temper on (and off) field, to Pete Rose betting on the game. That now almost all are dopers bloated like Frankenstein football linemen (and as about hairy), it's about time to turn the lights out on it as a family game, let alone a "national past time" (not very appropriate to have the national anthem played with that junk going on, either). The other sickening thing is they're always spitting like they got gnats in their mouths. See then in the bull pens spitting seeds now instead of chaw. Just export it to China, as they spit all over the roads as a national past time as it is. Or Israel, to practice spitting on Christians, instead (oops, even mentioning that is "anti-semite") :rolleyes:

can we please stop moralizing and realize these guys are playing a GAME? i agree with former augustan - baseball is less watchable than soccer when it comes to the boredom factor - but WHO CARES if these semi-grownups pump their bodies full of every conceivable drug in their attempts to hit a ball harder, throw farther, or run a little faster? kids are going to do stupid things regardless of what these overgrown children do as "role models." i say a rule gets passed that FORCES ballplayers to use steroids in the vain hope that it may inject a little excitement into the game (not to mention the possibility of more roid-rage induced fighting, which spices up hockey games).

Too much ado about almost nothing. It's a game, for heavens sake. Congress investigating, as though they had nothing better to do, and the news paper reporting on the subject as though this has more importance than "Brittany wears no panties on stage" or other National Enquirer, earth shattering, entertainment news. Any game that's played in America is America's game. The fact that, for now, the market can bear multi-millionaire players in this game, doesn't make this anything more than a game. If the entire industry disappeared, it would have a minimal affect on the economy, because there are other games ready to take it's place. I don't find this earth shattering subject even produces an earth wiggle when considered as part of the big picture.

"but WHO CARES if these semi-grownups pump their bodies full of every conceivable drug" ------ 1) They're competing against the greats that didn't. Breaking Babe's record due to doping is an insult. Babe did it naturally and with his God given talents.; 2) Kids who look upto these sports stars to emulate. This is why you're getting kids doping in middle school onwards (and worse, while they're still developing -- which is maybe how Phelps turned into a Frankenstein). You want athletes who play naturally, as it's talent not dope that makes them great. Personally, every athlete who is found to dope should have their records erased. If you're going to beat the Babe, you'll have to do it naturally.

when you mean the Babe, you mean that overweight, womanizing, binge-drinking ballplayer? yes, he is certainly the measure of immortality. before we try and reform the participants, how about we reform the media outlets that give the semi-adults such larger-than-life status in society? also, i don't think you can ascribe doping at all ages to the prevalence of steroid abuse in sports, Sandy.

The same Babe that made his mark without dope. Something that can't be said of our athletes today, as now they team up and try to keep quiet about it. So when they do that crap, they're now all suspect.

watch your mouth bone....the babe was a man's man, ain't nothing wrong with what he did....you do it too.

Gone from all professional sports are the days when there were positive role models for our kids. Most of these pros seem to me to be on ego trips and act like they are mightier than God. The NFL is not as good now as it was when I was growing up. It has become more like that fake sport called pro wrestling to me with all the showboating after big plays. The NFL does not just "tackle" ball carriers anymore, you can tell they seem to seem to be trying to injure rather than just stop the runners anymore. And, the NFL condones this too. I quit watching the unsportmanslike playing of the NFL years ago replacing it with college football. Nothing but a bunch of egotistical brats in pro sports nowadays and basesball is part of the same. All of it is about GREED.

Right on southern!! "Pitchers and Catchers". Still a great statement and it begins tomorrow!

True southernguy, but this editorial was about Major League Baseball and to me it applies to all pro sports as well. And it applies to all aspects of life, from politicians to business execs to high school coaches to ministers too. Enlarged egos can eventually destroy a person in the long term.

I agree, curly. The NFL is not good when you have one team going 0-16 in one season.

Here's something the ACES left out: some young men are now gravitating towards NASCAR. Take Joey Logano.

I don't know if I said it on here, or if I said it somewhere else, but here is what I think should happen: I think that ALL records that were held after April 24, 1995 should be expunged from the record books.

Looks like Jose Canseco was telling the truth all along. It seems some local writers were wrongly critical of him in the past.

I think bone is on to something here.

so we are SURE the Babe never took any performance-enhancing drugs? Lord knows he sure enough took advantage of his larger-than-life depiction in the media; think they would have turned the other cheek if he had cheated? short answer: yes, as they did many times. professional athletes have plenty of opportunities to cut corners and i wish like heck they could just win at all costs like the public expects without having to bow to this "model citizen" statute that gets brought into play when, all of the sudden, a sports star is found to be a bit shady. good grief - let the guys throw / catch / kick / hit a ball and forget about their contributions to humanity, 'fer cryin' out loud.

and, yes, drumbeater, as a public school employee i am well aware of the consequences of being tried in the public eye for crimes of moral turpitude. i try to avoid putting myself in such a position.

Bone, the only drug Babe was fond of was alcohol. And he sure couldn't have made his record drunk as a skunk. Would be interesting to see the local Bubbas play on the field after downing a 6 pack, or a couple of mixed drinks, and see how many are hit by a fast ball right in the head (if they're the regular posters here, it might offer them a new brain cell!).